The past 4 years we have seen greater awareness and discussions on systemic inequalities in society. With the power of social media platforms and 24/7 news it has shone a light on longstanding injustices from the tragic murder of George Floyd to conflicts around the world and more people aware of their rights in the workplace.

We have seen a lot of discussions from webinars to podcasts to interviews to guest speakers and more on a range of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) topics. Story telling, having conversations and talking about issues around gender, race, disability and other DE&I topics is so important to engage hearts and minds and help raise awareness of barriers different groups face in the workplace and society but how do we turn conversations into action?

Here are our top 4 critical steps to get you started:

1. Take stock of our current position on DE&I and understand what the data is telling you. How can we have a plan of direction if we don't know where we are heading and where we have come from? This involves a deep dive review of your people policies and practices, feedback from employees (surveys/focus groups) and analysing patterns and trends by looking at what your workforce diversity data across each stage of the employee lifecycle is saying.

2. Be clear on your WHY- before you write a strategy it is important to spend time being clear on why DE&I matters to the company, what it means for your employees but also your customers/service users and stakeholders. It's got to be authentic too. And it needs to have involvement from the top- absolutely key!

3. Training and regular communication on DE&I with senior management team, line managers and employees. For your strategy to have any impact, it has to have buy in and should bring everyone with you on the journey.

4. Accountability and governance is key. What is written on paper doesn't always translate in practice. And I know this from experience having led on DE&I at different organisations and working with numerous employers as a consultant. Build accountability through performance objective setting and reviews and making reporting against DE&I strategy part of business reporting.

Not sure where to start and need support on the above? Inclusion 365 can support your organisation via our range of Inclusion Health Checks designed to support you wherever your organisation is on its journey and helping you to take stock of your current position, come up with a roadmap of actions and work with you to build an impactful DE&I Strategy that is authentic, has employee buy in and is deliverable.