Top-down vs bottom-up successfully implementing diversity initiatives
大树出装By Mary Frances Winters and Linkage Inc (by permission)
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1. Introduction
Most diversity initiatives start from the top with the leadership commitment. A high-level strategy is developed, complete with vision, mission and goals. But by the time it gets to the bottom (if it ever makes it!), it is often interpreted very differently.
The intent of top-down approaches is noble, but without an equally effective bottom-up strategy, diversity initiatives invariably get stuck in the middle. In most cas, when a company decides to focus on diversity, the CEO and other top-level executives will incorporate a philosophical message in a variety of company publications and in prentations and reports given both internally and externally. The well-worded communications usually speak to 憊aluing and respecting diversity? 憈he desire to have an
organisation that is reprentative of the labour force and customer ba? 憇ocial responsibility, and compliant with the law and anti-discrimination policies? A wide variety of process, policies, and strategies are then developed to promote awareness and appreciation of differences, ensure fair treatment, increa reprentation, and create a culture of inclusion.
2. Basic elements of the top down approach评课报告
Some basic elements of the top-down approach include leadership development, training, equal employment and zero tolerance policies, social responsibility initiatives, recruitment and retention programmes, linking diversity to business goals, and culture-change initiatives.
While this approach is a good way for upper-level leaders to visualize and articulate the creation of an inclusive environment within the organisation, the actual implementation of the concepts throughout an organisation is hard work and requires the ability to "e" the workplace from the bottom up. Top-down approaches are often bad on "programme
s" whereas bottom-up strategies are more process focud.
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The vision will not be realized if the plan doesn't ensure that everyone is involved. Top-down only thinking can cau a diversity initiative to be stopped in its tracks, or before it even starts. Starts to work, that is.
By the time the flow of information reaches the lower levels of the company, the message may have changed, the issues may be misunderstood, and what once was a comprehensive stream of goals and strategies may now only be a a of random thought. Or, it may never get to the bottom at all. And if that happens, the organisation will be cycled back to the beginning stages of planning its diversity model, which will be both costly and time-consuming for everyone involved.
Here are some examples of how top-down messages are interpreted from the bottom up:
# Top-Down Message: Our workforce must reprent the labour force and customer ba.
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>> Bottom-Up Translation: Preferential treatment (quotas) for some groups.
# Top-Down Message: We need to create a culture of inclusiveness
>> Bottom-Up Translation: Including others means some of us who ud to be included will now be excluded.
# Top-Down Message: Diversity is good for business.
>> Bottom-Up Translation: Diversity diverts our attention from our main business.突兀的近义词
# Top-Down Message: Each of us must examine our bias and stereotypes and work towards valuing and respecting others.
>> Bottom-Up Translation: "There is something wrong with me and I being asked to change my core values, who I am."vivo云服务
# Top-Down Message: We must be a socially responsible organisation.
>> Bottom-Up Translation: "The company is going to waste money on programmes that will take away from profits and my rai."
The resistance on the path from the top to the bottom can be so strong that there is literally a period where everything stops, for maybe even veral years and then something happens (usually a problem) and we are called back again to "re-energize" the effort. During the periods of inactivity, employees usually e it as yet "another programme of the month" gone by the wayside!
Using a bottom-up approach in addition to the top-down strategy from the beginning. The bottom-up approach rves to operationalize the high-level strategies throughout the entire organisation.
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3. Key features of a bottom-up approach
# Focus on the individual
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Recognising that change happens one person at a time and that everyone is different (e.
g. have had different experiences), a bottom-up approach develops different learning solutions and strategies to meet individuals where they are. For example, white males often feel excluded from the diversity and inclusion equation. There is a need to understand their issues and concerns.
# Accountability at all levels
Often, accountability is viewed as the responsibility of top management and/or HR. A bottom-up approach puts the onus on every individual to e his/her role in advancing the diversity initiatives. The age old: "What's in it for me?" has to be answered and often top-down approaches provide a punitive rather than opportunistic answer. For example, a zero tolerance policy is sometimes translated from the bottom as: "I better not say anything to someone who is different. I might say the wrong thing and be fired." In a bottom-up approach, a natural work team learning community can facilitate a better understanding of the parameters of zero tolerance for that team. It is an opportunity to learn how to work more effectively with co-workers.
