Shifting from defense to offence: Measuring DEI results

Is your organisation’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work done as a form of defense against criticism? Or is it an active move to ‘go on the offence’ by making genuine improvements?

- Richard R. Smith and D. Jill Green

While many organisations are working to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their workforces, it is sometimes difficult to recognise progress. And though change takes time, we do sometimes wonder if diversity efforts are more of a “Defensive” move to avoid public or employee backlash. Some have argued that management mindsets are a reflection of societal values, which can take a generation to change. Too often we see organisations create grand statements of commitment, appoint a diversity officer, require diversity awareness training, and yet take very little tangible action or and fail to achieve meaningful results. We call this compliance-oriented approach a “Defensive” approach to diversity.

How do organisations shift from defense to offence when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion? To consider a shift in manager behaviour, we need only witness how organisations respond to financial results with publicly traded firms. CEOs and their teams work tirelessly to meet the expectations of shareholders and their performance is measured in common terms of earnings and financial return. What if a portion of this energy and focus was expended towards making an impact with what many managers might say is “Our most important asset” – people. Shifting from defense to offence requires the ability to keep score – hence the need for measuring results related to DEI.

Taking a data-driven approach