The 2026 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Guide

No need to reinvent the wheel here. Here are some definitions from UN Global Impact:

"Diversity, equity and inclusion are different but complementary concepts. A business is required to implement all three aspects to reap the full benefits of a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce contributing a range of skills, knowledge, and experience. Diversity, equity and inclusion go hand in hand.

Diversity often focuses on quantity: The representation of different groups in an enterprise. Business efforts to drive diversity aim to ensure that people from a range of groups experience equality of opportunity and treatment in access to employment, development, promotion and pay. Diversity refers not only to similarities and differences linked to personal characteristics such as age, disability, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation and people living with HIV but also similarities and differences such as values, workstyles, caring responsibilities, hierarchical levels and work roles. Each person has multiple groups they identify with which can change over time, potentially influencing and shifting their employment opportunities and outcomes.

While diversity tends to focus on quantity, equity and inclusion are focused on quality. Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances, that historically, some groups of people have experienced discrimination and that reaching equal outcomes will not be achieved by treating everyone the same. Equity and reaching equal outcomes require the allocation of resources and opportunities according to circumstance and need.

Inclusion is relational, it is about the experience of individuals and groups in the workplace. A person’s feeling of inclusion at work is related to their personal characteristics, their own behaviour and that of others and the environment they are in. Full inclusion happens when individuals experience a balance between belonging with others at work - feeling they are part of the whole enterprise – as well as being seen, understood, and valued as an individual, with a unique identity, skills, and experience.

Companies seeking to counter discrimination should promote strong diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices in the workplace throughout their operations and supply chains. Qualifications, skills and experience should be the basis for the recruitment, placement, training and advancement of business enterprises’ employees at all levels."

Here are a few FAQs relevant to defining or further understanding DEI:

What is DEI work?

DEI work allows you to foster and maintain a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace and organization. DEI work goes beyond HR and cultural celebrations, encompassing many things, such as: recruiting, employee engagement, leadership, etc., but ultimately it should be fully integrated into every part of your organization and should be an active part of your business strategy.

When it comes to DEI in the workplace or within an organization, DEI is really a catch-all term used to describe the various strategies, initiatives, programs, policies, etc. that foster representation and participation of individuals from a variety of backgrounds (i.e., diversity)

We’ve identified 6 primary focus areas that DEI work falls under:

1. Leadership Engagement – which centers around leadership expectations and inclusive best practices

2. Communications – thinking about how we embed DEI into our internal and external interactions

3. Recruiting – really thinking about how to evolve the mindset, practices, and partnerships used to attract talent

4. Data & Impact – establishing usable data sets, both quantitative and qualitative, to make decisions and identify solutions

5. Employee Enablement – which is about establishing shared ownership of fostering inclusive and equitable workplaces

6. Employee Development, which is making sure that all employees have equitable access to resources, training, etc., to further develop their careers

   
   

The vast majority of work in the DEI space generally falls under one or more of these categories. And an imperative to DEI work is a strong emphasis on change management and organizational development.

How does it differ from “D&I?”

DEI starts to consider equity, or fairness, which is the pivotal point for becoming more inclusive. Note: Equity is NOT inclusion. Including or inviting someone isn’t generally enough. In some instances, you will have to give up something or give more to someone to achieve equity. Equity is also not the same as equality. In the external resources you'll find one of our favorite visuals to help you understand how the two differ.

What isn’t DEI work?

DEI is not just marking off a checklist.

It is not just for optics.

It is not intended to make you or your company feel better about the work you’re doing.

It is not a one-and-done thing.

DEI work requires active and concerted participation by all. Leadership, in particular, must be held accountable.

Why is DEI good for business? And why is it just good?

There are tons of great resources out there defending the case of why DEI matters, so again, we won’t reinvent the wheel. Here are a couple of resources that we recommend for learning more (all linked in the external resources):

• “Why Diverse Teams Are Smarter”

• “Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters”

• An assortment of DEI insights from 10+ years of work from McKinsey consulting group

Why is it so important to have a designated DEI Team Member or a defined DEI Team?

DEI work is a full-time job and requires full-time focus (i.e., you shouldn’t task your HR person with trying to juggle 10% of their time on DEI). We suggest you have at least one person (or a team of people, depending on your company size) who can dedicate 100% of their time to DEI without distractions or split focus.

If your organization isn’t ready to make that level of commitment, hire a consultant to help prepare the organization. Hiring a consultant is a good opportunity for a fresh set of eyes for smaller companies. This should be someone who can look at the current state of DEI without bias.

