Driving Lasting Change: A Lean Approach to Effective DE&I Initiatives

It's hard to miss the wave of backlash against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) efforts, saturating LinkedIn, news outlets, and virtually every online platform.

And let's face it, DE&I initiatives bear a significant share of this criticism.

Many organizations have tarnished the reputation through hastily conceived programs and marketing efforts that lack any amount of effectiveness or sustainability, squandering copious amounts of time and resources in the process not to mention just pissing people off.

In this post, we'll delve into a more strategic approach to DE&I initiatives, inspired by The Lean Startup methodology. By sidestepping the pitfalls of hastily crafted programs, our aim is to pave a path towards genuine progress and lasting change.

But first, a lesson in what not to do…

“Don’t program a rocket which will fail.”

—Eric Ries

Eric Ries describes in his book, The Lean Startup, the reason why so many startups fail.

According to Ries, the majority of startups fail because they’ve based their products or solutions on the assumption that people are actually going to want and need them.

Entrepreneurs spend months, and, in worst cases, even years, building and perfecting solutions based solely on market research and strategy.

Their solutions have a whole lot of vision to them with a whole lot more untested assumptions.

They disregard collecting input from prospective customers as to whether their solution was even remotely interesting to them and then spend what money they have on a grandiose launch, just to find out that their solution is not as well received as they initially had anticipated it to be.

Customers or users express their indifference through not purchasing the product or service, and the startup fails because it ran out of money.

This phenomenon is quite the same with corporate DE&I initiatives. Decision makers may think they know their organization’s challenges like the back of their hand, either based on their own experience in the working culture or through the arbitrary data collected in employee engagement surveys.

They use what they think they know to develop solutions in order to address those challenges, and if they are convincing enough to get buy-in and permission from the leadership team, they start rolling out their solutions through some type of campaign expecting everyone in the organization to jump on board.

While some initiatives may gain initial traction in the short run, most result in little to no change in the long term. When they’re unable to show any substantial results, they’re denied a budget in the future and are unable to carry on with any future DE&I efforts.

Now, let's delve into the application of the Lean Startup Methodology to DE&I initiatives.

Identifying the Challenge:

Before embarking on any initiative, it's crucial to identify the core challenges and opportunities within the organization's DE&I landscape.

This entails observing employee behaviors, gathering feedback, and pinpointing emerging patterns.

By categorizing employees into distinct segments based on common characteristics and needs, valuable insights can be gained for crafting a well-defined problem statement.

All insights gathered during this process will be used to develop a single refined problem statement, ensuring a clear understanding of the core issue and facilitating the development of a focused solution.

Formulating a Hypothesis:

With a clear understanding of the problem, only then is it appropriate to formulate a hypothesis.

An example of a hypothesis would be: Implementing a mentorship program for underrepresented minorities will lead to increased retention rates and career advancement opportunities within our organization.

Get creative here and come up with several innovative solutions.

The goal is to encourage diverse thinking and eventually articulate a single hypothesis that outlines how a specific intervention can effectively address the identified DE&I challenge.

Identifying Key Metrics:

Next, determine key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of our DE&I initiative.

These metrics must be specific, quantifiable, and directly tied to our goals. By enhancing data collection methods and ensuring reliable measurement, we lay the groundwork for accurate evaluation.

Some examples for the mentorship program example could be:

1. Retention Rate: This KPI directly reflects the program's impact on retaining underrepresented minority employees within the organization. A higher retention rate post-implementation indicates that the mentorship program is contributing to a more inclusive and supportive work environment.

2. Promotion Rate: Tracking the percentage of underrepresented minority employees who are promoted to higher positions provides valuable insight into their career advancement opportunities within the organization. A higher promotion rate suggests that the mentorship program is helping to facilitate upward mobility and professional growth for minority employees.

3. Mentorship Program Participation Rate: Measuring the percentage of eligible underrepresented minority employees who actively participate in the mentorship program compared to the total number of eligible participants will show the actual desire or need for the program.

Building the Minimum Viable Product (MVP):

Armed with a refined hypothesis and defined KPIs, it is finally time to construct a Minimum Viable Product otherwise known as MVP. An MVP is a basic version of our solution that can be developed and tested quickly. This allows for controlled experimentation and validation of our assumptions.

An example of an MVP mentorship program could be a simplified 'Mentorship Buddy System,' which pairs underrepresented minority mentees with experienced mentors based on mutual interests and career goals, facilitating personalized support and knowledge sharing within the organization. Note: this would only be tested on a small group of individuals initially.

Testing and Gathering Feedback:

The next step after developing the MVP is to rapidly test it using the quantifiable metrics previously defined to determine its success or failure.

Observation, surveys, interviews, and focus groups provide valuable insights into the solution's effectiveness.

Diligently tracking data and listening to employee feedback will yield valuable insights and enable the development of better solutions before making any full scale commitment to implementation.

Measuring and Analyzing Results:

After testing the MVP, organizations should analyze the results against the established KPIs to determine its impact.

This evaluation process helps validate the initial hypothesis and identify areas for improvement.

Learning and Pivoting:

Based on insights gained from testing, decide whether to pivot, persevere, or iterate on the DE&I initiative.

A pivot involves making a significant change in your strategy, product direction, or segment you are targeting based on feedback and insights gained from testing and experimentation. This does not imply failure but is rather a strategic shift in response to discovering that the solution tested was not delivering the desired results. A pivot provides opportunity to explore alternative paths that have the potential to more effectively align with employee needs.

Perseverance refers to the decision to continue executing the existing strategy or MVP without making any significant changes. It involves staying the course and maintaining confidence in the current approach as a result of the feedback and data suggesting that the MVP or strategy is on the right track and delivering actual value to employees. Perseverance is appropriate when there is evidence of positive traction and validation of the assumptions and hypothesis

Iteration is the process of making incremental changes or improvements to the MVP or solution based on feedback and data gathered during testing and experimentation. Iteration involves continuously refining and optimizing the solution to enhance its value, address identified issues, and align better with employee needs. The focus becomes learning from each iteration and making incremental adjustments to improve effectiveness for employees.

This adaptive approach will allow you to respond to feedback and optimize our strategy accordingly.

Scaling and Deploying:

Only when the effectiveness of the solution is confirmed, then and only then do you scale it across the organization.

Create a plan to implement the refined solution and closely monitor its impact, ensuring that feedback is continually collected, and necessary adjustments are made accordingly.

Fostering Continuous Improvement:

Foster a mentality of continuous learning and improvement by regularly reviewing and updating your DE&I initiative based on new insights, evolving circumstances, and emerging best practices.

Employee feedback must remain a primary consideration in all decision-making processes. This requires establishing an ongoing feedback loop that includes open discussions with employees to evaluate the effectiveness of the solution that is continuously being tested.

Conclusion

We've been doing DE&I wrong for the last decade, resulting in squandered resources and minimal impact.

But not all hope is lost and that is not a reason to give up on DE&I altogether.

By adopting a strategic and systematic approach inspired by The Lean Startup methodology, organizations can drive meaningful progress in their DE&I efforts.

Want to learn more? Join me for my upcoming masterclass next Friday (March 26th), where I will be providing you with the roadmap and tools necessary to successful DE&I.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to revolutionize your approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Sign up now and be part of the change you wish to see.

Works Cited: Ries, E. (2017). The lean startup: How today’s entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. Currency