Support others to challenge discrimination and exclusion in ways that are likely to achieve change and promote positive outcomes

As discussed in the previous section, management structures, policies and procedures must be supportive of team members with regard to challenging discrimination and exclusion.

Whenever discrimination and exclusion are challenged, it should be done in a way that is likely to achieve change and promote positive outcomes. It should be an opportunity to educate and improve rather than assign blame and astigmatism. Discrimination is often inadvertent and explaining to someone the reasons that it is inappropriate can give them the opportunity to reflect on their own prejudices and hopefully change their attitudes and behaviours going forward.

As a manager, it is your responsibility to cultivate a positive culture that embraces equality, diversity and inclusion, and that challenges and addresses discrimination and exclusion. Some of the ways that you may do this are provided below.

Through training and development opportunities

All staff should receive training in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion. This will provide them with the foundation of knowledge, skills and understanding they need to work in an inclusive and non-discriminatory way. Further training and development opportunities may be made available to team members that want or need additional support.

Through staff induction/supervision and/or appraisal

Equality training should be part of a comprehensive induction process. Not only does it support staff to understand the principles but can also be used to reinforce the culture of the organisation. Standard 4 of the Care Certificate deals with equality and diversity and should form part of the induction process for new starters.

Supervision and appraisal can be used to identify future training and development needs for staff. It can also be an opportunity to address any concerns with an individual’s practice and provide positive feedback that can help them to improve.

Management of complaints/compliments

Complaints and compliments can highlight areas of good work as well as areas for improvement.

Your organisation’s complaints policy and procedure should be easily accessible and service users, their families and others should be encouraged to use it to make a formal complaint if they are unhappy with the service they have received.

By being open and transparent and taking all complaints seriously, you can be made aware of any issues within your organisation that may be discriminatory or exclusive.

Involvement and feedback from those in receipt of care and support

Similar to the management of complaints, requesting feedback from service users can help to identify equality, diversity and inclusion issues within your organisation. This could be formal feedback (e.g. satisfaction surveys, care plan reviews etc.) or informal feedback provided during conversation.