We're recruiting at @UnityHomes !

Closing date is 12 February, so please share and put your application in now !
@BMENat_tweets @BMENational @Bmelondonrsl @HDN_UK @placeshapers #ukhousing jobs.theguardian.com/job/8457374/di… This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to shape & deliver services in a leading Black Minority Ethnic (BME) Housing Association, and make a difference to the lives of people in #diverse communities.

We were founded thirty-five years ago as a BME Housing Association as

How much do purpose, customers and people remain a anchor in your organisations - no matter what challenges are thrown at them ? #ukhousing #localgov #NHS Do targets become your sole focus at all costs ? Or do you think about the consequences for your customers and involve them in your decisions ?

I posted this thread long before the publication of the #SewellReport. Having read it, it’s clear that disproportionate focus on ‘+ve stories’ at the expense of playing down the widespread impact of structural racism was a key objective of the Commission.

https://twitter.com/shrutinha/status/1272800056807211013

The more ‘political’ statements in the report, are clearly crafted to suit a particular ideology and are a weak attempt to steer discourse away from the realities of racism. Yet so much of this is shoddy - (I wonder who proof read it before publication?)

I’ve experienced racism my whole life, but was in denial about how it impacted me professionally, until I was subjected to the most shameless blatant action. + didn’t fully understand structural racism, until I led a major review uncovering it. I wonder about the #commissioners? I’m not denying the existing of enablers, ideologues, those seeking acceptance, & my general dismay at the #SewellReport, but think perhaps the spectrum of thinking extends to commissioners who are denial, struggling with their own understanding.

A basic lesson in logic, for those that need it (1):
‘My experience of racism in the 70s and 80s is different to today’
DOES NOT imply
1. Other people’s experience is different
2. Other people’s experience is better

Different does not mean better. #SewellReport. #rishisunak (2) ‘My experience as an adult is different to what I experienced as a child’
DOES NOT imply
1. Children today do not have the same / worse experience
2. Racism has got ‘better’

Adults are not the same as children. They have different experiences. #SewellReport. #rishisunak

I’ve heard white men who are strong allies in the fight against racism, believe they are doing the right thing in not standing for leadership positions, to make way for people of colour.
Maybe they are, or maybe not..
I would like to encourage them to think differently... If its a position that will almost certainly be filled by a white man (look at the ad, pack, team diversity, recruitment approach), far better for it to be you, if you are going to champion equalities, dismantle structural & cultural barriers, open the gates to greater diversity.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the Meghan and Kate relationship, how they were treated differently, and reflecting on my own past experiences. This thread is really a message for white women who are close to women of colour... 1/ You may be my best friend at work, we may confide in each other, and I may draw your attention to how I’m being treated differently. But I need you to do more than just empathise. I need you to do more than just leave it up to me. 2/

Which policy areas require long term investment, planning, infrastructure, expert understanding and should therefore be largely ring fenced away from politicians, politics and short term policies, and perhaps be governed by independent specialist bodies with greater powers ? Is there a way to limit political populist input into these areas? Perhaps to strictly limit politicians to budget priorities rather deciding on the “how” decisions (constant chopping, changing, inefficiencies, wastage, morale destroying, dismantling of good practices & systems)

Once upon a time...

..there were no websites, FAQs, online chat support, call centres, multiple ways to contact service providers, processes designed to be ‘efficient’ & anticipate every eventuality through flowcharts & scripted responses.

There was just good #customerservice Once upon a time... staff were not trained to become robots in a customer service machine. They were allowed to think, apply common sense, problem solve, take ownership rather than re-direct customers to another silo in the machine.

#CustomerExperience #CustomerService

I should add it requires you to actively think about your recruitment processes, who you are targeting & how, your personal biases, attitudes, beliefs. Be active in reflecting about that - we all have unconscious biases, & are all tempted to recruit in our own likeness. eg about 15 yrs ago, I was recruiting a performance mngr to my team. I was acutely aware of my bias in favour of a white man with a background & way of thinking similar to me: a maths grad who had an analytical /business modelling role in the private sector, like my early career.

I know I keep on about the lack of humanity, but it’s just one ridiculous nonsensical decision after another. This is what happens when employees are... theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/j… ...expected to follow scripts, tick lists, meet perverse targets which function in isolation without consideration of impact or connection to other objectives / the whole system, and turned into automatons rather than human beings able to think & properly assess cases sensibly.