What should Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practitioners know to see success in their roles and organizations?
As an EDI practitioner, do you believe that you can’t solve a problem at the same level in which it was created? Whatever your response, we can all agree that most problems can be solved.
Through our facilitated series of crucial conversations, Athena Communications helps practitioners and organizations assess and move what could perhaps be considered EDI problems into EDI opportunities. At Athena, we understand a different narrative must be written and executed to create a foundation upon which an inclusive and equitable culture can be built.
As a practitioner, to know and see EDI success in your role and organization, you must be willing to see yourself as the instrument of the change. Self as instrument allows you, as the practitioner, to hold the mirror to your own EDI bias and perspective.
This approach allows you to develop your own framework for self-examination and scrutiny, before embarking on your organization’s EDI journey. This method – experiencing self-as-instrument, for a healthy, thriving and sustainable EDI organizational culture – is the most authentic and foundational success measure for impactful and transformational change.
Organizations that strive to create EDI initiatives and align them with their organizational policies, processes, products and programs, including the EDI roles and responsibilities for implementation, are on track to experience higher levels of organizational success.
If you are actively working to implement your organization’s EDI initiatives, these are the five key success levels (KSLs) to know and ask as you guide yourself and your team toward organizational success.
What is our:
- Level of employee engagement: The primary KSL an organization must measure to determine success is the level of employee engagement, especially for your employees of color. What role does employee engagement have within your EDII initiatives? How do you measure employee engagement and effectiveness?
- Level of learning and development culture of continuous improvement: Are your EDI initiatives aligned with or separated from your learning and development programs? Do you or have you established a culture of continuous improvement? How have you established a sense of belonging within your organization?
- Level of organizational development and change management principles: Did your EDI initiative factor in the role of change, unanticipated consequences of the EDI initiative, and the importance of humanistic values and its role in organizational change management?
- Level of established working definitions and measurements: Have you defined what EDI means within your organization and determined how you will measure EDI both at the employee and organizational level? What are your financial measurements? What is your budget for EDI, and how often is this assessed: monthly, quarterly or annually?
- Level of emotional intelligence: How emotionally healthy and intelligent are leadership and management, especially those responsible for governing and implementing your EDI initiatives? Does emotional intelligence matter in the success of your EDI initiative? How have you determined the right mechanism to assess the emotional intelligence within your organization?
