Sentiment Into Action Series #4: It's DEI Research Time!

Perspective, experience and actions brought to you by Dr. Florence Holland, Diversity, Inclusion and Education expert, speaker, advisor and all around awesome individual.

You have long decided you and your association are going to be purposeful in addressing areas of systemic racism and bias. From understanding the levels of racism in our first blog, to realizing the importance of planning in our second, you are likely excited about putting pen to paper to create your strategic diversity plan and start executing strategies. But wait...you have a little bit more work to do...RESEARCH. As Sherlock Holmes stated, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” Before jumping into the future, you must assess the existing landscape.

Research and data analysis are critical to the planning process to inform the current context within your association and/or profession. Data shines a light on where you should focus your priorities, objectives and goals, guiding your decisions as you develop a plan for the future. 

So, what type of data should you collect? Any information that will yield insight into the diversity of your association and/or profession, the effectiveness of inclusion in the workplace and the equity across demographics in various policies and procedures. 

While this blog covers the bulk of the data points you will need below, let’s be clear there could be many others. You want to use ANY AND ALL data you can find within your AMS and elsewhere to show demographics to help evaluate inclusive environments and access. Again, this is critical to the development of an effective plan. It is through your data collection and analysis where you will identify any gaps that need to be addressed. This critical research will fuel your next steps - developing your strategic diversity goals and actionable priorities to close any gaps.

Let’s look at each data type together in more detail below!

“Diversity” data would be anything that can provide quantitative demographic measures demographics such as age, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, generation, language, family status, ethnicity/national origin, race, physical characteristics, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation, veteran status, thinking/learning styles, organization function and level, personality type and life experiences – just to name a few. You want to try and quantify anything you can to help understand your profession or your association's workforce. Look to talent acquisition data, governmental agencies such as the US Bureau of Labor statistics as well as demographic surveys.

“Inclusion” data should be collected in conjunction with qualitative measures to help you understand deeply if those individuals across all diversity measures feel they belong. 

-Do individuals feel the profession/association is inclusive? 

-Do they feel that their voice is heard and valued? 

-Do they feel welcomed, respected and empowered to grow? 

This data can be collected through climate surveys/assessments, focus groups and/or compiling data from exit interviews. You may also quantitatively look at elements of retention rates such as turnover.

“Equity” data will be a combination of quantitative and qualitative data points. You will want to hear stories of when individuals in the association and/or profession: 

-Felt that they were or were not treated fairly

-Did or did not have equal access to opportunities, information or resources. 

You will also want to look at pay equity data, performance management reports, reviews and promotion data.

Up10 Solutions is committed to providing education, resources and guidance to help you put sentiment into action. This series is intended to promote understanding of DEI issues and suggestions for actions to help your organization reach its diversity, equity and inclusion goals. If you need help in a bigger way, we are only an email away!