@article {bnh-5772, title = {Risky business: Why diversity and inclusion matter}, number = {499}, year = {2019}, month = {08/2019}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Effective diversity and inclusion (D\&I) is at the heart of what emergency management organisations (EMOs) are and do. It is now clear that if they are not inclusive of the difference that diversity brings, they are placing at risk their organisations and the communities they work with.

Australian communities and the risks they face are changing. For the Emergency Management Sector (EMS), this emphasises the importance of building resilience and developing community partnerships. EMOs need to see themselves represented within the community and communities need to see themselves represented within EMOs. As a result, effective D\&I, which can support these activities, is starting to be seen as a core capability. There is also a growing recognition that if EMOs are to become agile, learning organisations who can effectively manage diversity and change, D\&I will need to move from a peripheral activity to a central focus. A clear message from this project is that the key to this is for EMOs to focus on developing an inclusive culture.

A key barrier to achieving effective D\&I is a limited understanding of how to join conceptual aspects of D\&I to practical application and tasks, and to use that to develop a set of focused activities capable of achieving their goals. Specifically, understanding why D\&I is important for core business and how it enhances service delivery {\textendash} particularly in lower levels of organisations. Without answers to these questions, it can be difficult to develop the strategies needed to support and guide the multiple areas of activity required to achieve a diverse and inclusive workforce.

The workshop {\textquoteleft}Into the future: building capabilities and skills for inclusive and diverse organisations{\textquoteright} held in December 2018 at Victoria University, aimed to explore these issues. In particular, it aimed to understand:

}, keywords = {Capability, diversity, inclusion}, isbn = {978-1-86272-807-3}, issn = {499}, author = {Celeste Young and Roger Jones} }