Five Steps for Impactful DEI work

When Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work is kicked-off in an organization, the sheer magnitude of work ahead can evoke feelings of overwhelm and uncertainty. If you are the person in charge, you may identify numerous different types of change processes you should be initiating and across many different levels and departments of the organization. So where do you start? Once you have been doing the work for a while you may also start feeling diversity fatigue: disillusionment and emotional depletion caused by the slow pace of progress or the different types of resistance you are met with. In this blog post our CEO, Jonna Louvrier, lays out a model for change.

Adopting a model for change

DEI work is challenging, but by adopting a structured approach you can make the task more manageable. At Stanford University, Professor of Sociology Shelley Correll and her colleagues have developed a model called the “Small Wins Approach for Organizational Change”. While originally designed to address gender inequality, this model offers a valuable framework for DEI work, providing a roadmap for navigating change. At its core, the Small Wins Model emphasizes the power of small, concrete actions that yield measurable results. By breaking down the seemingly insurmountable task of dismantling discriminatory systems into five different steps, you can gain a sense of control, mitigate resistance and drive tangible progress. 

Creating awareness

The first step is all about creating awareness. In order to have a solid foundation for meaningful change it is important to start creating a common understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within your organization. Key actors in the organization need to have an understanding of why DEI is essential for your organization's success and what the typical challenges are. You may want to focus on bias and existing inequities in worklife. At this stage it is particularly important to engage your organization’s top leaders and decision-makers, as their support and commitment are instrumental in driving initiatives forward. 

At Includia Leadership we recommend starting with tailored workshops for executive teams and managers, with a strong emphasis on dialogue and psychological safety. 

Mapping the current state

The second step entails mapping the current state of diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization. The objective is to identify areas where equity and inclusion are lacking, and to uncover the underlying factors contributing to these disparities. By examining existing policies, practices, and organizational culture, you gain valuable insights into both the challenges and opportunities for advancement. By also shedding light on your organization's strengths, you can leverage those strengths to propel the DEI agenda forward. Data collected during this phase can also help further strengthen leadership buy-in: the concrete evidence of the existing DEI gaps in your organization can help dispel a not so uncommon misconception among leaders that inequality is mainly an issue other organizations grapple with. 

In Europe we do not have a long tradition of measuring employee experiences taking different marginalized identities into account. This is however an important step you should take, carefully following GDPR regulations. At Includia Leadership we also strongly recommend collecting qualitative data in DEI surveys, as qualitative data provides invaluable information about the mechanisms behind the experiences of inequality and exclusion.  

Developing practices

Translating the insights from the mapping phase into a road map is the focus of step three. Armed with a clear understanding of where equity and inclusion gaps exist within the organization, your leaders can make data-driven decisions about priorities and objectives. At Includia Leadership we help our clients do this by organizing co-creation workshops, involving internal stakeholders from various levels and departments to brainstorm and prioritize next steps. The range of practices chosen during this phase is wide and can focus on changes in the recruitment process and language practices to the establishment of employee resource groups and more. So while at the outset of DEI work the abundance of potential actions to take may seem overwhelming, this data-driven approach allows breaking the task down into manageable, actionable steps and aligning the practices with your employees’ specific needs and realities. 

At Includia Leadership we also help our clients design new practices. In this process we draw on academic research findings and translate those findings to fit the client’s specific organizational context.

Rolling out and engaging

The fourth step of the model focuses on rolling out new practices and fostering engagement throughout your organization. Just as in the previous step, do involve key stakeholders across all levels and departments. By bringing people together, you create opportunities for collaboration and collective ownership of the change process. Leaders who may initially approach the changes with skepticism or unenthusiasm can benefit from observing the engagement of their peers and colleagues. In this phase, it is also essential to establish mechanisms for accountability. As Alexandra Kalev and Frank Dobbin write in their book "Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn’t," creating accountability by setting detailed targets that are shared with both insiders and the public, leads to change.

Measuring the change

In the fifth and final step of the model, the focus is on measuring the impact of the practices that you have implemented. While measuring the impact of one concrete action may seem small, it is essential to recognize that this action is part of a larger cultural change process. When you achieve change, regardless of how big or small,  do approach it as a victory, something to be celebrated with your fellow change-makers. 

DEI work is a long-term cultural change process for which there are no one-fits-all solutions or silver bullets. However, by embracing this five-step model you can navigate the complexities of this work with clarity and purpose. In addition to dividing the task into manageable parts, the model also describes your role in the process. You are not responsible for changing the system.Your role is to serve as a guide and coach, empowering your leaders and stakeholders at all levels to actively participate in this change process. The transformation of the system will be a result of collective efforts from everyone within your organization.

Would you benefit from delving deeper into the different stages and success factors of DEI work? Join our small group training “Jumpstarting your DEI work” in June. Workshops are online and in English. More information here.