1

Strategic Planning To Action:

Becoming a Culturally

Competent Organization

Dawn Cooper

Manager, Diversity & Cultural Competency, The Arc

2

Learning Objectives

• Review the strategic purpose of diversity, inclusion and cultural competency

• Review the need for a sound organizational imperative

• Learn key steps to successfully implementing a change strategy around diversity within your chapter

• Explore the obstacles/barriers to diversity and strategies for overcoming resistance and achieving success

3

Why Diversity As A Strategic Planning Initiative?

4

If Our Organizations Look Like This

5

And We Want To Be Closer to This

6

What is Diversity?

• What it is NOT

• Affirmative Action

• EEO

• Just Training

• Human Resources

Owned

• Minority Focused

• Us vs. Them

• What it IS

• Strategic

• Tactical

• Systemic

• Business Driven

• Inclusive

• Goal oriented

• Everyone’s

Responsibility!

7

Diversity is:

The conscious decision by an organization to

examine it’s systems and processes and create

an environment that maximizes the potential

of all it’s employees for continued optimal

organizational success

8

Inclusion is:

A work environment where everyone has an

opportunity to fully participate in creating

business success, and where each person is

valued for his or her distinctive skills,

experiences, and perspectives.

9

Building a Diversity Strategic Plan

Step 1: Assess the

environment

Step 2: Identify and

educate your diversity

champions

Step 3: Create an

organizational imperative

Step 4: Communicate the

vision

Step 5: Remove Obstacles

Step 6: CREATE A

DIVERSITY STRATEGY

Step 7: Measure and

Report Progress

Step 8: Anchor the changes

in the Corporate Culture

Step 9: Anchor the changes

in the Business Plan

10

Step 1: Assessment Why

Assessment?

10

Hiring

Retention

Succession Planning

Financial

Sustainability

Community Outreach Customer Satisfaction

Education

Attitudes

Behaviors

Corporate

Culture

Awareness

Program

Development

Customer Support

Implicit Bias

Barriers

Systemic Bias

HOW

DO

YOU KNOW

WHAT TO WORK ON?

Promotions

Evaluations

Rewards and

Recognition

Inclusion

Product

Development

Market Share

11

Benefits of an Assessment

• Gauge the degree to which your organization is effectively addressing the needs of its core population;

• Determine the knowledge, skills, interests, and needs of staff, board members, and organizational membership;

• Improve access, utilization, outcomes, and satisfaction with services and activities conducted;

• Establish meaningful partnerships;

• Determine strengths and areas for growth for the organization and its staff; and

• Help develop a strategic action plan!

12

Step 2: Champions

Organizational members who assume the role of facilitating the change initiative in the organization.

• Champions are a conduit for disseminating information

• Drive behavioral and cultural change across the organization

• Continually reinforce and link diversity and inclusion to organizational objectives

• Model behavior

• Communicate effectively about D&I to a range of audiences

13

Who are Your Champions

• Senior Leadership team members

• Employee leaders

• Middle management leaders

• Employee Resource Group members

• Diversity Team members

• Diversity Council members

14

Step 3: Organizational Imperative

Why should your organization implement a

diversity initiative?

• Changing workforce demographics

• Evolving workplace and community needs

• Maximizing diverse markets

• Recruiting and retaining top talent

• Improved performance / productivity

• Organizational sustainability and growth

• Increased adaptability that ensures survival

Business

Drivers

15 A Good Organizational Imperative

will…

• Expect and sustain a long-

term effort

• Accept the new

demographic reality

• Make rapid change the

constant

• Be willing to pierce the

power and work through the discomfort

• Be honest

• Spread goodwill

• Demonstrate commitment

at the highest level

• Seek involvement and

commitment from the

bottom up

• Teach a wide array of

management techniques that work cross culturally

• Integrate diversity into the

fabric of the organization

16

Organizational Imperative

A diverse, culturally competent organization will increase effectiveness, credibility and transparency by expanding our capacity to

create impact in the development and implementation of programs, to provide

resources and support, to influence public policy, and to advocate for the needs of a

diverse local and international I/DD constituency.

Created with the support of the Board Committee on Diversity, August 2014

17

Step 4: Communicating

EVERYONE!!!

Staff Community

Board Customers

Shareholders THE

WORLD!!!

18

Step 5: Removing Obstacles

Organizational barriers to Diversity include:

• Cost of implementation

• Fear of hiring under skilled, uneducated employees

• Strong belief in a system that favors merit

• Annoyance at reverse discrimination

• Perception of progress

• Not a top-priority issue

• Impact on existing systems

• Sheer size of the organization

19

Step 6: Create a Diversity Strategy

A Good Strategic Plan should:

• Address critical performance issues

• Create the right balance between what the

organization is capable of doing vs. what

the organization would like to do

• Cover a sufficient time period to close the

performance gap

20

A Good Strategic Plan should:

• Be Visionary – convey a desired future end

state

• Be Flexible – allow and accommodate

change

• Guide decision making at every level –

operational, tactical, individual

21

Step 7: Measure and Report Who are we

hiring?

Who’s on our board?

What new

products are

being

developed?

Who’s leaving?

Who’s using the

benefits? What benefits

are not being

used?

Who’s buying

our products?

Who’s using our

services?

What impact is

our marketing

having?

Who’s supporting us?

Do we have a

diverse

candidate

slate?

Who’s staying?

Who are we

promoting?

How’s our customer

satisfaction?

What’s our

employee

satisfaction?

Who’s in our

succession plan?

Who’s being

developed?

What does our

pipeline look like?

Who are we

training? What are we

training on?

Is there

adverse

impact in pay?

What new

services are we

providing?

22 Step 8: Anchor the corporate

culture

Identify Competencies

Identify Behavior

Train (or Hire) Reinforce Reward

How?

23

Step 9: Anchor in Business

Organizational Imperative

Report Out at Year End

Corporate Scorecard

24

Discussion Questions

• What is the diversity profile of your organization?

• Does your management team reflect the cultural make up of your workforce?

• Does your workforce reflect the cultural makeup of your customer base?

• Who should be responsible for monitoring and driving diversity issues in your organization?

• What is the goal(s) of diversity training?

25

Discussion Questions

• Is diversity training a passing fad created by a societal move towards “political correctness”, or does it have a legitimate place in your business?

• Can you eliminate workplace discrimination or cultural insensitivity simply by changing policies to ensure fair treatment?

• Is an organizational commitment to valuing diversity compatible with a commitment to merit and organizational excellence?

• Should diversity training attempt to change attitudes or behavior?

26 Key Components of a Successful

Diversity Initiative • Executive level commitment to partner with HR

and champion this kind of change initiative is critical to its credibility and long-term success

• Training is a wake up call, not a panacea for institutionalizing diversity in your organization

• A Diversity Council can be an effective culture change agent, if structured and staffed appropriately

• Accountability for managing diversity is a shared responsibility, with expectations to be met Measure and celebrate the measures of your success

27

Questions?

Dawn Cooper: cooper@thearc.org