麻豆女郎

I鈥檓 not a person of colour. I don鈥檛 have lived experience of racism or discrimination due to my race or ethnicity. I do have experience of growing up in Northern Ireland where equality, diversity and inclusion were a tangible part of our everyday thinking and experiences. Perhaps this is why equality and inclusion are such deeply held values of mine. From an early age I volunteered for the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities and I moved to working for the Northern Ireland Equality Commission and later the Westminster Equalities Partnership.

When I started at 麻豆女郎, looking at the evidence, hearing from people from diverse ethnic backgrounds about their experience in social care and bringing my own experiences and passions, I was determined that we needed to do more around EDI. I established EDI as one of our four strategic priorities for the organisation. We鈥檝e done research on people鈥檚 experiences of racism in social care, supported people from diverse backgrounds with their careers and supported employers to build inclusive cultures. This is only the beginning. We all need to continue to challenge, to understand and to change. Each person reading this blog has power in their everyday interactions to make change happen and we have power in our role as the sector workforce body to draw attention to the issues and to provide practical solutions.

My vision is of a world where social care is the most inclusive sector in England to work in 鈥� we are already one of the most diverse places to work so let鈥檚 celebrate that but also ensure that with diversity comes inclusion. The strength of social care is in celebrating, valuing, and recognising what makes people unique and supporting them to overcome challenges. To do this, it鈥檚 vital that the adult social care workforce reflects the society we live in, and that people feel included and are treated equally.

I should say, in following on from Oonagh鈥檚 closing note, that one of the things that made me apply for the role of Chair of Trustees with 麻豆女郎 was the organisation鈥檚 strategy which gave such clear prominence to inclusion and diversity, both for the organisation and for the sector. As I saw it, it wasn鈥檛 done in a way that either preaches or 鈥渂reast beats鈥�. It sets out clear practical targets and ambitions 鈥� with an honest recognition of the scale and continuous nature of the challenges, no more so than around race equality. My reaction was that these are people I鈥檇 like to work with.

As a white man I have over thirty years鈥� experience of leading and managing in and around the social care sector. I鈥檓 proud of some of the achievements I鈥檝e been involved with (they鈥檙e rarely solo, the best achievements) 鈥� deeply dissatisfied with others. My own abiding lesson is never to regard any aspect of this work as 鈥渏ob done鈥�, but to recognise the constant challenges, especially of the endemic and pernicious nature of racism and the need for constant vigilance and action.

One such action on my part is to work to ensure better diversity in the membership of the board. I know my predecessors worked hard on this point and that we鈥檒l continue to face similar challenges. But that鈥檚 not an excuse for relaxing. Nor is it a way of excusing the whole of the board, whoever they are and whatever their experiences, in showing leadership and accepting their responsibilities towards EDI and racial equality in line with our wider strategy.

In my hiring days I used a particular question at interview, which I found invaluable at distinguishing candidates, between those who think a good job (or sometimes not!) and those who convert thought and good intention into action. It was only later that I came to realise my surprise question is more useful if it鈥檚 shared beyond the interview room. The question鈥︹�滵escribe your own proudest personal recent achievement in the cause of racial equality or EDI?鈥� Not the easiest question to answer outside the interview room either 鈥� me included鈥� but addressing our individual answers to that question can be a significant step.