Today we had our scrutiny by the Equality and Diversity Board, as I posted about last week. Went very well - lots of positive comments, but some areas to think about as well. We were asked a lot about our departmental culture, and this is something we're working on at the moment - last year we did a lot of work on our vision, our strategies and our objectives. Now we are going to look at our values - I hope to have some more world cafe events over the next few weeks so that we can explore these and some of the other diversity issues that were raised, further.
I thought it might be useful to share the conclusion from our paper to the Board with you:
"CiCS departmental culture has always been based on understanding needs and applying skills and technology to the solution of other people’s problems and we have a positive approach to Equality and Diversity. We aim to present ourselves as a willing and helpful resource to the whole University and beyond. Our customer surveys are beginning to tell us whether that is indeed how we are perceived and we will continue to use the results to inform improvements.
Our culture is changing towards a more pro-active approach, ie to recognise and, where appropriate, to provide for the needs of diverse groups rather than waiting for them to appear. This applies particularly to our customers but also to staff and of course a positive approach in each area reinforces the other.
Culture change is achieved when a clear direction from the top is expressed through specific, consistent and visible actions, measuring changes where possible. We will continue to develop awareness across the department by giving a clear lead, encouraging all staff to use the thought-provoking on-line training materials and other training opportunities and by encouraging discussion of, and action on, specific issues. We welcome discussion of our performance. "
I'd be more than happy to receive any comments people have on this.
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