Author: Fiona Davenport
Affiliation: SKA Organisation
Country: UK
Title: Building A Culturally Inclusive Organisation
The SKA is an international effort to build the worldÕs largest radio telescope, led by SKA Organisation (SKAO) based near Manchester, UK. Already supported by 13 national members spanning the globe, SKAO is bringing together over 1,000 scientists, engineers and policy makers to design and develop the SKA.
SKAO wish to be known for being a diverse and culturally inclusive international organisation where everyone feels they belong and can contribute to the fullest, regardless of their background, nationality, race, gender, disability or orientation, and where a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of everything we do.
As a truly international project, with diverse staff and associates from around the globe, our culture must meet a number of objectives:
1. Inclusive for all, achieving a unique balance between diversity and commonality where:
– commonality is driven by one shared set of unifying core values and behaviours that are meaningful for everyone, enabling a sense of belonging
– we are able to leverage the power and different perspectives that comes from our diversity
2. All staff and associates involved in the project feel valued as individuals and are able to bring their Òwhole selfÓ to work
3. An ability to work collaboratively across different boundaries with mutual trust and respect
This presentation shares the journey SKAO are on to achieve these aims. We note some of the challenges we have encountered along the way and the approach we are now taking to address these challenges. This includes a multi-faceted approach across a number of key areas:
– leadership
– policies
– our approach to recruitment and attraction
– development of our values, behaviours and ways of working
We believe the approach we are taking, the challenges we face and the learnings we encounter may be common to other international, diverse organisations. We welcome the views and feedback of the community to help identify common best practice in this area.