The workforce is changing, becoming more multicultural, multi-generational, global, and digital. But even though the demographics of the workforce are changing, the most thoughtful DEI strategies are still failing to engage every level of the organization.

The recent vortex of the global pandemic, followed closely by the acknowledgment of unaddressed racial injustices against Black people in America, has created an unexpected moment to completely transform current DEI efforts. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity to stop doing what isn’t working and focus our attention (and money) on what is.

Benchmarks and best practices are critical to help inform our strategic plans. However, with so little progress being made in diverse representation at the leadership levels, it’s wise to ask the question – is this simply an example of a “common practice,” or is it truly a “proven practice?” Given the lack of transparency from most companies, how will you know? But for those who want to skip ahead, let’s also talk about “promising practices” that have the ability to completely transform our approach to DEI. While not an exhaustive list, here are some components of an evidence-based plan, and related expected outcomes along with a few potential pitfalls.

A good plan will …

Articulate the business impact on your company

The business case for focusing on diversity in the workplace continues to get stronger. Increased DEI has been shown to drive higher innovation, enhanced job performance, less employee turnover, greater profits, and more. However, it is still necessary to make the impact personal and specific to your company. A good plan will articulate the expected business impact to your firm with increased DEI. Expected outcomes could include increased customer retention, new product innovation, more revenue per customer, higher win rates on proposals, and lower customer acquisition costs, just to name a few. Whatever the anticipated business impact, you must be able to measure it. While it would be easy to state that improved diversity will drive greater innovation in your company, if you can’t measure innovation you’ll only foster frustration as it relates to your DEI outcomes.

Expected Outcomes: Shared Vision | Tied to Business Valuation

Uncover the stories in your workforce data

Many companies are already using some form of descriptive analysis to share the current state of DEI in their organization. Fewer companies leverage predictive analysis to determine what is likely to happen if there are no changes to workforce diversity. More advanced companies use prescriptive analysis to build various scenarios and consider what actions and interventions are likely to be the most impactful to drive progress.

Leveraging all three – descriptive (describes a set of data), predictive (makes predictions about the future) and prescriptive analysis (suggests options), will help you set realistic goals and customize action plans for specific business leaders in order to drive shared accountability.

Equality in promotion rates, turnover rates, and hiring rates remains the most significant measurements of a successful DEI Plan. While overall representation can be slower to change, closing any gaps in promotion rates, by demographic group, is an immediate action that companies can take. The advances in HRIS tools and bolt-on technologies have made this type of analysis on workforce data both possible and affordable.

Expected Outcomes: Realistic Goals | Data-Driven and Focused Approach

Leverage innovative employee listening and communication tools

Traditional annual engagement surveys have not proven useful, on their own, to quickly identify experience gaps based on various dimensions of identity. With the expanded use of self-identification, we can now better understand gaps in employee experience by various demographic groups across the world. Combined with self-id, virtual focus groups have introduced a scalable way to give every employee a voice. Through these platforms, employees can share their ideas and interact with other colleagues in a psychologically safe way.

The engagement of men and middle managers has been established as a significant driver of progress with DEI Initiatives. However, we have failed to engage these groups in traditional DEI efforts beyond being passive allies. By leveraging anonymous, virtual focus groups, companies can uncover the real barriers to full engagement in DEI efforts and begin to engage the entire workforce in critical conversations.

Expected Outcomes: Demographic Insights | Engagement of Middle Managers and Men

Utilize technology to identify bias and encourage inclusive behaviors

Once regarded as “nice to have” but not critical, DEI technology has taken on new importance as companies are seeking solutions to disrupt stagnant trends in representation. This increased demand for technologies to support DEI has resulted in a rapidly growing technology market to address diversity in a more strategic and innovative way.

Moving beyond compliance, Red Thread Research has identified over 80 technologies that are focused on reducing the impact of biases in key talent processes including performance management. The ability to raise awareness of bias as they occur in real-time is just one of the many benefits that we should expect from these emerging technologies. Tools that analyze the frequency of 1:1s, and natural language processing that evaluates the amount and quality of feedback given to individuals will all aid in highlighting and mitigating the negative impact of bias.

Expected Outcomes: Mitigate the impact of bias in key talent processes

Include a solid communication and change management plan

Within executive leadership, there remains a strong debate about what diversity data to share, and with whom. One of the common complaints we hear from business leaders is that they don’t have visibility into the data necessary to make decisions about DEI. This lack of internal transparency forces them to rely on their gut or anecdotal comments to guide them on where bias might be occurring in the talent ecosystem. Sharing “motivational findings” that can inspire action, partnered with a strong change management plan that includes readiness assessments, extended experiences for learning, and identifies specific inclusive behaviors will support both organizational and individual accountability and action.

Ideal communication plans include three parts: What are we working to achieve? What are we doing about it? How will we measure success? While the level of detail that is shared with employees, managers, leaders and the board will vary, the messages must be consistent and tightly aligned across all audiences. Planned actions to improve DEI efforts must be repeatedly communicated via multiple channels. It has been widely acknowledged that transparency around the current state of DEI will drive urgency and progress. It is also understood that in the hands of plaintiff attorneys it could expose the company to litigation. Leading companies have now considered “not sharing the data” a risk to the company’s ability to realize the full business benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Expected Outcomes: Shared Accountability | Readiness | Action

And now for some key pitfalls to avoid…

Hiring and Promotion Derailers

It is widely acknowledged and accepted that we all have unconscious and conscious biases that impact our decision-making and, left unaddressed, will shape a company’s “norm” for hiring and promotion. In addition to recognizing our individual bias, there are other pitfalls in the talent process that could stall your efforts. The most common mis-steps will create an “artificially narrow” pipeline. What this means is we have unintentionally narrowed our selection process resulting in having little to no diversity in the final candidate pool.

