Fact Series: DEI Process

How to overcome the challenges of DEI

Our recent survey on DEI in the workplace asked respondents to identify the main challenges concerning DEI in their company. Whilst no single area was streaks ahead of the others, defining success metrics was first with 48%, followed by lack of resources or time at 42%.

Leadership buy-in, obtaining a budget and defining the business case were all bunched together in the middle of the challenge pack.

DEI needs to get real (a real process, that is!)

It’s not unfair to say that DEI is lacking definition. The work is often unstructured, sometimes ill-considered, and the impact unmonitored. The disjointed nature of DEI, where there is a lack of reasoning, focus, strategy and measurement, leads to issues with buy-in, obtaining budget and resources, and even accountability.  

All of these challenges are intrinsically linked and indicate a lack of structure and an inability to approach DEI as a business process. In general terms, companies operate on tangible, measurable and reportable information. They run on numbers. Therefore, it makes sense that DEI needs to get real and organise around a real process, with results that are measurable over time.

Structure defines success

While there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution, there is most definitely a process and structure that can be used to achieve positive DEI outcomes, and that will enable your company to see the most significant, scalable, quantifiable and sustainable impact.

Steps to DEI Success

By employing a structured approach with specific steps, your DEI initiatives will deliver the success you’re looking to achieve:

1. Pinpoint the main problem areas within your organisation. It is vital to the success of any programme to know your starting point by identifying the company’s DEI related challenges. A broad assessment of the organisation that looks at the diversity demographic and their inclusion experience will enable you to prioritise and give focus to your initiatives (you should not try and do everything at once: it won’t work). Defining the right strategy and setting goals will be difficult without this high-level assessment.
2. Focus on the root causes in the identified areas of concern that you then choose to focus on first, through deeper data analysis and talking to your employee (in groups or alone) to identify systemic causes and employee experience, which will enable you to make the required changes across the employee lifecycle. Root causes likely include a combination of internal barriers (such as policies, procedures, and workplace setup) and external barriers (such as cultural beliefs). Also, drill down into intersectionality to better understand the interconnected nature of the issues at hand.
3. Create a DEI strategy for longevity with scalability in mind that outlines resources, budget, and timeline and includes activities and deliverables where expectations and objectives can be set. That way, a quantifiable business case is easier to define to gain buy-in from the leadership team. Take care of the process and business aspects, and the more intangible drivers behind DEI, such as ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘creating an inclusive culture’, become natural outputs.
4. Review and make any needed changes to policies, processes and ways of working so that they are integrated into the working environment, DEI is hardwired into the business, and change is sustainable.
5. Set clear and quantifiable objectives and KPIs for each activity, including expected outcomes and timelines. This is extremely important as it quantifies to the business what is happening, the reasoning behind it, and the benefits it should deliver. It is essential to establish quantifiable and measurable drivers as it provides the tangible elements that support buy-in from the business.
6. Establish DEI as a business priority and apportion accountability across the organisation (not only in HR), from senior leadership to the crucial middle management to front-line employees. People at all levels should be accountable for outcomes and not just responsible for inputs or deploying activities.
7. Carry out rigorous monitoring and tracking of objectives and progress and adjust as needed as information becomes available. Use data, insights, and inputs from the business to refine the process, correct it, and modify it as needed.

With a structure in place and a defined process behind DEI, you will be able to design an initiative that is specific to your company’s needs, one that is effective and sustainable, is measurable and adjustable, with the impact understood and quantified so that inclusivity becomes a part of your organisation’s DNA.

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Download the survey insights report to learn more about how your peers approach DEI in the workplace.

Contact us to find out how mpm included can help you on your DEI journey.

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