1. DIVERSITY IN THE FIRE SERVICE

2. Goals and objectives
To promote a message about diversity and its importance in the fire service.
To discuss diversity while being inclusive to all members.
To promote good relations between persons of different backgrounds.
To talk about stereotyping and its effects on us and our perception of other groups.

3. WHAT IS DIVERSITY?
Amongst humans particularly in a social context, the term diversity refers to the presence in one population of a wide variety of cultures, opinions, ethnic groups, socioeconomic backgrounds, gender, sexual preference, and so on…
Webster’s defines it as; differing from from one another….having variety

4. What else is diversity?
Understanding how and why we are more alike than we are different

5. What isn’t Diversity? It is not Political Correctness
It is not saying the right words and having disdain in our actions and hearts
It is not having to think just like everyone else or following the crowd
It is not therapy for those oppressed

6. Cont’d Not affirmative action/EEO Not a program to correct a problem
Not a promotion requirement
Not a gimmick
Not a Mistake
It allows others to be themselves

7. Three Myths of Diversity
Myth of meritocracy; if you work hard you will be rewarded, you will make it
Myth of colorblindness; what’s wrong with seeing color, are you senority blind? Rookies vs senior firefighters, generation gaps
Myth of a melting pot

8. Defining Culture
An integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of any given society
It includes everything that a group of people thinks, says, does, and makes
Culture is defined as a way of perceiving, believing, evaluating and behaving
It provides the blueprint that determines the way an individual thinks, feels and behaves
The problem with studying culture is its complexity

9. Culture Cont’d
Macro-culture; the national culture that is shared by most of the nation’s citizens
Micro-cultures or subcultures; cultural groups with distinct patterns that are not common to all Americans, patterns involving ethnicity, religion, economic status, political affiliation and more

10. Culture’s Cont’d
Group cultures; they include occupational groups (fire service), peer groups, gangs, drug cultures, and other smaller, identifiable units of society

11. Reasons for diversity
The fire service serves each and every community, regardless of ethnicity, gender, race, background, economy, or any other factor, and also depends on the entire community and country for its funding and support.

12. Why is diversity important?
It can enhance the organization’s responsiveness to an increasingly diverse world of customers (Mr. Mrs. Smith).
Improves relations with the surrounding community.
Increase our organization’s ability to cope with change.
It can expand the creativity of the organization.

13. Diverse backgrounds
Diversity as a concept focuses on a broader set of qualities than race and gender.
In the context of the workplace, valuing diversity means creating a workplace that respects and includes differences.
Recognize the unique contributions that individuals with many types of differences can make, and creating a work environment that maximizes the potential of all employees.

14. Remember that diversity doesn’t have to be difficult.
All too often, fire and emergency service providers are anxious about diversity, almost as if frightened by it.
Remember if we promote inclusiveness in our language between members, we won’t have to tiptoe around one another.
Think about what you’re saying while putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.

15. If you’re unsure about what’s acceptable, ask the other person.
Don’t let diversity scare you.
Let it guide you.
For some, diversity doesn’t come naturally.
Use it to promote dialog between us.

16. Dialog and listening
Do you let people finish what they are trying to say before you speak?
If a person hesitates, do you try to encourage him/her rather than starting your reply?
Do you withhold judgment about the person’s idea until he/she has finished?

17. Cont’d
Can you listen non-judgmentally even if you do not like the person who is talking?
Do you stop what you are doing and give full attention when listening?
Do you give the person appropriate eye contact, head nods, and nonverbal signals to indicate you’re listening?

18. Developing active listening skills
1. Stop talking
2. Put the speaker at ease
3. Don’t interrupt
4. Empathize
5. Paraphrase
6.Ask open-ended questions
7. Use silence
8. Allow reflection

19. Bias One form of misconception A preference without basis in fact
Influences the way we relate to others
We all have them
You should be aware of them and how they form
Strive to better biases in relation to the interactions with different people and with people who are different

20. Diversity in the workplace creates room for new ideas as well as the possibility of increased conflict.
New recruits and veteran firefighters live together, eat together and sleep together in a career that prides itself on tradition.
Some may learn to tolerate differences within the normal workday, but old stereotypes, unconscious behaviors, and occupational stress collide in volatile ways when living with co-workers on 24-hour shifts.

21. Diversity begins with recruitment and training.
It will not occur in the workforce simply because your department is located in a diverse metropolitan area.
Nor will it happen because your department follows the law regarding non-discrimination.

22. In order to achieve diversity, you must have an active recruiting strategy and take effective actions.
We must begin our diversity training during the recruiting process, which in turn will help with the ever changing Fire Service.
Recruitment is a vital factor in creating an inclusive environment for our members.

23. With recruitment, we have to maintain our standards of hiring and not lower them to simply achieve diversity.
Sexism, racism, and other forms of prejudice continue to be obstacles for career firefighters.
Weakness is the last thing you want to show as a new recruit, and many times women and people of color leave the Fire Service in the midst of successful careers in order to avoid harassment.

