By Cathy Gallagher-Louisy

This post supplements the Measuring the Dividends of Diversity feature article. Read the full article.

Review and Reassess
Review your diversity strategy and measurements to ensure they are aligned with the key objectives of your organization.

Show Impact
Determine methods to evaluate efficacy or impact for every goal or activity listed on your strategy. Your D&I report should be more than just a checklist of activities you have completed.

Hold Your Leaders Accountable
If you are not already doing it, make the case to include some form of leadership accountability that is tied to D&I. Make sure it aligns to your organization’s strategic goals or existing leadership competencies.

Before You Go…
Ensure you are conducting exit interviews, focus groups, and/or individual interviews with representatives of all key demographics to reveal insights about different groups’ experiences of your organizational culture.

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate!
Communication is one of the more critical pieces when it comes to a diversity strategy. Even more so when it comes to measurement.

Explain to your people why you are measuring, what the measurements mean and how they can personally impact the results. Include your metrics on your intranet and public website to demonstrate your commitment to improving inclusivity.

Review and Repeat
Review your measurements regularly to determine if they are telling you the complete story. Ask questions like:

• How are we doing? What have we achieved to date?
• What has worked? What didn’t work, and why?
• What needs to be adjusted?
• Where do we go from here?

Stay the Course

One of the most important pieces of advice we can give to D&I practitioners is: be patient and creative. Forgive yourself for not being able to do it all. We know you have lofty goals and limited resources. You are doing this work because you are passionate about it and because you know it is good for your organization and your people. Harness that passion to engage others and encourage them to contribute.

Just Do It

Ask for and be open to feedback on your measurements and reports. Once you have it, make sure you do something about it.

If D&I is a strategic priority, it is imperative that you understand how you are doing so you will know if you’re successful.

You can probably come up with a thousand reasons why you shouldn’t or can’t measure, but there’s one essential reason why you should—What Gets Measured Gets Done.

Cathy Gallagher-Louisy is director, community partnerships and knowledge services, Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion.

(PeopleTalk: Fall 2013)