BarTalk June 1999
Volume 11, Number 3

How does diversity fit in?

by Sandra Jakab-Hancock

Is your organization grappling with designing its long-term business plan? Making diversity a main theme of your business plan can provide your organization with the competitive edge you are looking for.*

Whether you work for a law firm, corporation, government, government-related agency or a society, certain realities are shaping the environment we all operate in. They include:

• dramatic changes in the demography of our country (particularly in BC);

• relatively recent shifts in the origins of immigrants to our country (particularly in BC);

• the new global economic paradigm, where uncertainty and constant change are the rules;

• new expectations brought by workers, especially professionals, to the workplace (equity, participation in decision-making, balance in lifestyle, flexible work conditions, etc.); and

• changing values in the workplace (as 45-54 year olds come into positions of power, imposing their values on business structures, and as the composition of the workforce becomes more culturally diverse).

How can lawyers and their organizations effectively plan to be competitive over the long term in the midst of a business environment characterized by continual change and competition arising from new sources (for example, title insurers)?

Organizational change experts emphasize the need to capitalize on intellectual assets to achieve long-term, sustainable growth. Loosely translated, this means that while it is important (indeed, a given) to keep up with technological innovations that contribute to the efficiency of your work, organizations with environments that maximize the knowledge, skills and motivation levels of their people will distinguish themselves in the marketplace.

So far, so good. There’s nothing new about the idea of maximizing the talents and abilities of your people. Diversity planning adds a new and practical dimension to this familiar business objective. It makes good business sense to:

• build a workforce of professionals, semi-professionals and support people who have adequate information about the diversity of people your organization serves and the necessary training to understand and value what is important and relevant to those people (e.g., cross-cultural communication, general diversity issues, anti-racism and anti-discrimination); and

• have that workforce create policies, practices, procedures and systems that incorporate their understanding and respect for diversity so the quality of the legal services your clients receive is greatly enhanced.

Creating a business plan with diversity as a main theme requires strong leadership commitment and investments of time and energy by a selected cross-section of people from different levels, departments and backgrounds in your organization. Successful diversity-based business plans, however, result in a number of measurable benefits over time, including:

(1) greater client satisfaction;
(2) greater revenue;
(3) greater employee/partner satisfaction; and
(4) greater employee loyalty and commitment to the organization.

Intrigued? Look at Measuring the Impact of Diversity: Management Accounting Issues Paper # 12, published jointly by the Chartered Accountants of Canada and the Society of Management Accountants of Canada for a brief history of diversity management theory and information on how the success of diversity-based plans is measured.

* “Diversity” means all the differences we each bring with us into the world. It is not limited to formal legal concepts like the prohibited grounds of discrimination, though it includes people who belong to such groups as those enumerated in the B.C. Human Rights Code or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is about people with disabilities and able-bodied people. It is about aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples. It is about people of colour and white, Anglo-Saxons. It is about people who have lived in Canada for a long time and those who have recently arrived. It is about gays and lesbians and heterosexuals. It is about people over 65 and people younger than 25. It is about the literate and illiterate. It is about those with family responsibilities to children or the elderly, and those without such responsibilities. The list goes on. It is not about redressing past injustices. It is not about employment equity, or affirmative action. Diversity management is about maximizing the understanding, abilities and motivation levels of the people who work for your organization and delivering quality, diversity-aware services to those people your organization serves.

Sandra Jakab-Hancock is a lawyer and consultant. She provides advice on diversity management plans and policy advice/training on equality, equity and diversity issues. Ms. Jakab-Hancock recently wrote: “Recruitment and Retention: The Business Case for Diversity Management”, published by the CBA, BC Branch in materials from the April 16, 1999 President’s Forum on The Business of Law.

This article was published in the June 1999 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.