By Sandra O’Malley and Chelle Ellery, Australian Public Service Commission
Safe and inclusive workplace cultures are built in small moments. Remembering or learning how to pronounce someone’s name. Ensuring everyone’s voice is heard during team meetings. Removing visible or invisible barriers that benefit the dominant culture in recruitment and progression.
Creating teams where everyone feels seen and heard is critical to developing culturally aware and literate APS leaders, essential in contemporary Australia, where more than half the population was born overseas or has a parent who was.
MOSAIC (Multicultural Organisation – Staff Awareness, Innovation and Capability) Magazine Part 2 is a guide for APS leaders at all levels seeking to build their cultural capability and understand how to create touchstone moments from when a new staff member starts to when they find their next opportunity.
Learn how to create teams, branches or divisions in your workplace where all staff feel connection and belonging, including culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) staff members.
The magazine is a companion guide to MOSAIC Part 1, designed to uplift the leadership capability of all APS staff, which has been updated to support the dynamic implementation of the APS CALD Employment Strategy, released in April 2024.
MOSAIC gives APS leaders the tools to support CALD staff to thrive in workplaces that understand and align with their cultural needs, with resources that provide additional guidance for APS leadership to support their learning journey.
Throughout the magazine, leaders are given the opportunity to reflect, pause and ponder their own behaviours based on illustrated examples or real-life case studies.
Just as artists create mosaics by bringing together elements to form a whole, inclusive leaders do the same in the workplace by valuing diverse identities, perspectives and staff contributions. This creates more cohesive teams with a different way of looking at problems and unique skills to deliver for a multicultural Australian population.
The magazine supports APS leaders across all service levels, providing practical examples of how employees can uphold inclusive values in their daily roles.
From casting a wider net when recruiting, to proactively identifying and mentoring CALD talent, every step of the APS journey can impact the experience of culturally diverse staff now, and throughout their future career.
MOSAIC provides leaders with easy to access resources, shared through accessible formats such as videos and infographics, to guide them through issues such as the lifecycle of managing staff, how to handle cultural and religious customs, what to do if you don’t know how to pronounce your team member’s name, and what exactly is speak up culture and why is it important.
The magazine format is designed for users to dip in and out, depending on the support they need to build a culturally safe work environment for their staff.
Check out MOSAIC Part 2, arriving soon at the APS Academy this October.
