FROM THE PUBLISHER

I’ve always been a strong believer that if you work hard you will make your own fortune, and that you can achieve real change by creating the life you want to feel and experience for yourself, and for others.

You remember Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz? She travelled across strange lands in an unsafe environment, stepping out of her comfort zone and ultimately facing her fears – before discovering that she didn’t need the wizard to get home, but that she had had the power in herself all along.

All she had to do was to tap her heels together 3 times and say ‘there’s no place like home’.

When it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, maybe there is – or should be – a bit of Dorothy in all of us.

We already know that equality is a necessity that every individual must enjoy. It is unacceptable to be treated unfairly based on who you are, where you’re from, or what you look like. And we already know that it’s even worse to be the one treating people that way.

But if you want to create a workplace that espouses these values, it’s not going to happen on its own. You need a charter – a set of guiding principles –to serve as a North star for your DEI efforts.

Whether in our schools, our workforce or during the hiring process for employment, delivering on the ideals of this charter is a challenge that everybody is facing in their own way.

This issue of the magazine is all about embracing that charter in whatever way best suits your own corporate culture. Here are a few ways you might be able to do so:

• Expand opportunities by creating cyber experiences

• Create a directory of organisations supporting cybersecurity education by offering internships, pairing new cyber security hires with mentors

• Implement proactive policies to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community at large

• Measure and fix your gender pay gap so that no group of employees feels disadvantaged by inadequate DEI policies

• Plan and implement outreach policies to engage the next generation of workers earlier on: instead of demanding they bring experience into your organisation, attract them early and give them clear career pathways so they can build that experience on the job

• Foster an inclusive workplace culture so that your employees can see you truly want to drive real change, and that your organisation wants to be part of a better world

There are as many DEI charters out there as there are individual organisations – and every company’s journey will be different.

Indeed, those charters are like the company’s Yellow Brick Road – the guiding path that takes you from where you are now, to where you want to be.

Etymologically, the word ‘charter’ comes from the Latin word meaning ‘map’. Keep this in mind as you plan your DEI journey.

Like Dorothy travelling along her own Yellow Brick Road, there will be bumps along the way. There will be straw men and wicked witches, fields of poppies that lull change advocates into a stupor; lionhearted allies and malevolent flying monkeys that variously help and hinder your efforts.

Charters help in this journey by creating spaces that foster respectful, inclusive, and equitable communication practices across the organisation, all the while normalising proactive and equitable engagement as well as a universal sense of belonging.

With the right approach, you can get to your Emerald City too – but it will take perseverance, hard work, a bit of luck, and ultimately belief in your own ability to change.

Tap those heels together three times. Use a charter as a map. Look inside your organisation, and inside yourself. You are likely to be pleasantly surprised by what you find there – and when you’re ready to plant your ruby slippers on the road to equality, your own Yellow Brick Road will be there waiting for you.

Abigail Swabey

PUBLISHER, and CEO of Source2Create www.linkedin.com/in/abigail-swabey-95145312 aby@source2create.com.au