Forget the political correctness. Forget the shameless charlatans who use the system to cover their own incompetence. Forget the managers who make fun of women in the office when they talk about equality. Forget the chauvinists who have resisted every attempt to bring diversity into the sport. The truth is that no modern community or organization can successfully divest itself of the responsibilities to bring diversity to its operations.
It is no longer acceptable to build golf structures that rely on the similarity of the participants in terms of gender, social status and background. The good old boys do not hold sway in quite the same way as they did before. The organizations that insist on running things in the old fashioned manner will either face the wrath of the customers or will have to put up with intrusive government intervention. This article aims to review some of the possible diversity initiatives that can be carried out in golf.
Including everyone in the growth of Golf
Social awareness programs are an effective way of assessing the level of diversity that you have and comparing it to the level that you would like to have. There is even the possibility of doing employee surveys or just plain observation to see what is happening in golf for people who happen to be in any minority.
The community of golf can act as ambassadors for selected diversity projects which are specifically designed to rehabilitate the often erroneous impression of the sport. The more diverse the representatives the better it is for the erasing of harmful stereotypes
Without adequate enforcement, all diversity initiatives are nothing more than gimmicks. This should not be scaled down as a negative option for golf but rather a means to ensure that agreed principles are allowed to embed within the fabric of the sport.
Employee ownership of the process will be crucial to achieving the ambitious projects that are usually associated with diversity. Given the high propensity to attract spoilers and cynics, it is imperative to arm staff with the necessary skills to counter the negative arguments against diversifying golf.
Celebrating success is not a sign of arrogance or an inferiority complex. It can be a powerful tool for raising awareness about the relative impact of successful rebuttal initiatives or other diversity programs for golf. Staff should be encouraged to shout out about what they have done right.
Attack can be the best form of defense in any situation and you may reluctantly be forced to take. Diversity should ideally be a common sense approach that gets the support of everyone. However the reality that even in golf, it tends to become a point of contention and the authorities have to take extra care not to alienate the establishment people.
Continuous improvement and assessment will be crucial to ensuring that the wins that have been accumulated in terms of diversity for golf are carried forward into the future generations of the people who both enjoy and participate in the sport.
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