Arthur Woods is the co-founder of Mathison, a venture capital backed technology platform that provides employers with everything they need to manage their diversity recruitment efforts.
We are in the midst of the greatest talent shortage in history, after a year in which countless companies have shown their commitment to diversity. Yet few have made great strides – and 76% of them Organizations have not yet set any diversity goals for 2022.
In the past few years we have been Study of recruitment practices by hundreds of employers and written about Impact of the Great Resignation on DEI. We found a consistent pattern: employers anchor the focus on trailing indicators around diversity that have no influence on change.
What metrics are missing for DEI?
Traditionally, organizations have focused their DEI efforts – including goals and measurements – on increasing diversity and togetherness in their teams.
The challenge? These two metrics are completely focused on the bottom line without taking into account the actual activities required to achieve them. Most organizations lack a theory of change for their diversity efforts to explain what actions need to be taken to move the needle in a meaningful way. This depends on answering two new questions:
- Are our systems fair? To this extent, our processes are fair, consistent and accessible to everyone, which has a direct impact on employee progress.
- Are our employees aware of DEI, are they committed and are responsible for it? This is the collective awareness, commitment and accountability for DEI in all of our teams.
Put these new metrics into practice
It is clear that the challenges are daunting and create barriers to change, but for those looking to be part of this year’s 24% diversity goals, here are three key areas that can help transform the landscape for DEI in 2022 to change:
Measure the current state of diversity to see what to focus your goals on
Companies often set unrealistic DEI goals – either too ambitious or not ambitious enough. Before starting your DEI goals, you need to figure out where you have gaps and what you should prioritize.
- Assess your existing company policies and practices to determine where you have gaps or potential bias by going through the candidate and employee journey. Solutions like ours Same attitude index can help you get the full picture in these areas.
- Examine the current diversity representation of your existing team and the extent to which your team is involved and involved in DEI efforts through an anonymous survey.
- Use the combined findings above to identify up to five areas where you have the most room for improvement.
Make sure your DEI goals take diversity, equity and inclusion into account holistically
Since employers typically only focus their DEI goals on increasing representation, make sure your goals are holistic to include your people, processes, and representation as well.
- Identify your biggest gaps and opportunities in improving equity and accessibility in your hiring and talent process.
- Identify the critical path in your team’s involvement in this effort, beginning with awareness and followed by equipment, commitment, and responsibility.
- Identify where you have the greatest chance of increasing representation: You can approach this goal with a framework or process-based goal.
Get your team on board right from the start
In terms of genuinely involving your team in these goals, you want to make sure it is part of the build from the beginning. In this way you create enthusiasm and responsibility for achieving these goals. Here are a few ways to get your team involved in the process.
- Create shared responsibility by involving your team in goal setting meetings and interviews, be it through direct participation or through working groups.
- Hear your team’s vision for DEI, and make sure to include your existing employee resource groups or diversity councils, if you have any, and learn where their passions lie.
- Create a system to track and report DEI progress.
- Make reports and goals available to employees and stakeholders.
- Make goals and data accessible to everyone internally and, if possible, share them externally.
- Spread DEI accountability across the organization.
- Reward your team for reaching DEI milestones.
A call to action for 2022
As the saying goes: we cannot manage what we cannot measure. As we step back to look at our diversity endeavors, it becomes clear that measuring results alone does not ensure that we are making progress. Instead, we need to focus on the actual activities necessary to drive the change we want – making our systems fair and engaging our people.
With the start of the New Year, this is the perfect time to talk to our teams about the new goals we can set. Let’s not just make 2022 a year to measure diversity outcomes – let’s actually move it forward.
