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A faint air of menace 2

Black Lives Matter 

We need to talk about how we talk about Black Lives Matter (BLM) in the work place because the subject still has a faint air of menace about it. If people are reluctant to talk about diversity for fear of saying the wrong thing then organisations will have a tick box approach to diversity which looks impressive but doesn't  change the culture. This all to common superficial approach to diversity explains why an organisation can have an impressive equalities statement, a strategy that sets targets for recruitment, mandatory equal opportunity training, a carefully crafted application form,  ethnically balanced interview panels and yet under representation persists. 

 

Avoiding talking about diversity is the elephant in the room, a big ever present issue that managers and staff are pretending isn't there. Its why I called my case study on equality and diversity in Lancashire county council ,"An Elephant in the Room" publish by www.russellhouse.co.uk. The book shows how the organisation responded to the challenge to establish a safe environment to talk about diversity.

 

As a director I had led responsibility for turning good intentions and fine sounding words into real  change. Establishing how we were going to talk about diversity was all part of the type of organisation we wanted to be and therefore the type of management behaviour we wanted to encourage. Senior managers needed to set the tone, be wiling to talk directly to front line staff about diversity, to answer their questions and address their concerns as well as challenge myths and stereotypes. The intranet was a very useful tool in helping the wider staff group identify the most commonly asked questions and providing answers.

 

Perhaps the biggest step an organisation needs to take in response to Black Life Matters is to recognise that it’s not good enough for managers to not be a racist they must be anti racists. And you can’t be anti racist by avoiding discussing diversity.

 

Blair McPherson former Director ,author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk 

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