feature
although many colleges, university and
private organizations provide training
that is relevant to the work of current and
future D&I professionals, there is no standardized
curriculum.
HOW TO GIVE LEGITIMACY TO
NEW ROLES
Dr. Mila Lazarova, associate professor,
International Business and Canada
research chair in global workforce management
from the Beedie School of Business
at Simon Fraser University, corroborates
the need for a national standard.
“Creating a designation gives legitimacy
to the job,” she said. “We cannot underestimate
legitimacy. It provides a strong
signal to the organizations hiring these
people that they are qualified and passionate
about this profession. Further, creating
the designation is an important part of the
process of institutionalizing diversity, and
eventually making it more mainstream,
more normal. This will help us eventually
get to that point where everyone in the organization
is a diversity champion.”
In collaboration with HR and D&I
practitioners from different sectors across
the country, CCDI is developing a designation
for D&I professionals in Canada.
Any D&I professional who successfully
meets the requirements of the certification
process will become a Canadian certified
inclusion professional (CCIP).
CREATING A NEW CREDENTIAL
Creating a new credential is necessarily
a complex endeavor. CCDI is following
a collaborative consultation approach,
modeled on well-established processes in
the field of professional credentialing. To
assist with the process and ensure it is relevant
to practitioners in the field, CCDI
has engaged with an advisory committee
of experienced professionals in roles focused
on diversity, inclusion, equity and
human rights from multiple sectors and
industries.
The advisory committee’s first task
has been the creation of a competency
framework for D&I practitioners. They
listed and mapped all the competencies
that D&I practitioners should possess to
be able to perform effectively in their role.
Following best practices in the credentialing
field, the competency framework
has then been validated by a large number
of Canadian D&I professionals. A
validation survey was sent to nearly 300
people who are in specific diversity, inclusion,
equity and human rights roles as well
as academics across the country, asking
them to review and rank the competencies.
Over 160 professionals and experts
from across Canada provided their input.
Subsequently, a list of knowledge, skills
and abilities (KSAs) was developed for
each competency, which was reviewed and
revised by the committee.
“The process has been very rigorous and
inclusive,” said Lazarova. “The sample of
people who provided input to the competency
assessment and validation were very
diverse; they came from different industries,
sectors and different personal diverse
identity characteristics, but they were all
knowledgeable about D&I.”
The next step in the process will be the
creation of assessment tools and procedures
that will be used to evaluate and
measure candidates’ competencies and
experience.
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ JANUARY 2016 ❚ 27