Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 30, 2017 12 FEATURES Sue Tomney CEO of YWCA Calgary The women's organization has about 350 employees A s an organization that began with a focus on women, diversity should come naturally to the YWCA Calgary. But diversity is more of an evolving culture piece, according to Sue Tomney, CEO. "It's so expansive. It's around gender, age, religion, mental health, economic viability, so really for us, it even goes past culture, it's more of a mindset of how we approach our work, and it's really about continuing to change. And it has always had to be something that's been responsive in terms of how it relates to our community, not only our employees but our clients, so it is just forever evolving." A focus on diversity has always been there, but it hasn't been overt, says Tomney. "We're an organization that serves such a diverse spectrum of clients, it can be easy for us to become the shoemaker's children, so it's more we look at diversity around our clients and how best we're serving them and then tend not to look inward in terms of how we're evolving as an organization, as a group of employees. So I think that this is something just in the last six to 12 months that we said, 'Boy, we'd better be paying attention to this as much internally as we are externally,'" she says. "Without being intentional, it's very easy for us to take our eye off the ball." As a social services agency, the YWCA can be so focused on the client that it doesn't pause and understand what it's doing itself, says Tomney. "We are constantly trying to help them and we forget we have to do work here. at's a real mind shift, and I think it's exacerbated by having a large female staff … women put themselves last a lot of time, so there has to be discipline in making sure we pay attention to how we operate as a team." Diversity has to start at the top, and that means the board, particularly in the not-for-profi t sector, she says. " ey really set the tone and so it needs to be something that's clearly understood and something that is practised there. ere's more op- portunity for rigour that way because boards have terms that expire, and new board members that come in, so it's a more ongoing process, whereas employees may be here for 20 years." Leadership buy-in has to be there, and sometimes that means recog- nizing you're not making progress or there are still some obstacles, says Tomney. "Everybody needs to be accountable to someone." It's about using a diversity lens in informing all of the organization's work, she says. " en, we're actually able to achieve the culture of inclusion, which is what we talk about: 'Inclusion for our clients, are we doing that here?'" at means looking at recruitment and onboarding, and striving to continually improve, says Tomney. Diversity is also a strength because it ensures the YWCA will continue to be relevant and serve the needs of the community. "We're an old broad, we're 106 years old, and we feel like we're still young but that's because we continue to refl ect the needs of the com- munity, so the way to do that is ensuring we are diverse." Some of the more tangible initiatives around diversity include a cul- ture statement created in 2014, done with input from employees, along with a practice framework created in 2015 that talks about the impor- tance of issues such as language, ethnicity and economic and mental health status, she says. It's also about ensuring policies and benefi ts refl ect the diversity of the workforce, as people are in diff erent stages of their life or have diff erent family circumstances, says Tomney. "It's less about 'Oh, what's the cost of the dental plan?' and it's more around 'How do our benefi ts, how do our vacation and time off refl ect who we are, and ensure that... there are choices for our employees be- cause of our diversity?'" Age is another area of diversity that's starting to become more of an issue, says Tomney, with many people working longer. "You have now arguably four diff erent generations in any workplace, so the needs are diff erent there on how people view things... and I think it makes us a richer organization as a result. We have to realize there are diff erent needs and wants when you're in a diff erent age bracket, and diff erent motivators." When it comes to measuring diversity, the YWCA is working on benchmarking and tracking but, anecdotally, it can be striking to see the diversity at meetings, she says. "It's really exciting, it says we are paying attention to our hiring practices." When it comes to challenges around diversity, there's the danger of getting caught in a perception of fairness, and it's about understanding that it's equity versus equality, she says. "Equity means having the same opportunities for a fair outcome, so that's where it can be challenging." Generally, feedback on diversity is positive, but where it gets challeng- ing is the fact that diversity means diff erent things to diff erent people, says Tomney. "You could come in here and say we're not as diverse as we need to be strictly from gender, and a lot of that is because of the type of agency we are." As a 106-year-old organization with a solid reputation, there's farther to fall, she says. "It doesn't take much to take that down... that's why we know we have to continually look at this because there's a lot to lose." Mike Mallen Acting CEO of the Museum of Vancouver The non-pro t organization has about 35 employees M ike Mallen, acting CEO of the Museum of Vancouver, has worked at much larger or- ganizations, with tens of thousands of em- ployees but, in a way, focusing on diversity at a smaller workplace like the museum can be more challenging, he says. "You interact with everyone on a daily basis, and they challenge you because if you say you're going to do some- thing and it's not done… they hold me to task... I expect the same from them as from me… they don't let me off the hook," says Mallen. " ey see you every day, and they see you live those values or you don't. So, in some ways, it's more diffi cult." A lot of what the Museum of Vancouver does is project-based, and to tell a story properly, it's important to hire the right people for the work, he says. "It's important to go back and say, 'We need people from the com- munity to tell the stories, and not just the people here.'" But since the museum can't always have someone full-time, it's about making a point to hire appropriately. For example, the museum is look- ing to do an exhibition on the Chinese-Canadian experience, primarily around immigration, so it's looking to hire a Chinese-Canadian curator "to help us understand what's important to the community," he says. But taking that approach can be hard. "We're trying to hire for a fi nite amount of time, so trying to fi nd the right person at the right time can be a challenge," says Mallen. Much of the museum's renewed focus on community comes from the board. About two years ago, one of the museum's mandates was to reshape the board, which led to a "very interesting and very strong mix that we hadn't seen in a long time," says Mallen. And the board chair, Jill Tipping, has made a point to look at fi nding people not just from the museum community but diff erent businesses and areas, he says. "When you start looking at our board, it's diverse through gender, we have First Nations, we have people from the academic side of things, people from the business community, we have lawyers — it's such a diff erent group of people… who are able to off er diff erent perspectives and guidance when it comes to how we hire externally and how we hire for projects." is year, the Museum of Vancouver also hired a permanent First Nations associate curator. "It's been so uplifting for staff to see it's not a one-time (hire), it's some- thing that's resonating throughout the organization — from education, public programming, hiring, even the gift shop, ethically. It's really brought a realness to it. (If it's) project-based, it can really fall apart if you don't live it every day, and it's always interesting to hear someone's perspective who's there and can understand it and connect the dots."

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