Has Your DEI Initiative Fizzled Out? Here’s How to Revive it.

In the past year, many companies have established diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives with varying levels of success. Some companies have experienced slow progress due to competing priorities, lack of measurable goals, or lack of engagement from leadership. Some companies started off the year strong and have fizzled out. Some companies experienced a lot of DEI talk and not a lot of results. 

If this sounds familiar, consider asking these three questions to ensure you maintain momentum and achieve the results you expect from your DEI initiative.

Focus: What are your DEI focus areas, and how do they align with your mission and business strategy?

DEI efforts can span the business, including attracting and recruiting diverse talent, building an inclusive culture, developing support mechanisms like mentoring, tapping into diversity for innovation, or engaging in the community more intentionally. 

There are many dimensions of DEI that a company could focus on at any given time. Establishing a focus that aligns with your mission and business strategy will ensure that DEI efforts remain a priority and support your business goals.

For example, if you're struggling to find enough tech talent through your traditional recruiting sources, consider focusing on building new recruiting pathways that increase your tech talent pool and improve the diversity of your team. It's a win-win for both your business and DEI goals.

Outcome: How will you know you've achieved your DEI goal?

You know the saying — you get what you measure. How will you know you've achieved your goal? Will you have a team that represents the distribution of your client base? Will you have more innovation? Will you win more deals?  

Identifying business-oriented outcomes will ensure you are tracking toward a result, not just doing things differently. It can take time to achieve a larger DEI objective, so consider identifying metrics that track incremental progress. 

For example, maybe your goal is to have 50% women engineers by 2025. In the near term, you establish a new relationship with a women's tech group and measure how many candidates you're getting from this new source. This gives you data on what's working and what's not and helps you adapt faster toward your goal.

Meaning: What makes your DEI goals meaningful to your organization and individuals on your team?

It's important to align as a leadership team on why these efforts are meaningful to your business and individuals on your team. DEI can be deeply personal, and when you tap into the personal meaning, it accelerates progress.

For example, building new recruiting pathways takes time and effort from individuals on the team. Maybe someone on your team is a graduate of an HBCU, and would like to contribute to building a pathway for students from their alma mater. Connecting to an employee's deeper meaning increases their chances of investing time in things like campus recruiting or hosting an intern from their school. 

If you're frustrated with the pace of your company's DEI journey, consider asking these three powerful questions to drive focus, uncover meaning, and accelerate progress toward your DEI goals.