5 Ways To Use Awareness Calendars
When I work with organisations on exploring their current position with regard to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or if I am creating a strategic plan for them, leaders are keen to take action NOW. They often know there needs to be change and either want to make that change quickly, or want to be seen to be making change quickly.
They will often use Awareness Calendars as a means of doing this. Why?
Awareness Calendars provide definitive dates and events that organisations can latch on to and feel more anchored. This offers security and also goals to aim for.
They detail a huge range of demographics and faiths providing a large number of opportunities for organisations to appear to be celebrating diversity.
They provide clear opportunities to demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion to people outside of the organisation through social media platforms and comments on websites.
There are some significant problems with this for me though. These reasons lead to performative DEI work and can also lead to a high level of frustration from colleagues and stakeholders. What this approach can look like is a series of Tweets and Instagram posts dedicated to significant events such as International Women’s day, Pride or Black History Month. The focus is on how we can appear to be inclusive with the emphasis on the word, ‘appear’. The focus should be on genuine actions that lead to stakeholders feeling they are expected to be in a space and that they belong.
I’d like to share the ways I feel Awareness Calendars can be used effectively.
#1 Use Them to Inform
You can use Awareness Calendars as a way to learn more about things you don’t know much about. Often, the events and significant dates on an Awareness Calendars will direct you to websites that are about that specific date or event. This allows you to learn more and share this with your colleagues, developing their knowledge and understanding of the world we live in.
#2 Use Them to Celebrate the People we Work With
This works well when you have some information or data about the people you work with. If you know the make up of your organisation, you can tailor your use of Awareness Calendars to reflect them. Feedback I have received tells me that this method has a positive impact on individuals. This is primarily and internal way of using the calendar, it starts with people first and making sure they feel seen.
#3 Use Them to Report on Progress
You can take the opportunity to use specific dates and events to report to your people on what steps you have taken with regard to diversity and inclusion, what impact it has made, and what is coming next. For example, International Women’s Day can be a good opportunity to explain what you have done to support women in your organisation in terms of flexible working, gender pay gap, maternity support, CPD and supporting (peri) menopausal women. You can also explain what you want to do next, and offer opportunities for women to tell you what they would like you to do next to ensure equitable experiences and an inclusive environment.
#4 Use Them to Forward Plan
You can use Awareness Calendars to get an overview of the year, and ask yourself how you can prepare for the future. For example, in education, you can look ahead to World Afro Day in September, and consider if your uniform policy is fit for purpose now. Does it encourage discrimination against groups of students? Can we revise it now ready to implement in September? Can we offer education and training to colleagues around bias and micro-aggressions now, so that students have a positive experience when they come to school in September.
#5 Use Them to Communicate With Others
You can use Awareness Calendars as an opportunity to share what you are doing on a specific topic with your community or wider world. International Day of Persons With Disabilities for example, is a good time to communicate with your community and networks what you have done to remove barriers for people with disabilities whilst also acknowledging or celebrating the day publicly. You can do this via social media, on your website, and in your newsletter for example.
You’ll notice that this tip is outward facing and comes last in my list. I believe you should only do this, when you have made absolutely sure you have focused on the experiences of all stakeholders in your organisation first.
Final Thoughts
It is not wise to be publicly celebrating Black History Month if you have never spoken to your Black, Brown and Global Majority colleagues about what their experiences are of working with you. Do you know what the ethnicity pay gap is at your organisation? Do you have diversity ethnic representation across the whole organisation including at senior leadership level and Board level? If not, have you got something in place to tackle this?
If you are not clear on your position and have no plans to address the specific issues related to protected characteristics, then public celebration of a significant date, group of people or event is performative. It is performative and the performance will be transparent. Avoid it.
There are many examples of Awareness Calendars about and you can find them easily, but here are a couple of examples you may find useful.
https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/
https://www.inclusiveemployers.co.uk/diversity-calendar/
To find out more about how I can support you with non-performative and effective DEI work, you can contact me here.