Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2020 - 28

workplace. Measuring all four of these
responses to your work is important.
For example, if you're doing some basic
training, it matters that people leave
the room understanding what diversity
is. The real work comes in when you
ask people to take action, and that's
why we recommend focusing on
behavioral measurement.

BEST PRACTICES FOR
USING SURVEYS
*	

Assume you have work to do.
Frame your questions to find out
what the issues are, not if issues exist.
They exist.
*	

Avoid the fluff. It's tempting to add
a few "easy win" questions to make
your leadership feel good. Don't.
Having an incomplete or unrealistic
picture of your culture puts the
business at risk.
*	

Good data is worth fighting for.
In D&I work, you have to pick your
battles. When you're getting pushback on the questions you want to
ask, pick that battle. Prioritize getting
good data.

With behavioral measurement, begin
with the goals you're trying to achieve.
We always recommend tying your D&I
goals directly to your organization's
business goals so the line of sight
between D&I work and business
success is clear. When you consider
your goals, think about what needs
to happen to achieve them. What do
people in your organization need to
do? For example, if you have diversity
goals around hiring, what specific
things are you asking recruiters to do?
And how will you know they've done
it? Likewise, if you're working to create

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a more inclusive culture, what are the
behaviors your people managers need
to actively demonstrate? Again, how
will you know if they do?
The strongest behavioral measurements
are those behaviors you can
independently verify. For example,
are all of your job descriptions being
written using the new guidelines for
inclusivity you developed? That's
something you can confirm. But can you
independently verify that managers
are actively and intentionally making
space for all voices in meetings?
Probably not. Sometimes, self-report
will have to suffice. And sometimes,
within the scope of your resources and
support, true behavioral measurement
isn't possible. That's where other
know, feel and believe metrics can fill
in the gaps.
No matter what kind of data you
collect and how comprehensive
- or relatively nonexistent - your
measurement system is, keep a few
quick things in mind as you look at
your data:
*	

*	

Averages aren't enough. If
the majority of your workforce
holds dominant identities (e.g.,
white, male, straight, etc.),
then averages are going to be
misleading. You need to weight
survey responses to ensure all
voices are represented.
It gets worse before it gets
better. D&I work is hard work. It
pushes people, it makes people
uncomfortable and, if you're
doing it right, it gets messy. Trust
in the process, and don't shake
up or abandon your strategy at
the first sign of falling numbers.
We always encourage D&I
practitioners to make this clear to
stakeholders from the beginning,
so there are no surprises later.

*	

Something is better than
nothing. You may not have an
employee engagement survey,
support from HR, funding or
anything else mentioned here.
We get that. Whatever you can
do - do it. Measurement matters,
particularly when D&I work is
seen as a nice-to-have rather
than the business imperative
it is. Do what you can to prove
your worth.

IN THE END,
WHAT PEOPLE
ACTUALLY
DO MAKES
THE BIGGEST
DIFFERENCE
IN YOUR
WORKPLACE.
You can measure this stuff, and
with the right approach, you will
measure it. Getting stakeholders
on board can be difficult for
many reasons, but data to back
up your work shouldn't be one
of them.
Brynne Hovde is a co-founder of The
Nova Collective - a black-owned,
women-owned diversity and inclusion
firm in Chicago, Illinois. Brynne is
also on the board of Race Conscious
Dialogues, and a commissioner and
advisor to the board of trustees on
race and diversity and inclusion in
her community. Email Brynne.

https://www.thenovacollective.com/ https://www.thenovacollective.com/ https://www.thenovacollective.com/ https://www.thenovacollective.com/ https://www.raceconsciousdialogues.org/ https://www.raceconsciousdialogues.org/ https://www.raceconsciousdialogues.org/ https://www.raceconsciousdialogues.org/

Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2020

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