Hiring a dedicated DEI person or persons removes the responsibility from marginalized individuals and/or others who have DEI-adjacent roles, e.g., HRBPs, Recruiters, etc., and shows dedication and commitment from your leadership team.

DEI should be infused into your organization’s core values. Your DEI strategy shouldn’t be siloed within your DEI, HR, and/or People teams.

You wouldn’t go to market or lead a sales team without a cohesive, comprehensive strategy, so you shouldn’t run an organization without a well-thought-out DEI strategy.

Everyone in your organization is responsible for fostering a safe and inclusive environment for all.

One of the principles from the Agile Manifesto (see "external resources for more") is “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.” In simple terms, an agile approach emphasizes flexibility, iteration, and focusing on people over rigid plans or fixed processes.

Before you design or develop your DEI practice, you must identify a core team. Ideally, you should hire a designated, experienced DEI professional or professionals to lead your efforts. If that’s not possible, identify existing team members who are willing to execute the work and have the bandwidth to do so. Whenever necessary, bring in outside facilitators or consultants to fill in any gaps on the team.

Even though the DEI industry seems relatively new, the work is not. Don’t be afraid to hire those who have done the work but don’t have DEI listed as part of their official title. As always, vet the person (or persons) you hire and ensure that they are both experienced (they should be able to share explicit examples or case studies of doing the work) and are aligned with your organization’s goals.

Another principle from the Agile Manifesto is the idea of “Build – Test – Learn – Repeat.” Rather than trying to design a perfect strategy upfront, this approach encourages starting small, learning from what works (and what doesn’t), and continuously improving over time.

In the DEI space, this means you don’t have to have a fully fleshed-out plan at the start. Figure out what is most important to you and to the organization, and start there. It can be as simple as sending out a monthly email with updates and celebrations from underrepresented groups.

As you continue to build your practice, add on initiatives and goals. Experiment! Get to know your audience, know why you are doing something, and be very clear on what you hope to get out of it. Determine how you will measure success and take those learnings to create new experiments.

Data & Metrics: Why you need them and why they don’t always need to be quantitative.

You have to know where you are to know where you’re going. Data & metrics are a must to measure the success of your DEI efforts. Both quantitative and qualitative data can be useful for designing and assessing outcomes. Often, when people refer to “data” as it pertains to DEI, they’re focused on demographic data of employees. However, there is so much richer data that isn’t quantitative.

Surveys, focus groups, 1:1 conversations, and other qualitative measures are just as helpful when it comes to doing a temperature check on your organization. Be sure not to separate the quantitative and qualitative metrics when it comes to assessing DEI. They should be looked at holistically so that you may fully understand the current state of your organization.

Before you move forward with any DEI initiatives (i.e., building a DEI team, strategy development, program design, training, etc.), it’s imperative that you have support from leaders, stakeholders, and any others who determine company culture.

Implementing a DEI strategy always results in a culture shift within an organization, which means that you will need the majority's support to ensure that goals are met and people are held accountable.

Note, the people from whom you gain buy-in don’t necessarily need to be involved in every planning meeting or every step of the implementation process. The goal is to have support from decision-makers who will make it easier for you to implement long-term DEI efforts, secure a budget (and trust us, you’re going to need a budget), and reduce time constraints that feed bias.

To gain buy-in, you’ll want to educate yourself and those you’re seeking support from on why this work matters. There are tons of resources online to help. Attached to this lesson as extra resources are a few of our favorites, including:

• Deloitte's "Belonging: From Comfort to Connection to Contribution"

• "Where Do I Fit In? What Teams Lose When People Don’t Feel They Belong"

It’s also a good idea to have data to back up your claims when seeking support. For example, if you’ve noticed anecdotally that your company lacks ethnic diversity, you’d want to gather data on the ethnic makeup of your employees (for example, by asking employees to complete self-ID data) and then share that information with leaders and others that you’re seeking buy-in from.

Without the support of your leaders, you’ll likely find that you won’t get far with your efforts, or you’ll find yourself essentially walking in circles, trying to implement the same changes over and over. At a minimum, you must secure buy-in from leadership and decision-makers before you move forward. And if that’s not possible, try to implement as many grassroots efforts as you can, gaining buy-in from the bottom up, which will most likely validate the need for leadership’s support.

Remember earlier, when we introduced the Agile concept of “Build – Test – Learn – Repeat?” In the next few sections, we’ll walk you through step-by-step a potential path for developing your practice. We’ll begin by walking you through the audit & assessment process and then outline the build, test, and learn stages.

