Some reflections on a northwest minority staff advisory group network

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Some reflections on a north-west minority staff
advisory group network

• Scott Gaule
• Liverpool John Moores University

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What is the initiative?

• 2 year HEFCE LGM project
• Set up staff groups, supporting
• BME, LGBT, Disabled, Women
• Basic remit support and consultation
• Partnership approach
• North West Universities
• Local public sector organisations

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Project Consortium

• The University of Bolton (10)
• University of Central Lancashire(6-8)
• University of Chester (19,20)
• Cumbria Institutes of Arts (1)
• Edge Hill University (9)
• Lancaster University (5)
• The University of Liverpool (16)
• Liverpool John Moores University (18)
• Liverpool Hope University (16)
• The University of Manchester (13)
• Manchester Metropolitan University (14, 21)
• University of Salford (15)
• St. Martins College (2-4)
• The Royal Northern College of Music (11)
• Leeds Metro Bradford University

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Project Development
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Early days

• Landscape of equality and diversity
• - no common home
• - often one brief amongst many
• - only handful full-time dedicated posts
• I felt, not unlike the proposed groups, that in
  general the ED agenda had a marginal minority
  presence in the sector.
• Only 2 HEIs - ED situated in VCs office

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Early Days

• A small number of HEIs had already invested in
  advisory groups, but most of these at early
  stages
• Evidence that there had been attempts in the past
  - seemed more oriented towards provision of peer
  support
• Wider historical and political picture the
  initiative viewed with suspicion by some
• - A managerial tick box?
• - feelings of frustration and disillusionment
• Some background into the practical logistics of
  setting up groups
• - The backlash

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Public Sector Consultation

• Public Sector Realities
• - McPherson recommendations
• - Acceptance of institutional discrimination
• - Data collection and monitoring
• External drivers
• - HO Audit Assessment (e.g. Police)
• - Local Government Equality Standards
• - ED linked to CPA resources and reputations
• (Re)positioning ED within CEO / SMT
• - Core business

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So for particular groups of people, theres a
real need for organisations to improve how they
listen to what these issues are and then how they
then take these issues into their ways of working
to eliminate apparent discrimination and
disadvantageAnd they might not have robust
enough systems to be able to ask the right
questions to the appropriate people and get the
responses they need, to improve. And I think
thats one of the drivers, that were continually
being asked to improve. Equality and diversity is
one of those indicators. Which means that without
these groups inputting some sort of say, having
some sort of scrutiny and consultative role, you
wont be able to deliver that. Because no one
person is going to have the answers for such a
diverse population (Senior Equality Officer,
LG)
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Public Sector Consultation

• Differences in the historical development
• - bottom up and top down, however
• - Co-ownership of groups
• Reflected in provision of support
• - Practical resources needed
• - Access to strategic forums / gatekeepers
• - SMT Champions and conduits

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Key Challenges

• Relationship building
• Working with stakeholders
• - those that identify with the groups
• - those that dont identify with the groups
• - SMT / Gatekeepers
• Marketing and raising awareness
• Challenging myths and misconceptions
• Gaining trust and confidence - showing
  organisation that its not about blame but
  supporting and supplementing existing systems
• Ongoing process - developing communication
  channels to show what doing (e.g. minutes,
  reports, newsletters)

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Key Challenges Resource Issues

• Developing participatory cultures
• - Securing time off
• - SMT endorsement as key to mainstreaming
  initiatives
• - Emails / Newsletters / Launch Initiatives /
  Team briefings
• - Innovative measures (e.g. marketing as
  equality training exercises)
• Securing financial support
• - Acknowledgement of specific costs - building
  business cases
• - Awareness of groups as change management teams
  
• not simply about securing time off, but
  developing group capacities

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You only get out what you put into it. If you
want quality you have to put quality (resources)
into it. So some of that is recognising this. You
cant expect people to take on this massive
support remit. Its not just two hours at a
meeting, it will leap back in to their paid job
time. Theyve got to have that time. Like what
time will it take to draft a consultation
response then a re-draft? You know, it starts
eating into your time, like arranging a venue,
whatever it is that is important. It shouldnt be
difficult to make the admin case. Its the glue
that makes the thing work, you know. We are
talking about teams and you dont need to take
that same structure and mind set into these
groups, and if you dont, then you have to
question why are you really doing this? You have
to ask that question, because by not doing that
these groups will not work. And the accusation
will be that you knew this, and you didnt really
want to do it and youve set them up to fail. It
could be perceived as a stab in the back.
(Senior Equality Officer, Local Government)
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Yeah. They call it capacity building. Like about
how to develop the core skills and the
experiences to understand say, what mainstreaming
disability means and how to go about it. Yep. So
were having that experience of writing reports,
writing action plans, monitoring them, speaking
with the right people within the organisation,
inviting them to the groups to speak with us and
talk about their services and whether theyre
say, accessible and its taken us a year for us
to find our feet and our voiceWell none of us
had, well I had a little bit of experience
writing action plans but, none of us had any
experience of writing reports because Im not
managerial level. So, we all had to learn on the
job so to speak. And now were all learning on
the job, so that way its teaching ourselves
within the group. (Chair of Disability Group,
Local Government)
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Key Challenges Capacity Building

• Developing effective groups
• - taking on additional roles (often new)
• - specific skills necessary to function
  effectively, e.g.
• - How to write reports? Newsletters? Action
  plans? Monitoring?
• Develop relationships with gatekeepers?
  Understanding legislation?
• Resourcefulness and working with specific
  departments
• - (e.g. HR, Staff Development) - key allies
• Significance of core group dynamics comes to the
  fore
• - sharing responsibilities
• - realistic expectations
• - evidence of excessive volunteerism taking its
  toll
• Crucial in building reputation as effective org
  resource longevity

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Lessons for HE Sector?

• Crucial evidence base
• - Comparative data - structural framework
  logistics
• - Critical Success Factors
• Directory of critical friends development of
  resources
• Some obvious but critical factors
• - Differences in the positioning of ED in HE
  sector
• - Paucity of SM Personnel to champion groups and
  act as conduits
• - As a result How serious will groups be taken?
• - And what about the resources needed for
  sustainability?
• Your ideas and feedback on this would be
  welcomed?

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And Finally

• Exploring supplementary alternative solutions
• Sub-regional forums workshops
• - pooling ideas, efforts and resources
• Virtual Network
• - Committees not everybodys cup of tea
• - Various ways of participating
• - Gateway for staff across HEIs to converse
• - Permanent archive and resources
• - Means of shaping a regional identity
• - Project legacy