MAINSTREAMING DIVERSITY & IMPROVING PERFORMANCE:

AN ORGANISATIONAL REVIEW USING THE BUSINESS EXCELLENCE MODEL

Introduction

Our client is a public service focussed training and development agency of a high profile central Government department. The agency wanted to develop clear standards for future service delivery which embraced and mainstreamed diversity into the business itself. The context was one of organisational change, with the introduction of new systems and a review of existing structures. We were approached as a result of our previous work with the Agency in designing the role of Equality and Diversity Advisers and developing and implementing their training.

In order to gauge the position prior to the full roll out of a change programme, Astar was commissioned to undertake a survey of leadership behaviours and practices, management activity, training practices and processes, and related support services.

Methodology

We tailored our Equality and Diversity Diagnostic Framework, which we developed based on the principles of the Business Excellence Model, for use in the agency. This enabled Astar to gather and analyse information on Leadership, Policy and Strategy, People, Partnerships and Resources, Processes and Results.

Structured interviews and focus groups were used to engage with senior and middle managers, training and development teams, support staff, customers, students, partners and wider service users. These were further supported by a desktop review of internal regulations and other policies and procedures. The aim was to gain an understanding of:

• The positioning of equality and diversity in the context of business strategy, management activity, and corporate values
• How far equality and diversity had been integrated into training practices and processes

What The Agency Gained Through Astar’s Review

As a result of the review, the agency was clearer about the impact of its current culture, business approach and management behaviours on achievement of a range of key business objectives. Astar’s report highlighted a number of issues:

• There was a need to clarify key objectives and to establish systems for measuring, evaluating and communicating progress.
• Linked to the above, leadership was inconsistent in promoting an open and inclusive culture and senior managers were often unclear about their role, resulting in an ‘us and them’ culture both internally and in relation to customers.
• In terms of policy and strategy, whilst promoting equality and diversity was seen as ‘a good thing’, managers as a group did not have the understanding or skills to deliver it or to embed it into business objectives and practices.
• Staff in the agency did not feel valued and operated in a climate of uncertainty and vulnerability. As a result the wealth of talent, knowledge and expertise available was not being fully realised. Cynical attitudes fuelled by poor communication further eroded creativity and innovation.
• Partnership working, to define effective, accessible and relevant training and development design and delivery, was weak. Structures necessary to monitor outcomes against agency values and policies on equality and diversity were lacking. The agency’s influence on its customer base was declining.

Recommendations

Astar presented a report to the Agency Board in which we made a number of recommendations around:

Leadership & Business Planning

The need to:

• Ensure consistent, visible and unambiguous leadership, particularly at senior management levels
• Adopt a proactive and co-ordinated high level business plan to integrate equality and diversity into day to day business operations as an integral part of the overall business planning process
• Introduce accountability by individual business heads in relation to their own area of responsibility to support the high level business plan
• Review HR ownership of the “Equality and Fairness” business instructions, to reinforce active ownership of the issues across the business

Living the Values

The need to:

• Provide training for all managers to raise awareness of current and emerging issues with practical guidance on managing them effectively
• Further develop organisational values, defining standards and expectations both positive and negative
• Implement a framework for monitoring and taking action when standards or legal requirements are not met
• Encourage more open feedback to capture the inherent wealth of existing talent, knowledge and experience internally on equality and diversity issues
• Develop effective and co-ordinated monitoring and management information systems to assess and evaluate progress against objectives

Improving Service Delivery

The need to:

• Develop better consultation within the organisation, its customers and the wider service, to define integrated equality and diversity policy, ensure fair access routes to training and promote mutually beneficial training design and delivery channels
• Explore the reasons behind the ‘us and them’ culture internally and develop a strategy for dealing with it
• Regularly review membership and lifespan of equality and diversity special interest and action groups to ensure appropriate representation of key influencers

Adding Value and Follow Up

The Agency’s Board have set up an Action Group to develop a detailed action plan to take forward Astar’s recommendations, with key milestones for implementation and review. Astar recommended that the Group should also be the means to consider action relating to other relevant initiatives in the agency to ensure that issues were addressed in a holistic, cohesive and comprehensive way. Astar has been advised that we will be asked to review the action plans prior to implementation.