We recommend taking a look at the Diversity & Inclusion Maturity Model (attached as a resource for this lecture) to get a sense of where your organization is in its DEI journey. We also recommend reading the attached Deloitte Insights article to further understand the “Path to Inclusive Culture.” Some questions to consider:

• What efforts have been made?

• Who owns what? Who is currently on your team? Are you relying too heavily on your underrepresented or marginalized employees to lead your DEI efforts (i.e., tokenization)?

• What is your focus,i.e., “compliance,” “programmatic,” etc?

• Is DEI a separate part of the organization, or is it a part of HR?

• Do you have a DEI Council? Who is on that team? How are they selected? What have they done? What would they like to do? What is stopping them?

  
  

Also consider:

When it comes to DEI, what is your ideal destination? What are your aspirational goals?

For example: Let’s say you’re a tech organization headquartered in a predominantly Latinae community. Yet, Latinae individuals only account for 2% of your employee population. You could consider setting a goal to increase your Latinae employee population by X% by the end of 202Y. Note: Be mindful that a DEI data goal is not a quota. Demographic quotas in many areas are illegal. Please check your local and federal laws for more information.

What quantitative data do you currently have? Do you have employee self-ID data?

If you don’t already have it, you may want to collect demographic information from your employees. Having data about your employees is powerful. Through data, you can draw useful insights about certain demographics that you may leverage as you build a more inclusive environment.

What qualitative data do you currently have? What are your employees saying? How do they feel about your workplace?

Asking employees questions about equity, inclusion, and belonging is critical. Without hearing directly from your people and what their needs are, you’ll be designing and implementing what you think they want. So why not ask them? Consider surveys, 1:1 conversations, and even focus groups to gather insights from your employees.

When it comes to designing and implementing your DEI practice, change management is imperative. It’s important to know who will both own and lead your DEI efforts and that they clearly understand their role(s), responsibilities, and expectations. Often, DEI efforts will get pushed onto HR team members or marginalized employees who weren’t hired to do DEI-specific work. This is easily avoidable if you select your person(s) upfront to own your DEI practice. Here are a few common DEI governance models:

• Hire an internal DEI professional, e.g., Chief Diversity Officer, DEI Coordinator, DEI Project Manager, etc.

• Hire an external DEI professional, i.e., an independent contractor or a DEI consulting group

• Create a hybrid role for an existing team member, e.g., HRBP, who spends 50% of their time supporting HR efforts and 50% working on DEI

• Form a DEI Council or Committee and assign roles to members so that the work is evenly distributed

  
  

Once you’ve determined who will own your DEI practice, it’s important to set expectations for those leading. Some questions to consider:

• What are the roles and responsibilities of those leading? Who will hold them accountable?

• If you decide to form a council or committee:

  • How often will this group meet?

  • Who should attend meetings, i.e., council members, executive leaders, business unit/team leaders, ERG members, etc.

  • What is the change management plan?

  • How will you manage new members?

  • How will you manage retiring members?

  • How does the group deal with conflict?

  • What is the communication plan for sharing information within and outside of the group?

To get started, you and all of your stakeholders must define your North Star. Your North Star is your guiding light—an aspirational goal or set of principles that will drive your strategy.

Your North Star is intended to define your organization’s goals and desired outcomes for your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion journey. It should be slightly longer than an elevator pitch, but should not be as long as a mission or values statement. And ultimately, it should answer the question, “Where do we want to be, and why is that important for our organization’s mission?”

You can build your North Star by answering the following questions:

1. What is the problem you are trying to solve? (The answer should include what you are trying to do and why)

2. Who is your target audience? (This should be as specific as possible, and it’s okay if you have more than one audience, e.g., employees and clients can be two different audiences.)

3. If resources, time, money, etc., weren’t a factor, what would be the ideal state of DEI in your organization?

   
   

Once you have created your North Star, all of your initiatives and metrics should roll up to it.

Note: While it’s important to be ambitious with your DEI goals, you must be realistic when defining your North Star. Later on in this process, you’ll need to define your goals (i.e., OKRs, KPIs, or [insert how your organization defines metrics]), and having a tangible North Star can help.

You’ll want to review your North Star annually (if not more frequently) to make sure that it still aligns with where you want to go as an organization. As with anything else agile, items are set in wood, not stone, and as you learn more, you will want to update and adapt your North Star.

