Workplace Assessments: Providing the Data to Design and Manage D&I Strategic Plans

Workplace Assessments to Plan and Manage Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

D&I issue

There are many reasons why you may need to assess all or part of your organization. One common motivation is determining organizational readiness for a new diversity and inclusion in the workplace initiative or some other pending change intervention. This is frequently referred to as a culture or readiness assessment.

A diversity and inclusion workplace assessment may also be appropriate whenever one or more of the following indicators is present:

Unusually high turnover and low retention. This may involve key talent and specific groups within the employee population. The immediate impact is readily visible, including the time and expense of hiring and training replacements.

Conflict in the workplace. This refers to discord among certain individuals or within a team or an entire organization, intentional or otherwise. Mild instances may appear as ineffective working relationships. More severe cases may involve arguments, hostile remarks, or fights. The conflict may spread, further affecting individual and team productivity.

Complaints. These may originate internally or they may come from outside counsel, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or state agencies.

Low employee survey results. Unusually low favorable responses may come from an entire organization or from specific groups within the employee population. Either way, some or all people see problems in the work environment.

Diversity and inclusion objectives being unrecognized or going unmet. This indicates either that the objectives are not meaningful or that strategically important goals are not receiving the necessary attention.

These indicators can reinforce or drive each other - a problem with one can lead to problems in all others. All have significant potential business impact.

An unsupportive or hostile work environment forces employees to focus on their personal safety and well being. This leads to lower productivity, lower morale, and greater exposure to lawsuits. Ultimately, such a work environment reinforces all the above indicators and leads to a downward spiral in profits.

Please note: For individual assessments and professional development, see Executive coaching .

D&I solution

MDB Group provides five types of diversity and inclusion workplace assessments to address these issues. Our assessments start with in-depth conversations to understand your specific situation and desired outcomes. We typically use interviews, surveys, focus groups, and data analysis as appropriate for the circumstances.

The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) is an invaluable diagnostic tool in many culture / readiness and climate assessments. IDI measures how individuals, teams, and organizations currently experience cultural difference. This indicates potential effectiveness in communicating and working with people of different cultural backgrounds. IDI provides the data needed to design strategy and action plan recommendations well matched to the organization's current state. This maximizes the likelihood of success while reducing the possibility of creating backlash.

MDB Group is certified to administer and interpret the IDI as part of our consulting services.

Assessments, simple or extensive, are customized to your needs.

Assessment Service	Typical Situation	Typical Questions Answered
Culture or Readiness	Planning a new or reinvigorated diversity and inclusion initiative Planning a new change effort	What is the current state of the organization on key relevant issues? Are the leadership and team members ready to accept the change? What key issues should I focus on?
Climate	Any of the above indicators are generating concern or downsizing has occurred. A basis is needed for an action plan to move forward.	What is the state of the organization's work environment? What key issues are on peoples' minds in the organization? What should I do about it?
Vulnerability	As part of managing risk, the company wants to see if there might be undue exposure to class action lawsuits alleging discrimination or harassment.	What are our relevant trends in Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action compliance? Are our processes and policies helping or hindering us? What should we do to reduce exposure?
Gap	An end state has been defined for a diversity and inclusion or other change initiative. Need to assess organization's current state versus end state and develop an action plan.	How does the organization's current state compare to where we need to be? What changes are needed in our policies, processes, employees, or work environment? What steps should I take next?
Results	Need scorecard to periodically assess the results achieved from diversity and inclusion initiatives	Where are we compared to our baseline? How are we doing compared to others in our industry or to best practices?

Sample D&I results

See representative results achieved by MDB Group's principals at Workplace assessments.

Next steps

Please call us so that together we can start addressing your specific situation.

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Resource Links

MDB Group Business-Aligned® D&I Solutions

D&I Application Note (PDF): Grow Your Organization through Business-Aligned® D&I Planning

Spotlight on Building Inclusion

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Almost all organizations say they want a more-inclusive workplace. Some can define what this looks like. Very few organizations achieve anything close to “full inclusion". Why? It takes a change in mindset about diversity and cultural difference.

Growing an organization and its business through full inclusion typically demands some mix of the PICAS factors (Productivity, Innovation, Creativity, Agility, and Safety). Full inclusion requires cultural and behavioral change from the CEO to the newest employee. To learn more visit these pages: