First Things First: Planning for Planning
A carefully developed strategy paves the way for progress and success. Here are some ideas for designing your diversity strategy.
Take inventory. Because you can’t be sure about where you’re going unless you know where you are now, one first order of business in mapping a diversity strategy must be to take stock. The classic SWOT inventory—measuring strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—works well here. Apply SWOT to analyze all that your institution is doing to become more diverse. You will undoubtedly uncover gaps that need filling, areas of current practice that need further attention, and new ideas.
Get broad buy-in. As you plan, seek input from a broad range of stakeholders—from administrators and faculty to students and staff. With each contact, explore how they might provide support for your mission. Talk with department heads and other key colleagues to mutually identify the most important challenges and goals for the short-term and over time.
Inform your leadership. Do not do your work in a vacuum. Make sure that the person you report to knows exactly what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. Use the chain of command to bring other administrators into the loop. Let other important colleagues know, too. Listen to the ideas you hear and adopt those that make sense. Ask people if they can help you—then take them up on their offers. Don’t go overboard, but share regular updates on progress.
One colleague's perspective:
Make a Business Case for Diversity
Part of persuasion is being able to shape a message in ways that your target audience will understand. In a business school, therefore, it may make sense for you to frame diversity as a value proposition and in terms of competitive advantages. Similarly, you might help students in your school’s programs to understand how their personal investment in diversity is a requisite for success in today’s diverse, global society. Anticipate, however, that framing a business case for diversity can also create expectations around numerical measures of success—not always the most relevant or informative metrics for diversity. (See section on “Measuring Success in Advancing Diversity”).
Be Open to Change
Don’t think of your strategy as cast in stone. It should be a living, breathing—and flexible—statement of what you are trying to achieve. You don’t want to redraw your plans on a whim, but sometimes there are compelling reasons to shift direction, so be open to that possibility.
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