Part 2 - Making The Case
ACTION PLAN
Once you have agreement about moving forward, it’s time to create a more detailed Action Plan with long and short term goals as well as immediate action items to achieve those goals. In getting ‘buy-in’, you have explained why you need to focus on diversity and inclusion. Your action plan lays out how.
While it may seem overly formal, having a written plan that your entire organization can refer to will also help keep you on track and assure a greater degree of success. The process itself can be helpful - benefits often lie in the discussion around what diversity means for your organization.
Even if you are the lone person in your organization who is ultimately responsible for building and implementing this plan, seek input from others within your organization such as your board members.
Your plan should be reviewed regularly and updated with your latest data to ensure that it is still relevant and achieving what you want to achieve.
You’ll want to set high-level objectives, short-term goals and action steps.
High level objectives generally take several years to achieve. They should articulate a position to be attained or an accomplishment. Examples include:
- inclusive organizational culture
- workforce that reflects the communities you serve
- strong community partnerships with specific community organizations
- barrier-free and accessible environment
- public awareness of your approach to diversity and inclusion
Short-term goals set specific, measurable performance targets that generally can be achieved within one to two years. Examples include:
- Communicate the Diversity and Inclusion mission/vision and strategy internally and externally.
- Determine who will “champion” inclusion and who will support it.
- Develop partnerships with specific outside organizations that support inclusion.
- Gather current information and establish a baseline.
- Create a schedule for re-evaluating policies and procedures.
- Provide cultural competency training.
- Review accessibility.
A list of Action Items should contain specific statements about how the short-term goals will be accomplished, the resources (cost, staff, space, etc.) required, who is responsible, and specific deadlines for each action item. Examples include:
Short term goal: Develop partnerships
Action item: Do an internet search for similar cultural organizations in the community with the same goals.
Short term goal: Communicate the diversity and inclusion vision
Action item: Review our public documents to insert the vision statement in all formats.
Resources
Inclusion - Making the Case in Arts and Culture - A brief written overview from WorkInCulture of what’s involved in making a convincing case for inclusion projects in the arts and culture sector.
Dig Deeper
Inclusion - Making the Case in Arts and Culture – These two free eLearning modules from WorkInCulture offer interactive step-by-step guides to planning a comprehensive and persuasive case for diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion – toolkit for developing a diversity and inclusion strategy from the CCDI which offers consultation, resources and training on diversity and inclusion
Strategic Planning for Dummies – Action plan cheat sheet in simple terms along with simple tips for better and more effective planning
Woven: Disability, Inclusion & Community – An overview of the areas of disability and accessibility at Ontario College of Art and Design, tracking actions and progress.
Consider the following
We have:
□ Identified a gap in our efforts towards diversity and inclusion
□ Selected 1 – 3 initiatives to address the gap
□ Considered risks/benefits/resources required
□ Address critical success factors such as who will do this and the support needed to make the plan happen
□ Identified long-term and short-term SMART goals
□ Created action plan items for each goal with timelines, reporting requirements, and who is responsible
□ Created a schedule for checking in on progress and revision