Congratulations – by getting as far as reading this pack you have already shown great judgement and fab curiosity – we like you already!!
I am really excited about this role. Last summer the Board and Executive Leadership at Alzheimer’s Society took a long hard look at ourselves and realised that, although we know that dementia does not discriminate, we weren’t as sure that we don’t.
We have made progress in the last year, exploring how we can be more inclusive within our organisation. We have started to create a safe environment for people to talk about the things that matter, from religion and domestic violence to menopause. We have created new network groups and built development programmes for our colleagues from ethnically diverse communities and development for our female leaders.
We have increased training and awareness, introduced reverse mentoring for senior leaders and undertaken training in allyship and other key topics across the organisation.
What matters to us is that the changes we create are permanent and have a long-lasting impact on the organisation, who we are, and the services we deliver. We aren’t interested in tokenism here.
This year we have completed an exercise to co-produce an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan that will sit smack in the centre of our new five-year strategy. The plan is forward looking, stretching but achievable and has the ownership and quality you’d expect of a plan developed by the people it will affect.
Together we’ve agreed there are just (!) four priorities for the next 3-5 years:
- We must learn from people affected by dementia, our partners, volunteers, and supporters, what will help us to provide more accessible and inclusive services.
- Our campaigns, support and research work must make a difference for people from all parts of the community by putting people’s lived experiences at the heart of what we do.
- Inclusive and fair recruitment processes will draw in the best people for jobs and volunteering roles, whatever their backgrounds, to help us be there effectively, and sensitively, for people affected by dementia, from all parts of the community.
- We want to ensure you can always be your best self with us. Our volunteers and employees can enjoy their time with us, and look to develop, and progress, how they want and if they want.
It won’t surprise you that we have some detail under these, but what we don’t have is a dynamic Equality, Diversity and Inclusion lead to help us make it happen. That’s where you come in.
We need someone with brilliant emotional intelligence, who knows when to coax and when to push. You’ll need to be a good strategic thinker and able to clearly articulate the world you will help us create for people living with dementia and our own team. You’ll have a high level of technical expertise and understanding of the latest evidence and best practice.
Most of all you will be an incredible communicator, because you need to get us talking to build the confidence and understanding we will need to get this right for people living with dementia now, and the many people yet to be diagnosed.
It’s a big job but it is really exciting. Go on…. go for it.
Kate Lee
CEO, Alzheimer’s Society
