Here's Simon Fanshawe's article about the report in today's The Times and The Sunday Times thetimes.com/article/2e3dc2…

We're delighted to see the publication of this report, with its clear recommendations for senior leaders. "The primary outcome of greater diversity should come from disagreeing well and collaborating through difference to produce the outcomes the organisation has set itself."

Rachel Cashman Simon Fanshawe Matilda Gosling Agree this is excellent by Simon Fanshawe . How do we get this into HR departments, especially public sector?!

A quick 🧵 on the state of EDI from this week’s report by me and Simon Fanshawe. I interviewed 45 chief executives, chairs, EDI/HR heads and staff network leads from across the the public and private sectors to get their perspectives. diversitybydesign.co.uk/flying-flags-a… #FlyingFlags 1/13

Our findings represent the balance of views. Not all interviewees would agree with all our findings. Here are some of our headlines. 2/13

There’s often a culture of #NoDebate. Dissenters don’t speak out, leading to toxicity, impoverished workplace culture and an impaired ability to make effective decisions. 4/13

EDI is frequently separate from the business reasons for doing it. It is influenced by those who speak loudest, not those whose needs are greatest. Decisions get outsourced, reinforcing mainstream orthodoxy. A focus on visible diversity means invisible aspects get missed. 5/13

Negative outcomes include: - Box-ticking and virtue signalling at the expense of real change. - Failure to balance needs and rights of all groups. - Continuing discrimination and staff attrition. - Persistent ineffectiveness (of both EDI and organisations). 6/13

There are some greyer areas. One is identity vs individual diversity – there were mixed views on this. Some groups genuinely face greater discrimination and barriers, but identity-focused approaches can affect individual belonging, organisational cohesion and performance. 7/13

Social activism is another grey area. It’s a good thing, for some leaders – for others, it’s never appropriate. An organisational line on social debates that have no link to business purpose can create workforce divisions, invite external criticism and eat up resources. 8/13

Contentious issues can percolate into organisations from wider society. There are sometimes actual or perceived competing rights between groups on a given issue. Organisations must learn to deal with complexity. 9/13

There are, however, plenty of strengths and opportunities. Some examples: centring diversity of thought; encouraging curiosity for competing perspectives; expanding the focus of EDI to include protecting freedom of speech; measuring what works and capitalising on it… 10/13

…Creating richly diverse cultures; getting training right; modelling attitudes/behaviours leaders want to see elsewhere; planning carefully to ensure no clashes of needs/rights; widening talent pools; creating a single community bound by organisational objectives. 11/13

Organisations thrive when they have a culture that enables healthy disagreement and the expression of views that challenge mainstream thinking. 12/13

When people know what’s expected of them and how to interact with each other in a way that respects difference and meets common goals, the possibilities are extraordinary. We hope you enjoy our report and the quotes from the insightful leaders who contributed to it. /Ends

Matilda Gosling Simon Fanshawe I have just read the introduction and the executive summary. I have downloaded your report. Thank you. This is excellent work, much needed.

Matilda Gosling Simon Fanshawe I am very grateful. As someone who trained as a facilitator, some of the disciplines being Interculturalism, language we use to express our difference and diversity in NI , it was really wonderful to hear your thoughts on this. I think it's a very important piece of work.

"EDI is an area in which people can become specialists without specialist knowledge." This report gets to the heart of the problem.

I wrote a piece in The Critic about the accidental upending of EDI. thecritic.co.uk/the-problem-wi…

Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS Diversity by Design just published a good report on how DEI should be organised and what training should look like: x.com/SimonFanshawe/…