I help primary care networks improve the leadership and management of their networks. I'm also mum to a children with type 1 diabetes and nephrotic syndrome.
I shouldn't say this, but...... when I see a leadership panel comprised of only middle-aged white people .............. I can't help but feel really disappointed and frustrated. We do have diversity in healthcare! If you are the organiser of a healthcare event and every speaker is white and middle aged, please pause and then cast the net a little bit wider. It's not as hard as you think. If you can be bothered............................. #diversitymatters #RepresentationMatters
I think one thing we can all do is to make the commitment to really try and understand and know the audience/ community we are trying to serve and the messages we are trying to convey. We also need to give ourselves and others permission to ask questions and make mistakes. None of us are perfect and have all of the answers. The topic of diversity in our health and care system is a deep, complex, and systematic issue, but posts and conversations like this are important. I, for one, can certainly be more intentional.
I do agree with you, but equally diversity is broader than that. I sat on a panel of 3 white men recently, but 2 of us were gay. Thats a diverse panel too. The breadth of diversity in healthcare is huge - yet often people are overlooked, or people are chosen to show an organisation is being ‘diverse’. People can see through that. I completely agree that the net should be cast wider. We are missing out
Liam Cahill
7mo
Tara - can I ask a question - out of curiosity... I say this wholly in the spirit of wanting us all to be in a place where we can celebrate the broader range of diversity in the future, navigating this together, and in the spirit of wanting to understand the answer. Yet, I'm genuinely, honestly writing this with a degree of nervousness given I'm a white man asking the question. Would you propose we ban 'manels'? Would an accepted culture of calling out all 'manels' when they occur be equivalent to a cultural ban, and is that OK? If both / either of those are yes. What other forms of panels that are wholly comprised of one gender, one ethnicity or one other such demography, whether minority or majority would it be OK or not OK to ban. I'd really welcome views from you or others on this.
100% agree, I’ve seen this too many times, even recently at best practice! All male panel, with a pinch of diversity…50% split in the cultural/ethnicity on the stage. When I looked around at the room, the majority audience was female, high BAME represented, medium-high menopausal age represented, and likely small LGBTQ+ represented…. (Me and maybe a couple of others) 😉 And the conversation direction on stage, just completely missed the mark of that audience. Needless to say I walked away utterly disappointed.
Rose de Mendonça
7mo
No reason you shouldn't say it, Tara - you're right. The 'manel' is a thing to behold, and not in a good way...
Diversity is more than just skin colour. It matters but other aspects of diversity matter too. Only then it is truly inclusive and will feel less like window dressing
I hear you! What’s worst is token diversity, lets get a disabled, gay women on the leadership panel or for the D&I role to show how diverse we are 👀
Jessica Somauroo
7mo
You should absolutely say it 👏🏽 There isn’t any excuse.
Komal George
7mo
I totally agree with this Tara Humphrey, MBA it really irks me when I see this too. I also agree that tokenism doesn't cut it either. The audience invariably consists of people from all backgrounds so there is absolutely no excuse to have a panel consisting of solely white middle aged men. Having diverse voices on panels does two things. 1. Demonstrates awareness of the audience and 2. Encourages more individuals from diverse backgrounds to put themselves forward. I also don't buy the excuse that people from diverse backgrounds don't want to put themselves forward, if you don't ask them then you'll never know what valuable insights they do bring to a panel.
I help primary care networks improve the leadership and management of their networks. I'm also mum to a children with type 1 diabetes and nephrotic syndrome.
7moLove this ⬇️. Would you decline a spot on a panel due to the lack of diversity?