Just a reminder to our members, partner organisations and community. Please be advised and share widely that JMS Immigration Solicitors will be conducting their weekly Free Immigration Clinic at ACSONI on Wednesday 6 September from 11am-1pm. Please feel free to share advise all that it is a drop-in service, no appointment required.
‘Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard,’ according to author Liz Fosslien.
Have you ever wondered the true meaning of the words in this amazing quote? Ever felt out of place and a little self-conscious as a result? So much continues to change, leaving the question to keep up or get left behind and where to begin.
There are key fundamentals to keeping your business growing and thriving, as the entire world faces recovery from the last two years. Each marketplace faces new challenges, with innovative adaptability and a renewed sense of resilience, to future proof its sustainability for the coming years ahead.
A new language in business has now emerged, that seeks to question the way things have always been. The importance of diversity, how it increases your business performance and redefines your organisational culture. How to truly capture understanding of the consumer trends, ride the roller coaster of influencer marketing, drive those sales, profit margins, and create new audiences that appreciate the tenacity of business evolution.
While diversity has secretly thrived in commodities and services, rebranding, artificial intelligence, and environmentally friendly bio-degradable renewables, unfortunately the one area it has remained relatively slow is in human resources.
The single largest resource business has, is people. To obtain cultural awareness, appropriate language, communication tools, evaluation and monitoring techniques that begin to map out the strengths and opportunities of diversity rather than the assumed weaknesses and threats are vital. Business will always need people to make the critical decisions, redefine the structure of boardrooms, anticipate better growth, and new development methods.
Often the main question that remains unanswered is how to implement long-term benefits through inclusion. However, while bridging the gaps by broadening the skills, talents, qualifications and lived experiences that people bring, how often do we create opportunities to recognise the immense impact that people potentially bring to our organisations. Inclusion by its unique nature seeks to develop a unified systematic approach, that pulls together different complementary features from people, that automatically have positive outcomes, which accelerates profits.
Understanding the push and pull factors of inclusion is crucial because too often the fragile threads of historical events, continual unconscious bias and perception hinder easier transitions and hamper interactions between people. Inclusion by far remains a key component in residual change. Being open to consider alternatives, thinking creatively, exploring innovative ideas and co-designing strategies that seek to place everyone around the table. Change is inevitable but we must be patient with this process as we all stand to gain as we unlearn old ways to make room for better robust ones.
So, as we pivot and take on new concepts another factor to consider is the power of people equity. Appreciating the differences between individuals and groups makes the art of people equity a fascinating tool. Being able to differentiate each team member’s specific needs and incorporating a workable environment that celebrates their individuality, capabilities, aspirations, and vulnerabilities can make significant changes to employee recruitment retention and promotion. As we shift our business language to a more efficient and equitable environment, we will begin to develop workplaces that are sought after, globally relevant and filled with motivated staff who continue to generate benefits and rewards which every stakeholder will appreciate.
It can be quite the juggling act maintaining the appropriate levels of engagement and sustaining the demands of people equity. Regular training, staying ahead of trends, global changes and societal attitudes help to navigate this process. Admitting when things go wrong, accountability, learning from examples, identifying ways to improve our understanding, and not giving up, especially when we face the fear of change.
‘Rome was not built in a day’, so this creative, innovative approach in business continues to evolve. Guided by diversity in its various forms, reinforced by the endurance of inclusion and sustained by the values of people equity. Business resilience is always measured best by its adaptability and flexibility in communication.
Diversity, inclusion, and people equity are popular, but for them to work well in your business, everyone needs to understand how they work. Having a clear sense of diversity, inclusion, and people equity separately and how instrumental they can be collectively, if applied in a complementary manner. It remains an individual and community responsibility to be curious as well as cautious, open to appreciate whilst confronting our unconscious biases, acknowledge learning and apply activities which nurture diversity, inclusion, and people equity.
The future in business language will seek to preserve and make adjustments to ensure the values of diversity, inclusion and people equity are made central to our governance and good practice decision making.
Diversity welcomes more seats at the table, inclusion now hears every voice as belonging is for everyone.
Lori Gatsi-Barnett, founder of JoinHer Network, looks at why diversity, inclusion, and people equity remain key for success in business and society as a whole but to work well everyone must understand how they operate
OUR VISION
An equitable African and Caribbean inclusive culture.
OUR MISSION
Promote unity and collaboration to support, advocate and empower our communities in Northern Ireland.
OUR ENVISAGED FUTURE
A harmonious, inclusive and equitable Northern Ireland – where everyone feels they belong and are valued and appreciated as individuals and stakeholders for the contribution they make to Northern Ireland’s diversity of economy and culture.
OUR STORY
We are an extraordinary organisation with a diverse group of passionate workers and volunteers who are approachable and friendly. We are dedicated to improving the lives of our members. We are caring, supportive, engaging, open-minded and embracing of differences with the African and Caribbean community and beyond.
OUR VALUES
Supportive – Collaborative – Authentic -Collaborative
OUR BELIEFS
We believe that collaboration and member participation are important in strengthening, empowering and
unifying the African and Caribbean community.
OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
The African and Caribbean Support Organisation, through its Board of Trustees and its chair, Livingstone Thompson, condemns most unequivocally the attack on the Polish family in Newtownards. We believe that this attack was unjustified, it’s a hate crime, and we hope that the Police will take the necessary steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.
It reinforces our view that the hate crime legislation should be strengthened, so as to ensure the Police have the necessary powers to bring prosecution in matters like this.
We want to express our deepest sympathy to the family, and we hope that they will have the appropriate recompense for their hurt. This attack on migrant families, we believe, is a threat to the well-being of society which is moving towards diversity. We should ensure that all nationalities can live together in an atmosphere of trust. So, most unequivocally, we condemn this attack.
ACSONI’s Strategy – Stakeholder Survey
Over the past few months, the ACSONI Trustees, Staff and Working Group Chairs have come together to start renewing ACSONI’s strategy for the next 3-years.
Our future direction will build on the remarkable work that has been done to date, whilst also being forward-looking and responsive to the ever-growing needs of our local communities.
As a result, we want our future strategy to be guided by you. This survey provides an initial opportunity to have your voice heard in the process to develop our new strategy.
Before completing this survey, please read this 2-page document summarising where we have got to so far. This is based on a two day workshop held at the end of May 2023 where the Trustees, Staff and Working Group Chairs developed a high-level strategy on a page.
This survey is being conducted by Caplor Horizons, a non-profit organisation who are partnering with us to develop our strategic direction. The results of this survey are anonymous and we encourage you to be open and honest with your feedback.
This survey will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
Thank you!
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/X7H589X
Dear valued Community Member,
The Trustees and Staff of ACSONI are inviting you to the third in ACSONI’s series of bi-monthly community conversations, which will take place at 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA on Friday 30 June 2023, starting at 4:00pm – 6:00pm. The meeting aims to be broad-ranging and inclusive. There will be a focus on the building of our Strategic Working Groups and a presentation on recent evaluation by Captor Horizons. ACSONI therefore invites you to bring forward your questions, concerns, and suggestions.
It will be an opportunity to meet the Trustees and Staff and know in more detail about our programme of work and how it relates to the needs of our community. More importantly, it will be a time when you can help to identify additional issues for priority attention.
Please register for the event via the attached link, this will help us to ensure we cater for everyones needs.