A few of the reasons pipelines are artificially narrowed can be:

• Calibrating “success” based on past performers which prohibits real change by continuing to hire and promote a workforce that looks like the past rather than hiring the workforce of the future
• Recruiting from colleges that have lower student diversity
• Recruitment materials with homogeneous images
• Looking for a “culture fit” rather than someone who “adds to your culture”
• Job descriptions that require 4-year college degrees when certificates and/or badges are equally valued
• Looking for one or two specific degrees when other degrees could be transferable
• Biased wording in job descriptions that causes a qualified candidate not to apply
• Not having diversity in the recruiting team or interview panel

Expected Outcomes: Broad sourcing strategy with a diverse pipeline for hiring and promotion

Common practices disguised as best practices

Prior to the global pandemic, companies highlighted their DEI programs by sponsoring luncheons, receiving symbolic awards, and applying for top rankings recognition. While many of these award-worthy programs might have been “common practice,” it is not evident that they are in fact effective. And with the continued acknowledgment of the lack of progress in diversity, equity, and inclusion, it would be wise to challenge any program that highlights “85% of companies do this…”

Having said that, we don’t want to reinvent the wheel every time. Leveraging effective practices and benchmarks is still wise, and it’s important to make sure you have validated the outcomes from the program and that your objectives are clear. For example, if you are attempting to decrease the attrition rate of your historically under-represented employees, a “common practice” might be to organize networking events to make sure everyone has equal access to leaders and gets the “unwritten rules” for how to progress within the company. While these initiatives have been shown to increase employee engagement scores, they are not always scalable nor proven to be effective to drive equitable promotion rates. An alternative approach would be to build out a strong career framework that provides visibility to advancement opportunities within the company and then hold leaders accountable for utilizing the framework. This would reduce the reliance on a strong internal network and would benefit the entire company, not only the historically underrepresented population. You can still host networking events to drive increased engagement, and rely on your career framework to drive equitable promotion rates.

Expected Outcomes: Avoid “Programs without Progress”

Change overload

There is no doubt that this is an unexpected window of opportunity where employees are expecting change. While it is enticing to ‘seize the current moment’ and change everything at once, the most effective change efforts are both holistic and paced so as not to overwhelm the organization. Regardless of the passion that people have for progress, DEI plans should be treated no different. A multi-year, comprehensive roadmap will enable the organization to achieve quick wins through changes that are widely recognized as ‘must-do’ actions; e.g., pay equity analysis, adding self-identification to employee engagement surveys, hosting company wide conversations on issues like systemic racism, and leaders publicly declaring their commitment to DEI. Quick wins build momentum and organizational confidence to tackle the longer term and more difficult changes required to root out and correct systemic bias, over time. Executives, managers, and front-line employees will be more likely to recognize the value of diversity and embrace and adopt new inclusive behaviors if they recognize DEI is embedded in the culture and aligns with how the ‘organization conducts business’. That doesn’t happen overnight nor with a single ‘program’. It has to happen over time, consistently and deliberately addressing both the organizational actions and individual actions for sustained progress.

Expected Outcomes: Multi-Year Roadmap with short and long term actions

Setting vague, unmeasurable, objectives

While it sounds nice to have a broad goal of “creating a more diverse and inclusive culture,” in order to galvanize the organization around the change that is needed to make progress, it is important that you set specific objectives to bring clarity and focus for how this will be achieved. You might have measurable objectives to increase the representation of women and BIPOC in leadership, decrease the attrition rate for Black employees, increase the engagement scores for the LGBTQ+ population, or increase hiring of people living with disabilities. Setting out clear and specific objectives will also inform what programs are needed. For example, if your objective is to increase the hiring of people living with disabilities, this will likely not be the same action required to reduce the attrition rate for Black employees.

Expected Outcomes: Clear and measurable objectives

One-time training programs

In this moment, what we say and do has the ability to help define our legacy as leaders and mold our reputations around diversity, equity, and inclusion. This presents both the challenge and the opportunity. There is pressure on leaders to “act now” to demonstrate commitment and progress, but while we are all in a hurry for progress, let’s not rush forward with one-time programs that will leave employees wondering ‘what’s next?”

Creating an extended learning experience around DEI will allow the organization to move from simple “awareness of bias” to sustainable action that will result in real progress. A solid learning and development plan for DEI will include learning paths for your executives, leaders, and managers. It will provide participants the ability to increase awareness, guide self-reflection, promote inquiry, and encourage a growth mindset. An effective learning plan will identify the specific inclusive behaviors that lead to a more diverse and inclusive culture.

Companies of all sizes are leveraging free resources, where possible, to build a comprehensive learning plan. Universities like Harvard provide self-guided reflections that shine a light on individual bias. Organizations like Civic Dinners provide free platforms for conversations around crucial topics like race, mental health, and religion. Nonprofits like Valuable 500 provide engaging video tutorials on the importance of considering disability in your DEI plans. There is a great deal of content available to link together a strong extended learning experience for all levels of the organization.

Expected Outcomes: Scalable extended learning experiences

At the heart of every good DEI plan is a shared vision of the future with practical solutions that surround leaders, at every level of the organization, with the data necessary to make good decisions.