Organizational culture is made up of observable, consistent patterns of behavior within the organization. It is also shaped by where we place value. The value can change over time, but every organization needs to be very clear on what its values are and why they value them. This ranges from how your organization looks at conflict to who is considered the “right fit” for your organization to who gets promoted and why, all the way to who is in leadership.

According to Robert E. Quinn and Kim S. Cameron at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, there are four types of organizational culture: Clan, Adhocracy, Market, and Hierarchy.

• Clan-oriented cultures are family-like, with a focus on mentoring, nurturing, and “doing things together.”

• Adhocracy-oriented cultures are dynamic and entrepreneurial, with a focus on risk-taking, innovation, and “doing things first.”

• Market-oriented cultures are results-oriented, with a focus on competition, achievement, and “getting the job done.”

• Hierarchy-oriented cultures are structured and controlled, with a focus on efficiency, stability, and “doing things right.”

  
  

Here are some tips for how to define or change your organization’s culture:

• Listen: Listen to the most marginalized members of your organization to find out what parts of the culture are not working for them.

• Define: Be very clear about your values and behaviors.

• Teach: Give examples and train your organization on what your values mean. This is your most important step. Don’t rely on “Well, they are adults.”

• Measure: Create metrics – both long- and short-term – that align with your goals

• Accountability: Share the new tenets of culture with your organization and put structures in place to hold yourself accountable.

• Celebrate: Celebrate your wins and acknowledge when the culture is shifting in the way you want it to shift.

• Revisit: Continue to review and revise your culture.

  
  

Below are some areas to explore, along with questions to consider when defining organizational culture. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list. However, it’s a good starting point:

• People

• Common Language

• Performance

• Processes

• Management & Infrastructure

• Leadership

• Vision

• Strategy

• Mission

• Everday Goals

• Working Standards

• Values

  
  

A few questions you might consider:

• Values: What does your organization stand for?

  • Who do you serve?

  • What are your overall objectives or goals for the business? What are your day-to-day goals?

  • What are your priorities? How do you decide what to prioritize?

    
    

• Leadership: Who makes the decisions? How are they selected?

  • Are there unspoken/unwritten rules about who gets to lead and why?

  • What is your promotion process?

  • Are managers getting consistent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training?

    
    

• Common Language: Have we established shared terminology?

  • Do your employees have a clear, shared understanding of words and terminology relevant to culture and DEI?

  • Do people feel comfortable speaking up and asking questions?

  • How do you get people to align when they have different definitions or understandings of things?

    
    

Again, these are just a few questions to get you thinking about your culture. The image above highlights several other areas to explore, which we hope you consider.

To reiterate, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is not just a way to achieve people goals, but it is also a good way to achieve business goals. Remember:

• Diversity increases innovation by bringing new thoughts and ideas to the table

• Diversity in your organization better reflects your end users and reduces blind spots

• Diversity is a good way to hire and retain top talent
  

As you begin to define your DEI goals (and perhaps, even anti-goals), here are a few things to consider:

• Don’t do it for the optics. Commit to gaining trust and buy-in.

• Trust and buy-in come from the top. Your organization will know the difference between what you do for the optics and what is done for true change.

• Work in smaller, more sustainable steps instead of a single grand gesture. Consistency over time will lead to greater results.

• Know that leadership may see some resistance at the beginning as the organization starts to change. The most difficult part comes right after the organization starts to change––it is easier to revert back to the “old normal” than it is to continue.
  

Later in this guide, we’ll get into the six primary workstreams of DEI and share more workstream-specific tips for setting goals.

Read the attached resource: "How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation"

Creating a roadmap is a great way to take the aspirational aspects of your North Star and your culture and transform them into actionable goals. The roadmap helps you and your team break down workstreams into tangible tasks with corresponding metrics and risk assessments. When setting up the roadmap, know that it can and will change over time based on priority and learnings from previous initiatives. Don’t become so attached to the first iteration of the roadmap that you are not willing to make adjustments as necessary.

As you create your roadmap, make sure it is a collaborative effort with your team and make your roadmap visible to the larger organization. This helps with accountability and can offer insight from those who may not be as close to the creation of the roadmap.

Here are some items to consider including in your DEI roadmap:

• Short-term (3-6 months)

  • Immediate next steps

  • Defined metrics

  • Outlined risks/dependencies

  • Timeline and tasks assigned to people

  • Weekly/bi-monthly check-ins

  • Monthly review for North Star alignment/updating

  • Items from the long-term roadmap get moved into the short term
    

• Long-term (6-12 months)

  • Aligns with the North Star, but the execution is not as firm.

