Build a culture of action to improve diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging

Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) practices are a challenge to implement successfully -- it’s hard no matter the department, division, industry or sector. The best way to approach this work is by building a culture of action through data. Not only does acting on feedback have programmatic implications, but there are negative multiplier effects that can happen if agencies don’t take action on their data.

Why a culture of action is important

If employees go through the process to participate in DEIB initiatives, they will expect concrete action to be taken. If no action is taken or communicated, the exercise can seem forced, instead of an effort that actually improves their lived experience. Fostering a culture of action and communicating the concrete improvements that will be made will help an agency create a more authentic DEIB initiative.

A culture of action is also important because employees are sometimes unwilling to provide honest feedback. The worst case scenario on the DEIB journey is going through the process of creating listening programs, only for employees to face barriers in being honest in their feedback and assessment. Without putting in the time and effort to focus on real actions and outcomes based directly on employees’ feedback, staff will stop providing honest feedback, which makes the data that teams do collect meaningless.

Data supports a culture of action

First, begin by collecting actionable data and insights from team members. Collecting relevant data comes from making sure that a few consistent qualities are interwoven in all listening efforts:

• Data that is representative of the workforce: Check the results to make sure that the demographic profile of the collected data is similar to that of the organization. If some representation from specific communities is missing, make concerted efforts to reach out to those populations.
• Assessment items that are defined and direct: When asking for feedback on DEIB concepts, make sure everyone is working from a shared understanding of terminology. This can be as simple as prefacing the survey with specific definitions.
• Listen in real-time: The more lag time between asking for and acting on feedback, the more employees will need to be reminded about what is happening and why it’s important.
• Adopt a “disaggregation-first” mindset.  By breaking down the data to find disparities without compromising identities of individuals, organizations can not only highlight the greatest disparities but also talk about results in a way that does not reveal individual employee identities.

Act on insights from the data

Agencies should analyze the data as objectively as possible, being relentless in making the connection between data received and forward action. Most of the time, the data will be supportive of existing efforts, but sometimes it won’t – the worst thing at this point is to force the data to tell a specific story when it does not. Really examine the data and do what it tells you – which is easier said than done.

One framework that’s helpful in understanding data comprehensively is thinking about operational data and experience data:

• O-data: Data on operational processes like finance, HR or procurement.
• X-data: Data on human experience such as beliefs, emotions and sentiments.

O-data describes what happened and X-data tells why it’s happening. X-data is actionable and can change as organizations begin or evolve the DEIB journey.

State and local government DEIB efforts

After learning the what and why from the data, implementation is the next step. Some local governments have risen to the challenge in their DEIB efforts.

The Office of African American Affairs in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, was faced with the challenge of evaluating the effectiveness of racial equity training for county leaders. After implementing a program that required anonymous surveys following every training session, OAAA staff analyzed comments to understand the “why” (X-data) behind responses combined with statistical analysis of “what” (O-data). With those insights, the OAAA was able to increase training effectiveness and improve leadership equity efforts across departments. The efforts served almost 1 million citizens, creating a stronger DEIB training program.

In Pennsylvania, Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services found a sharp uptake of visitors and opt-ins to their website simply by reframing the language behind their message. Their goal was to make it clear that they were serving humans, not customers or products. By listening to how community members felt, ACDHS was able to make residents feel part of the process and, in turn, were rewarded with a more effective program.

One way to ensure an action-oriented approach to DEIB is to circle back with stakeholders at every step and solicit their feedback. Help them understand current goals, objectives and challenges as well as how these issues can be addressed. To create authentic engagement, involve these groups at every stage – during program design, but also during data collection and analysis. These communities can provide consistent knowledge and expertise– treat them like a true partner, rather than a pit stop along the way.

When building out or improving a DEIB program, be radically honest about what level of engagement the program has – and work deliberately to move it to where it needs to be. Make sure to create a DEIB program that communities are asking for.

Vince Vu is the VP of Government at Qualtrics. With 10+ years of service at state and local government levels, he advises government agencies and organizations on effective experience management (XM) programming.