Key takeaways:
- Establishing effective team structures is crucial for long-term success in fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace. Senior DEI leaders emphasize the need to move beyond short-term initiatives and focus on sustainable DEI practices.
- Data and analytics play a significant role in tracking DEI progress. Dedicated roles for DEI data and analytics help inform decision-making and measure the impact of strategies on business operations. By comparing DEI outcomes to business priorities, leaders can make a compelling case for progress.
- Diverse team structures with varied skills and backgrounds effectively address DEI challenges and opportunities. Collaboration among different business functions and geographic regions enhances DEI initiatives, ensuring consistency and sustainability throughout the organization.
To foster a truly inclusive and equitable workplace, heads of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) must go beyond short-term initiatives and focus on establishing effective team structures to ensure their companies create sustainable DEI practices.
DEI Board members shared insights on the initiatives they’re taking to establish long-standing DEI team structures to uphold their companies’ commitments toward creating inclusive business practices.
We’ll examine how senior DEI leaders are building efficient team structures to advance their strategies and the key roles needed to help your efforts.
It’s Critical to Create Roles Where People Are Placed in the Best Position to Advance DEI in All Business Functions
To expand your efforts and ensure DEI is integrated into all business operations, it’s critical that your team has the right people in the right positions.
In a private leadership discussion on essential roles for DEI teams, Board members provided details about their team structures and highlighted the roles needed to advance their strategies.
Several DEI leaders shared their teams cover a wide range of responsibilities, with people in the following roles:
- Directors overseeing DEI strategies
- Managers focusing on specific areas such as learning and programming
- Employee resource group managers
- DEI projects and operations leaders
- External stakeholder engagement leaders
- Global inclusion and belonging managers
Our members also mentioned the importance of regional leads, liaisons with different corporate functions, and DEI ambassador networks to ensure broad representation and engagement across the organization.
According to Paul de Chica, Inclusion and Diversity Manager at Starbucks and DEI Board alumnus, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building a DEI team. He spoke with us about building a team of DEI champions who can drive initiatives, and emphasized that the structure of your team should be tailored to your organization’s size and objectives in order to achieve the greatest impact.
For leaders overseeing DEI efforts in large enterprises, he advised leveraging the available resources within the organization, including collaborating with other business units, to assemble a strong team.
“I think people who are creating their own DEI teams should focus on what they don’t have,” Paul said. “If your organization doesn’t have a strong HR analytics department, for instance, you will need someone who has strong analytic skills to deal with DEI measurement and analytics.”
“I think people who are creating their own DEI teams should focus on what they don’t have. If your organization doesn’t have a strong HR analytics department, for instance, you will need someone who has strong analytic skills to deal with DEI measurement and analytics.”
Paul de Chica, Inclusion and Diversity Manager at Starbucks
Roles Focused on Data and Analytics Are Critical for Tracking Progress
Several DEI leaders said they’re looking to focus specifically on dedicated roles for DEI data and analytics to help guide decision making and provide information on how their strategies impact business operations.
During a panel discussion on collected DEI data to advance your strategy, Charles Schwab Director of Diversity and Inclusion Jason Clark shared why establishing roles for analytics is critical for the future of DEI leaders.
“I think people are looking at data to make informed decisions, and DEI is in the same boat,” Jason said. “We have to measure things to see if we’re making progress or to see where the opportunities are. When I compare things to the bottom line, to the business priorities, I think that’s an easier case.”
“We have to measure things to see if we’re making progress or to see where the opportunities are. When I compare things to the bottom line, to the business priorities, I think that’s an easier case.”
Jason Clark, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Charles Schwab
Team Structures with Diverse Skills and Backgrounds Help Address DEI Challenges and Opportunities
During another DEI Board panel discussion on building sustainable DEI practices, Beam Suntory Director of Diversity and Inclusion for North America Monique Ozanne emphasized the importance of diverse team structures in advancing DEI initiatives throughout different business functions and geographic regions.
For example, she shared how having different DEI directors for each business function brings a focus to their initiatives.
“We are very much fully flexed into the different parts of the business, which is why I say it’s a bit uncommon, because we do have a fully functioning team,” Monique said. “And the team comes with a lot of diversity of experience. We have those who have more of an HR background and we have those who have communications as their backgrounds.”
She added that they also have DEI directors for corporate functions, brand houses, and employee impact groups who help focus on broader DEI themes in the business.
Monique explained how these different backgrounds and skills allow DEI teams to effectively collaborate and share best practices, ensuring consistency and sustainability throughout organizations.
“We are very much fully flexed into the different parts of the business, which is why I say it’s a bit uncommon, because we do have a fully functioning team.”
Monique Ozanne, Director of Diversity and Inclusion for North America at Beam Suntory
Learn Best Practices for Establishing Team Structures for Long-Term Success with Your Peers in the DEI Board
A dedicated DEI team can provide the expertise, resources, and accountability needed to drive meaningful organizational change. By having a structured team in place, organizations can develop comprehensive strategies, implement effective training programs, and track progress toward their DEI goals.
DEI Board members gave insights on how they’re creating sustainable DEI practices by establishing effective team structures and meet every week in our confidential, vendor-free community to benchmark their strategies.
If you lead DEI at a large organization, you can apply to learn how a DEI Board membership can give you unbiased insights from your peers on how to drive actionable change in your organization.
