Inclusive Culture
%
..
MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Your Results
Leading Edge
%
..
MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Fairness & Representation
%
..
MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Overall DEI Score
..
%
Employee Development
%
..
MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Policies & Procedures
%
..
MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Hiring & Career Pathing
%
..
MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Not bad! But there’s room for improvement.
Looks like your organization is already doing many of the right things. You likely have a formalized DEI Council, partial/complete leadership buy-in on the importance of inclusivity, and several successful diversity programs. But… there are some areas which have not received the same focus. Or certain initiatives which have failed to produce measurable results.
Organizations at this stage are often dealing with the frustrations inherent to most DEI programs.
The Most Common Issues with DEI Initiatives
Despite best intentions, buy-in, and budget, organizations typically hit a wall with their DEI initiatives. You're likely familiar with one or more of the inherent and structural flaws:
One-off & Piecemeal
Programs which are not tied to company strategy. Often implemented as a knee-jerk response, these initiatives are overly focused on the currently growing minority demographic and accomplish little more than virtue signaling.
Top-Down & Overly Centralized
These initiatives are focused on governance and reporting. Often they appear to be well-managed, but they are so high-level that they fail to impact employees on the ground.
Broad Scope & Generic
“One size fits all” training and coaching that never results in real change. These programs are often reactive to external social issues and misaligned to the real issues present within the organization.
No Support for Operational Leaders
Usually overlapping with top-down generic programs, these initiatives have lofty goals and support from upper leadership. They lack clear guidance for the middle management who actually impact the day-to-day reality of an employee. Thus having inconsistent results.
No Measurable ROI
DEI programs often measure surface-level diversity stats, leading to the perception that they lack tangible business value. This makes it impossible to prove long-term impact and impacts budget allocation for future initiatives.
Elements of a Comprehensive DEI Strategy
Moving past the structural issues with DEI initiatives requires an end-to-end strategy. A combination of initiatives that put fast and continuous improvement as keystone for achieving your organization’s goals. Below are the elements of a comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion program:
​
RECRUITMENT: Establish, and reevaluate yearly, a diversity-focused recruiting plan. Including the use of hiring technology to increase fairness.
MENTORING: Develop a mentoring program, paying close attention to the need for top-down sponsorship and diversity across age, sexual orientation, race, religion, gender, and other various identities.
TRAINING: Facilitate awareness and buy-in via unconscious bias, anti-racism, and inclusion training.
POLICIES: Review and fine-tune your discrimination and harassment policies. Reevaluate yearly at minimum.
ESCALATION: Have a system in place for escalating harassment or retaliation issues and ensure employees are well-informed of the resources available to them.
NETWORKING: Foster diversified business networks and cross-company networking by establishing Employee Resources Groups (ERGs).
SAFETY: Create a safe space for race and diversity conversations. This often starts as a facilitated process when an experienced expert.
OPERATIONAL: Appoint on-the-ground leaders as your Internal Champions of Diversity & Inclusion. These champions for change should be empowered to make decisions and take action.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT: Inspire culture change via top-down support and executive sponsorship for diversity resolution and inclusion values. Successful DEI programs require flexibility, adaptability, resilience, and persistence.
Want to share this with your team? Download the infographic!
The most difficult part of a comprehensive strategy is knowing how and when to implement each of these elements. Lean DEI can help! We specialize in the Right-Sized Solutions at the Right-Time. Give us a call at 281-845-8800 or email Consult@LeanDEI.com