  • May change based on the results of the short-term roadmap

  • Monthly review for North Star alignment/updating

  • Add items into the long-term as you build success

    
    

• Measures of Success

  • Should be both qualitative and quantitative

  • Use OKRs (Objective and Key Results). Use the pattern of “We will OBJECTIVE as measured by KEY RESULTS”
    

Note: The latter half of this guide provides more detailed steps and actions for developing your roadmap.

As with any business initiative, you must have a budget to build your DEI practice. This should not be a shared budget. For example, your budget should not be part of your HR/People team’s budget or a business unit’s budget. Too often, “sharing budgets” leads to “double dipping” or shifting funds away from other HR and business initiatives.

Your organization should allocate a budget specifically for DEI.

Hopefully, your leaders are already bought in. If not, you may need to build the case for a budget. To do so:

• Refer to the ROI of diversity within the organization

• Have strong metrics for what you want to achieve and why

• Build a timeframe that includes the first shift of movement within 3-6 months

  
  

You may be wondering, “How do I calculate a DEI budget and determine the overall cost for implementation?” Here are some tips:

• Determine what people, tools, and/or resources you’ll need to invest in. E.g., you may need to hire a DEI coordinator. So you'll need to allocate funds for company-wide training/workshops and potentially software/apps to support your efforts, etc. Build in time/hours for people to do the work. Ensure your managers, especially at the mid-level, support their employees doing this work.

• Budget for headcount, consulting, and third-party services (e.g., diversity recruiting firms/consultants, guest speakers, DEI events and programming, etc.).

• Plan the budget the same way you would any other business unit, which is typically done by looking at goals and desired outcomes and then working backward.

• Review the budget regularly (at least twice a year) and make adjustments as needed.

Here are some additional questions to consider when determining your DEI budget:

• Who allocates the budget?

• How is it distributed? Is it a one-time allocation or a repeated one?

• Has a budget been allocated for grassroots efforts? For employee resource groups? It’s important to clarify what parts of your budget are for your overall DEI strategy vs. grassroots/employee-led initiatives.

• Is there an expectation of an ROI for this budget?

• What happens if the budget goes over? If it goes under?

DEI work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. As you begin to grow your practice, you will need to engage with other parts of the business. This engagement comes with inherent risk, but not all risk is bad. It is beneficial for you to be aware of your risks and dependencies at the start, so you can work to mitigate them and anticipate where you may run into roadblocks in the future.

Questions to consider:

• Who on your team is responsible for the work?

• Who, internally or externally, will prevent you from achieving your goals, either slowing you down or causing you to bottleneck?

• What external factors, e.g., buyouts, downsizing, large investments, etc., may affect getting the work done?

• What are the internal factors, e.g., hiring/leaving, moving around business units, etc., that may negatively impact outcomes?

Note: These risks and dependencies may change over time, so be sure to reassess frequently.

A plan is only as good as what people know about it. As you build your DEI practice, sharing updates both internally and externally will build trust, increase transparency, and show that your organization is walking the talk. Regular updates will excite and engage other members of your organization who seek change and growth.

First, you’ll want to determine what you want to share with people and why. For example, many organizations have started sharing their company’s demographic data. Your organization could easily do this, but why do you want to share this information? What are the desired outcomes?

Second, you’ll want to determine who will share the information. Will updates on your organization’s DEI efforts come from leadership? Individual contributors? Your DEI Committee (if you have one)? Your ERG?

And finally, determine how you will share the information, internally and externally.

There are a number of ways or channels that you may want to leverage, for example:

• Internal: How will you share DEI updates with your employees? Perhaps, you will send weekly email updates, create videos, share information during team meetings or town halls, etc.

• External: How will you share DEI updates with those outside of your organization (i.e., external partners, potential hires, the public, etc.)? Some organizations like to leverage blogs, white papers, videos, etc.

When it comes to communication, you’ll want to have not only a strategy but also a DEI Communication Policy and Incident Plan. This policy should be in place before something happens and should address how you will communicate when things are going great as well as when things are going poorly. Being able to speak to a crisis in a way that is not patronizing or dismissive will go a long way to keeping the trust of your employees, colleagues, and clients.

The following items should be included in a DEI Communication Policy/Incident Plan:

• An escalation plan – what happens after offense 1, offense 2, etc.

• Where will complaints/concerns go, and who will be responsible for managing them?

• What will investigation look like, and how long will it take?

