Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2020 - 27

Rest assured; you can measure this
stuff. Whether you're starting out on
your D&I measurement journey or
you're looking to add to your toolkit,
here are three best practices for D&I
metrics that work:

1. Redefine "Data" at Your
Organization
If your stakeholders are looking for
charts and spreadsheets, let's do it.
But let's remember that employees'
experiences and stories can show
progress - or lack thereof - in ways
no survey or demographic analysis
ever could. In D&I work, you need both
quantitative and qualitative data to get
a complete picture. If you're patting
yourself on the back for having a
leadership team that's 51% women, and
women elsewhere in the organization
are still getting talked over in meetings,
then your work is not done.
On the quantitative side, employee and
leadership demographic information
is important when setting diversity
goals. We always recommend putting
numbers around what you're trying to
achieve, even if it feels uncomfortable
at first. Look at the demographic makeup of the area you're based in, the areas
where your employees live or your
customer base, and set concrete goals
around representation. For inclusion
and belonging to work, consider what
options you have for an internal survey
to capture employee sentiment. As
your resources allow, try to gather
data before D&I initiatives launch to
establish a baseline, at several points
midstream and then on a regular
cadence - for example, biannually - to
track progress over time.
On the qualitative side, you may have
to adopt the mantra: Qualitative data
is data! It can sometimes be difficult to
persuade stakeholders on the merit of
focus group or interview data, but in this
kind of work, it's incredibly important.
The Nova Collective recently worked
with a large, multinational company
where we conducted interviews with
key stakeholders, and nearly every
single stakeholder uttered the phrase,

"I know our survey data says we're
doing fine, but..." That "but" was
critical for identifying the real work
that needed to be done, and without
it, some harmful cultural patterns
would have persisted unchecked.
Experiences matter, and they can't all
be captured in a survey.

should be able to provide a list of
questions asked and the existing
data for those questions, and you can
set goals around specific measures
relating to D&I. If your organization
uses a third-party vendor for the
survey, the vendor may even be able
to suggest some measures for you to
use or use the questions to create a
D&I index for you.

EXPERIENCES
MATTER, AND
THEY CAN'T ALL
BE CAPTURED
IN A SURVEY.

If you're interested in holding focus
groups or doing interview research,
check in with the team who coordinates
training and professional development.
Frequently, these folks have training
in facilitation, and you may be able
to get on their calendar to do some
informal research with employees.
One thing we caution people against is
attempting to do focus groups yourself.
Focus groups are a fine art. With
sensitive topics such as D&I, you can
end up doing more harm than good if
the conversation isn't facilitated well.

2. Work With What's
Already Available
We did a research study in 2019 to
assess the landscape of D&I work in
the U.S., and we found that only 65%
of D&I practitioners have direct control
of their budget, and 7% have no
dedicated funding at all. That means
most practitioners aren't in a position
to hire a big research firm and do a
comprehensive study. So, what can
you do for little to no money? Get
creative, and take a look at what's
already available.

KNOW YOUR DATA:
THREE TIPS FOR SUCCESS
1. Averages aren't enough. If the
majority of your workforce holds
dominant identities (e.g., white, male,
straight, etc.), averages are going to
be misleading.
2. 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.

The two most common spots D&I
practitioners find existing data
are human resources (HR) talent
management systems and employee
engagement surveys. Even if HR isn't
tracking anything but gender and
ethnicity, that's a start, and you can
formulate some meaningful goals
around that. Depending on the talent
management system your organization
uses, there may be an easy way
for HR to start collecting additional
demographics for new hires.

3. Focus on Behaviors

Employee engagement surveys can
provide a wealth of data because
they are often already asking the
questions you want to answer. Survey
administrators at your organization

In D&I measurement, we frequently
talk about the difference between
what people know, feel, believe and
do. In the end, what people actually do
makes the biggest difference in your

3. Something is better than nothing.
Measurement matters, particularly
when D&I work is seen as a niceto-have rather than the business
imperative it is.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE -DATA FLUENCY IN LEARNI NG 2 02 0 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2020

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