We warmly welcome the publication of the report, Flying Flags and Ticking Boxes: What Went Wrong with EDI and How Leaders Can Fix It, and share some reflections on implications for higher education institutions.
The Diversity by Design report, written by Simon Fanshawe OBE and Matilda Gosling, has been shaped by 45 interviews with leaders across public and private sectors – including our own director at Plinth House, Levi Pay.
The report sets out, and brings to life, seven high-level recommendations for leaders and organisations in relation to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI):
Link EDI to your organisation’s activities and goals.
Create a culture of productive disagreement.
Ensure inclusion is not exclusion.
Make better use of data and evidence.
Move towards a more constructive model of staff networks.
Check the quality of training.
Find common purpose.
At Plinth House, we believe the report’s findings and recommendations are highly relevant for the higher education sector and encourage colleagues in all higher education providers to engage with the report and reflect on its recommendations. As the report’s introduction states:
“EDI started with the excellent intentions of senior leaders to ensure that talent in their companies was rewarded, not blocked; that staff did not experience discrimination; that their organisation had access to the widest range of people with the skills needed to fulfil its goals; and that all staff felt valued and able to contribute at their best to these objectives. It seemed, instead, to have morphed into a set of rules and prohibitions that divided, not included, and that shamed and shut down people with non-aligned views and values."
Of the 45 interviewees informing the research findings, seven are current postholders within universities - including three university Vice-Chancellors/Provosts, two university HR Directors, a university EDI Director, and an academic with a focus on equity in STEMM research.
Welcoming the report, Levi Pay, Director of Plinth House, said:
“The report, Flying Flags and Ticking Boxes, to which I am very happy to have made a small contribution as one of the interviewees providing an input, is clearly the outcome of a very thorough piece of work. It sets out a positive, forward-looking vision and urges a much-needed course correction – a refocusing of a field of work that, in my view, has lost its way in recent years. I say this as someone who worked for many years as an EDI specialist myself.
EDI can play a part in supporting the core purpose and activities of our institutions, including our higher education providers, but not in its current form. If EDI work is to help protect the reputations, compliance, and success of our institutions, all those who specialise in this field must value and prioritise diversity of thought, freedom of speech and academic freedom alongside other types of diversity.
We see this new report from Diversity by Design as a solid foundation on which the higher education sector and a wide range of other sectors can now build.”
One of the many areas explored by the report which is particularly important in the higher education sector is the role and impact of staff networks. As the report states:
“Staff networks, built around broad identities, too often fail to represent the range of views in their constituencies. But they are often treated by the organisation as if they are the authentic voice of the whole of that group of staff. This is particularly evident in, say, the contested area of sex and gender, where LGBTQ+ groups with one perspective do not include the views of those who characterise themselves as LGB or same-sex attracted (what the case law categorises as ‘gender identity’ versus ‘gender critical’ beliefs). This also happens with issues around race, where individuals from ethnic minorities hold very different views about the significance of race at work and in their progression and development.”
You can read the full report on the Diversity by Design website. To find out more about Diversity by Design, the organisation that has published this report, visit their website.
At Plinth House, later in the academic year, we will be launching new EDI-related training courses as well as some free resources to support the higher education sector. If you would like to be kept informed about our future work, let us know your name and email address and we will send you occasional updates.