Charlotte Hornets Diversity Scenario

in #sports6 years ago

The Charlotte Hornets have recently contracted me as a Diversity Consultant. My job is to identify and discuss the strategies that I would implement to overall increase diversity among their staff and contractors. To be clear, implementing diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. As said by the Steering Committee at the University of Oregon, “It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.” With that being said, I will meet with the Charlotte Hornets regularly with certain goals in mind. I will ask them what they think diversity means to their organization, asses how the organization is currently doing in terms of recruitment, retention, and promotion, clarify the benefits of committing to a diverse business culture to their success, and provide extensive training so that these practices will be implemented throughout their strategic plan and business model.

The strategies I plan to implement while consulting the Charlotte Hornets align with these goals as previously stated. The key strategy I plan to use is to strengthen leadership among management and key decision makers to thus incorporate a “diversity loving” culture in the Charlotte Hornets organization. There are several tactics I could use to incorporate a leadership strategy. One of the most important would be creating and establishing a Diversity Plan with actionable steps. The first actionable step will be defining what leadership means to the organization and encouraging management diversity as a role model for staff. Another tactic I could use to incorporate a leadership strategy would be to integrate clear and consistent communication about diversity amongst the organization. The Charlotte Hornets will do so by identifying diversity as a key strategic initiative and business core value. They will communicate the importance of diversity internally and externally by including them in firm goals, programs, and progress. They will also include diversity on the agenda for meaningful discussion through company retreats, planning sessions, firm wide emails, recruiting material, client communications, and blogging through their public webpage. These tactics will result in successfully implementing a leadership strategy to increase diversity among their staff and contractors.

Another strategy I plan to implement is to enhance recruitment, retention, and promotion. This strategy will increase the diversity presence in all areas of the business, but most importantly will help create a diverse image when others think of the Charlotte Hornets. There are several tactics I can use to incorporate a recruitment, retention, and promotion strategy. One of the most important would be developing and implementing a Diversity Committee. This committee will be composed of all staff and leadership with access to the management committee and decisions makers to discuss key issues. The Diversity Committee will be responsible for an annual report of achievements of diversity goals and a reward system that will offer compensation for “good behavior”. They will also be trained to analyze existing systems and policies for unintended bias. This will include implementing programs that promote work/life balance such as on site day care, free emergency day care, a sabbatical program, and part-time/flex-time options. These tactics will result in successfully implementing a recruitment, retention, and promotion strategy, which will enhance inclusion, the cultural environment of the organization, and over all increase diversity among their staff and contractors.

After implementing these strategies to increase diversity in the Charlotte Hornets organization it is very likely to run into obstacles, which will interfere with the process of becoming more diverse. These obstacles include the resistance to change/use to the traditional ways of operation, miscommunication amongst staff, stereotypes, and the cost of implanting a diversity plan and committee. All these are true obstacles that get in the way of many organizations becoming diverse. How I would overcome these obstacles would be to educate people by professional training/coaching, insist in cultural sensitivity, do business with different types of people, and to treat everyone equally. If the Charlotte Hornets management and decision makers commit reconstructing their professional lifestyles to become more diverse it will stand as an example to the rest of the organization and will be implemented with the least amount of problems. To ensure that the leadership follows through with the plans it is smart to know your resources and to have accountability. That is why having someone like me to conduct a firm cultural assessment once a year, as well as hire a full time diversity professional to serve as the director of the Diversity Committee is important to the health of the diversity in the organization.

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