24. The trend for the Fire Service is clearly moving towards inclusiveness.
Women firefighters are the most recent and perhaps most dramatically different newcomer.
They represent change in the culture of the Fire Service.
But not always a welcomed change.

25. Women in the Fire Service
Women face two conflicting sets of constraints.
In many ways they are expected to fit in and become “one of the guys”.
They are expected to share the same kinds of humor, foods, and hobbies.
Use the same station facilities and to perform firefighting tasks using the same physical techniques as men.

26. Women are expected to conform to the dominant group’s ideas of what women (ladies) should be:
Compliant
Subservient
Smiling
Never angry
And above all, meeting men’s standards of physical attractiveness.

27. For women firefighters, these expectations overlap and conflict with each other.
Fire officers are praised for having a strong command presence and giving orders in a direct way; ladies aren’t.
Many times women enter the Fire Service with an uphill battle that continues throughout their career’s.
They are constantly having to prove themselves and their worth, while their male counterparts don’t.
Many times they rely on affinity groups (Sirens) to help them with their needs and representation.

28. Minorities in the Fire Service
In the 1960’s, people of color began entering the Fire Service in significant numbers.
In the 1970’s more minorities (Hispanics and Asians) and women began coming into the Fire Service in even greater numbers.
Many departments were under a Consent Decree.
Local or Federal Governments mandated affirmative action programs.

29. Affirmative Action
It is intended to promote access to education, employment, or housing among certain designated groups (typically, minorities or women). The stated motivation for AA policies is to redress the effects of past discrimination and to encourage public institutions such as universities, hospitals, police and fire forces to be more representative of the population.

30. Affirmative Action cont.
It is commonly achieved through targeted recruitment programs, by preferential treatment given to applicants from designated groups, and in some cases through the use of quotas.
It was started in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, but has evolved signigicantly.
The original order required government contractors to take “affirmative action” to ensure equal treatment of applicants and employees “without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.”
It is incentive based

31. Consent Decree
When their AA programs fail or in extreme cases when the employer has overtly defied equal opportunity employment, the federal government will impose a consent decree on an agency
It is usually initiated by a class action lawsuit
It will layout specific details in hiring practices

32. Forcing departments to hire minorities and women can often cause problems in the Fire Service.
It is therefore not surprising that some members of the dominant group should feel uneasy or sense a threat to their longstanding dominance of the workplace and its culture.

33. This can lead to unfair treatment and harassment to minorities.
It also leads to resentment from the dominant group.
LAFD is currently going through some personnel problems as a result of this.
If we promote inclusiveness and dialog between us, we can avoid these problems.

34. We should have an understanding of each other in being different while maintaining our own identities.
We are only of afraid of what we don’t understand.
Sometimes we use humor to hide these fears.
But often times our humor is harmful or detrimental to each other.
This can lead to stereotyping and believing the stereotypes associated with a particular group.

35. Stereotyping
A simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.
It’s a generalization of a group, culture, or beliefs.
It starts at a young age.
Sometimes it comes from home life.
Sometimes it comes from school.
Many times stereotypes are reinforced in T.V. and movies.

36. We as people of different backgrounds should try to break down stereotypes as to discount them.
In a social gathering, it is often at times easy to get caught up in stereotyping people.
The pre-judging of people are where the prejudices arise in our cultures.

37. Not all Black people can dance.
Not all White guys can’t jump.
Not all Asian people are good in math.
Being inclusive and getting to know each other will help bring down the walls that separate our cultures, and it will allow us to keep our identities in the process.

38. Something to think about:
Dr. Steve Robbins teaches many organizations across the country about “Unintentional Intolerance”: What you think you know might hurt others.
What is perceived as ‘the norm”?.
What’s our fears and how do we cope with them?
He teaches us to communicate with each other and to be inclusive in our dialog.
The “Salad Bowl” theory rather than the “Melting Pot”.

39. Company Officer Training Man.
Years ago, cultural diversity was described as the melting pot. Today, it is often compared to an orchestra.
Each instrument belongs to a group that keeps its identity; each group is interdependent with other instrument groups.
Each instrument group contributes to the overall orchestral harmony.

40. Likewise, in a cultural society, each group retains its group identity, is interdependent with other groups and contributes to overall social harmony.
As part of the Fire Service, you have your own identity as an individual, yet you work side by side with others who think, look, sound and behave quite differently than you.

41. But your success depends upon good working relationships with everyone at the fire station.
Not only are you and your crew interdependent among yourselves, you are also interdependent with others providing public services and contributing to the overall harmony of society.

42. The public we serve is also diverse.
Improving your ability to understand your colleagues will not only make the job easier for you, but will help you in dealing with the public under sometimes stressful conditions.
Go forth and be inclusive in your doings.
Can’t we all just get along?!
Go Lakers