Ofcom's D&I journey with Kerri-Ann, People and Transformation Director

As a body that works for the British public, it’s essential that Ofcom hears a range of voices at policy and decision-making levels across all our areas of work. To do this, we need a diverse workforce. This helps us to regulate effectively on behalf of everyone in the UK.

In 2020, we started work on our D&I strategy for 2021-26. We wanted to make sure this wasn’t just a HR-led initiative, so it was important that people across different teams and levels of the organisation understood and supported the work. So, while the strategy was sponsored by our Chief Executive and our senior team, the individuals looking at different areas came from across Ofcom. We engaged widely across the organisation, listening carefully to what was being said by our Employee Networks and interest groups.

These groups include Ofcom Women’s Network; Parents and Carers Network; Affinity Network, for LGBT colleagues and allies; RACE Network, for raising awareness of culture and ethnicity; Religion and Faith Network; Disability and Wellbeing Group; and Social Mobility Interest Group.

As we began looking at our new D&I strategy, we identified five component parts:

• Our targets and priorities
• The processes and systems influencing diversity and inclusion at Ofcom
  • Recruitment
  • Performance management
  • Career management
• The culture and leadership we need
• Delivery of the strategy
• Our overall vision for D&I. This in turn fell into six themes:

WE ARE CONNECTED TO COMMUNITIES WE ARE NATURALLY INCLUSIVE WE ARE FAIR BY DESIGN OUR LEADERS ARE ROLE MODELS WE ARE TRULY DIVERSE WE TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

We launched the strategy in January 2021. As we move into its second year, we’re pleased to be making good progress on representation such as senior ethnicity, senior women, and disability. We’ve also made advances on our LGBT priorities and our social mobility index ranking has increased.

While we’ve seen good progress, there have certainly been challenges. First, societal events and movements in areas such as ethnicity and gender have put D&I into sharp focus. Public conversations about them can sometimes be fractious, so enabling people to consider and discuss D&I issues in a way that is respectful of others – but also honest and authentic – is a fine balance to strike. A key question to think about here is: “How does your culture give voice to people when they feel challenged by these difficult topics?”

Second, given the need to consider a wide range of protected characteristics, all of which deserve attention from organisations, how do you make progress on all fronts? Where and how to prioritise can be really challenging for teams and organisations.

For me, the answer to this second challenge is data. If your work programme is mainly driven by the issues of the day, the volume and emotive nature of the topics can make D&I a very consuming field. This year, we’ve really invested in having a professional D&I team and a range of data to draw on. Ofcom has a comprehensive colleague reporting programme, covering information such as protected characteristics.

For example, we’ve spent more time thinking about how we improve our picture of colleagues’ social and economic backgrounds, to help us identify barriers and improve social mobility. Good data also allows us to show the organisation why we are prioritising certain areas. For example, disability and long-term conditions are a major focus, because all our data showed us there is more work to be done here.

Having gone through the strategy process recently, I’d offer a few pieces of advice to any organisation doing the same. First, work with the senior leadership team to understand how D&I contributes to your overall purpose and your strategy. Once D&I becomes intrinsic to how you deliver your organisation’s activities, and how you think as an organisation about the issues of the day, you’re making huge strides.

My second piece of advice is that it is easy to get quite overwhelmed. Rooting your approach in data, and talking to people about how you see issues, can both help. But at some point, you must prioritise to move forward.

Lastly, I mentioned earlier the importance of gaining different perspectives and input internally, but also sharing and learning from likeminded people in other organisations and across different sectors.

For example, the Whitehall and Industry Group’s D&I conference is always thoughtful and thought-provoking – both on how to do things differently, but also for sharing ideas with people from other sectors. There are always some fantastic and inspiring key-note speakers and panellists, and it was surprising for me, having sat on both sides of the stage, how open and flowing the conversations are.

After the 2019 WIG conference, we introduced a career development programme for diverse leaders, called RISE, which has really grown over the last few years.

Be part of WIG's 8th annual D&I Conference, taking place on Thursday 3 March. Book your virtual tickets today.

Originally published: 21 February 2022