Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Strategy Development

Diversifying the Workplace and Fostering Inclusion through Data-Driven Strategies and Initiatives

Prioritizing DEI investments to focus on those that will have the greatest impact
Our client was a global tech company committed to diversity and inclusion. The CEO and the CHRO had been established as co-leaders of the DEI initiative, and they engaged Exponential Talent to facilitate the development of a DEI strategy. Employees, HR, and leaders had many ideas about possible DEI actions to take. The key strategic challenge was to figure out which of these suggested actions would really achieve the desired impact.

DEI assessment and strategic planning process
Exponential Talent’s approach began with an assessment process. The thoughtful design of this process, which creates a shared understanding and builds trust among diverse stakeholders, sets the foundation for D&I efforts to succeed. The assessment included:

Focus groups and interviews to listen deeply to employees and leaders in a safe and anonymous process. Groups included a variety of demographics, global locations, and levels.
Analysis of DEI “hot spots” to pinpoint critical areas and critical levers for change. The hot spots are identified using the client’s HR data and Exponential Talent’s proprietary DEI heatmap™ technology.
Review of DEI-related HR policies, programs, and benefits to assess strengths and opportunities to improve relative to benchmarks and selected competitors.
Integrated summary of DEI strength and opportunity themes across the assessments conducted.

To develop a strategic plan to address the most critical improvement opportunities, Exponential Talent facilitated a process that aligned stakeholders and laid out a concrete plan of action:

Facilitated two strategic planning sessions with key stakeholders. Exponential Talent and the company’s working group partnered together to recommend DEI goals, investments and actions. Exponential Talent provided leading practices and together we made sure that the D&I plan would fit the company’s culture, existing and planned HR initiatives, and financial resources.
Created an initiative roadmap and change management plan. The roadmap established actions, timelines and owners to ensure follow through. The change management plan ensured stakeholders would stay engaged from the launch communications through the on-going DEI journey.
Co-delivered executive alignment session to the CEO and direct reports. Exponential Talent, the CHRO and the DEI leader together shared the assessment results and proposed actions with the CEO and all CEO direct reports to align them to the plan. Exponential Talent also provided inclusive leadership training to support the leaders to deliver their role in the launch and implementation of the DEI strategy.

Increased representation of diverse groups and enhanced culture
The company’s resulting strategic plan had a core set of global actions that were common across all its regions, as well as actions specific to individual geographies and to its technical workforce. In addition, while the CEO and CHRO had overall accountability for the success of the initiative, the client also defined accountability for line leaders to be responsible for the DEI effort and and the D&I results in their areas of the business.

Each of the years since the launch of the diversity & inclusion strategy, the client has increased the percentage of employees in underrepresented demographics. Progress is assessed and measured each year using Exponential Talent’s DEI hotspot™ methodology. Working with Exponential Talent, it has also begun to develop metrics for its inclusive culture so it will be able to measure this area as well. As some initial DEI change efforts have now been completed, the client is now able to prioritize additional changes to continuously improve.