As a leader or manager in health and social care, you must:
- confront and remove discrimination, bullying, harassment and inequality
- ask who is missing, who isn’t being heard, and why. Act to remove bias and unfairness
This means:
- creating an environment where everyone feels safe, valued, supported, and can be themselves
- tailoring support to each person’s needs and recognising that everyone is different
- standing up for people who are treated unfairly – and helping people feel confident to do the same
- thinking about how conscious and unconscious biases affect decisions – and then addressing those biases
- listening to people who are marginalised or underrepresented – and valuing what they say
- making reasonable adjustments so that differences in background, identity, or ability don’t unfairly limit participation or outcomes
- tackling the causes of injustices, rather than only reacting to the effects
- engaging in continuous learning about cultural humility, inclusivity, and intersectionality to enhance their leadership impact
- honouring other people’s beliefs, customs and values
- understanding how diversity can make an organisation more effective – and helping others see this
- learning what inclusion really means – how people’s different backgrounds and experiences shape their lives, and how to lead in ways that respect and include everyone
What do effective and ineffective practices look like?
Effective practice
- Consults with people and their representatives to understand their needs, implements inclusive practices, and educates people to create a supportive environment.
- Reviews hiring practices, addresses barriers to diversity, and implements inclusive strategies to attract and support underrepresented groups.
- Creates space for honest conversations, introduces bias training, and reviews policies to make sure they are fair and hold people to account.
- Puts fairness at the heart of strategy, directs resources to where they are most needed – particularly to underserved groups – and acknowledges the advantages they may have and how these may shape their perspectives.
Ineffective practice
- Overlooks people’s difficulties, expects them to adapt without support, and accepts exclusion in the workplace.
- Dismisses a lack of diversity as unavoidable, fails to address systemic barriers and limits opportunities for marginalised groups.
- Dismisses concerns from staff and their representatives, assumes existing policies are fair, and fails to provide opportunities for change, reinforcing systemic inequities.
- Avoids tackling inequality, treats equity as irrelevant to day-to-day work, and fails to invest in real change.