Appendix: consultation summary

A need for visible diversity in leadership

Without CALD leaders visible in leadership roles throughout the cluster, staff felt that the ‘club’ of senior leadership would continue to be closed, important conversations about leading the way in how we cater for CALD communities would not happen, and that there will continue to be limited/ad-hoc focus on impact of product, policies, and services on CALD communities.

More work to be done to make staff feel valued and supported in their career journey

Staff commented that there was limited information on career progression, that more needed to be done to enable staff to have active and supported conversations about their career journey, and that all staff needed to be given equal opportunity to participate in conversations and be given the space to grow and excel in their way.

Staff also acknowledged that it was uncommon in some cultures to self-promote and that this barrier sometimes stood in the way of their career progression.

More work to be done to bring a level of cultural competency to the organisation

Staff in many areas commented how they had not felt supported or empowered to speak up against discrimination and did not know where to turn to besides trusted peers if they did experience microaggressions, racial discrimination or other forms of harassment.

Staff also commented that their peers had made them feel excluded or singled out while customers commented that they felt rushed or dismissed with approaching frontline DCS staff. Both staff and customers felt a need for more to be done to ensure a culturally competent 

A need for effective consultation and co-design with CALD customers and communities

Without better guidance across the cluster and a strategic approach to consultation with CALD customers and communities, staff commented that products and services will continue to be ineffective for CALD cohorts. Staff wanted more guidance on key considerations when consulting with CALD communities.

Customers also reciprocated this feedback, commenting that they wanted to be consulted more but acknowledged that this consultation needed to be done with consideration of their time and resources. 

More information about what DCS is, does, and provides

Customers were clear in their feedback that they didn’t understand what DCS as an agency was responsible for. While they acknowledged their familiarity with key assets such as Service NSW and nsw.gov.au, they still felt that there were services and products within these assets that they were unfamiliar with.

Customers commented that for their communities, putting a ‘face to the name’ was important and more needed to be done to raise awareness of the multitude of support offered by DCS. 

Improved translation and interpretation services

Translation and interpretation was a key theme throughout consultation. Customers felt unseen by the limited translation materials being provided and the limited number of languages with translated materials.

Customers also raised that more needed to be done to raise awareness of the limitations of translated content given the literacy levels of customers in English and their native language.

Staff shared these sentiments and also acknowledged that more needed to be done to achieve consistency across the cluster in how we provide translation and interpretation services.