• What is the change management process for the policy?

• How is this different from an HR communication policy?

Some additional things to consider:

• Don’t fire off a communication too early, but also, don’t drag your feet.

• Be accountable and take responsibility for what happened.

• Bring in a third party if needed (or requested).

• Speak to and understand the aggrieved party.

• Have a plan for what you will do to resolve the issue and what you will do to reduce the likelihood of this happening again.

How will you implement change?

Before you can start to implement your new DEI practice, it’s important to have a change management plan. This plan should outline what changes will occur, who will own them, and a timeline for implementation. There are several components of change management. Here are a few:

Changes

• What needs to be improved and why? And is everyone aligned on that?

• How do you define successful change? What key milestones or indicators will tell you that you’ve achieved your desired outcomes?
  

Governance

• What is your internal DEI support structure? Who owns what?
  

Accountability

• Who will you hold leadership accountable? Team members? Board members? External partners? The public?

• What happens if/when someone drops the ball or resources are reallocated?
  

Communications

• How will those working on DEI efforts communicate with each other? What internal tools will be needed?

• What level of transparency will you work with, both internally and externally?

• How frequently will you communicate? Consistency matters.
  

Resources & Education

• What resources or education will you provide to ensure that everyone has a shared language and a common understanding of DEI?

• What learnings and resources are necessary to implement your strategy?
  

Rewards & Recognition

• How will those leading your DEI efforts be compensated? How will those involved in your DEI efforts be rewarded?

• You should not only acknowledge but also compensate those who aren’t in full-time DEI roles, e.g., ERG leaders, individual contributors, etc.

• Will inclusion efforts be tied to leadership’s performance reviews? Promotions? Additional compensation?
  

Prioritization

• How will you prioritize the launch of your various programs and initiatives?

• Refer to “Goal Setting” under the “Planning” lesson for guidance and questions to consider.

How are things going? 

After you’ve implemented your DEI practice, you’ll want to assess how things are going periodically. You’ll want to revisit your North Star to ensure that it is still relevant and review your goals and metrics to make sure they still align. If things don’t align, take time to readjust.

Questions to consider:

• How often are you measuring effectiveness, and what criteria are you using?

• Is your North Star still relevant to your desired outcomes, or has it shifted? If so, how will you make adjustments?

• What goals or milestones have you already completed? Were there any roadblocks? If so, what were they, and why or how did they come to be? What can you do to avoid them in the future?

• What actions, initiatives, etc, should you start, stop, or continue?

Leveraging your feedback for iteration.

As you iterate, it is important that you actively seek feedback from those affected by the work so that you may accurately evaluate how well your DEI practice is running. You’ll want to leverage the feedback to make adjustments and changes to your North Star and corresponding goals, as needed.

In the spirit of transparency and building trust, it’s also important to share regular updates, both internally and externally, as to how things are going. Be sure that your updates acknowledge those who have contributed to the work and the impact their efforts have had on the organization.

Remember! An agile DEI practice doesn’t have an end. It’s an ongoing journey. If you don’t find yourself frequently iterating, you’ll want to reassess your approach.

Now that we’ve defined DEI, what an Agile DEI practice looks like, and why leadership support is needed, we can now start to examine the key workstreams critical to developing a holistic DEI practice.

There are six primary strategic focus areas or workstreams that the majority of your DEI practice will be under. Note: There will inevitably be some overlap.

1. Data & Impact: Establish a usable dataset to inform decision-making and test scalable solutions.

2. Leadership Engagement: Establish inclusive leadership expectations and best practices.

3. Recruiting: Evolve recruiting mindset, practices, and partnerships to attract top talent.

4. Communications: Increase awareness of DEI efforts, internally and externally, to attract and retain top talent, as well as diverse clients, consumers, and/or partners.

5. Employee Enablement: Develop a framework for shared ownership of DEI work across all levels of the organization.

6. Employee Development: Ensure equitable access to career development for all employees, invest in employees, and improve retention.

   
   

In the subsequent sections, we’ll delve into each of these workstreams.

From Theory to Practice: Developing an Agile DEI Roadmap

So, now that you understand how to develop an agile practice and are aware of the six primary DEI workstreams, we’re going to put everything together. We’ll break down the process of how to “Build-Test-Learn-Repeat” for each of the six workstreams.

For each workstream, we’ll cover:

• What It Is and Why It Matters

• Getting Started: Audit & Assess

• Build: Planning

• Test: Implementation

• Learn & Repeat: Iteration