One of the questions we often receive at FAIRER is, "I’ve just been appointed as the head of ED&I. What should I focus on in my first hundred days?" The advice we usually give our clients is this: to create an effective ED&I strategy, your first 100 days are crucial, and you should focus on a few key priorities.
In the first ten days, figure out where you’re at. What I mean by that is, get deep into the data. It’s really important that, as ED&I professionals, we understand what the diversity data is telling us. Where is your organisation doing well? Look at areas such as attracting diverse talent, retaining it, and promotions.
This requires a deep dive, working with your data scientists and other relevant people in your organisation. It’s also important to go deep on inclusion data. What are the perceptions in your organisation around things like belonging, psychological safety, and similar issues? Data collection, analysis, and tracking are really important during this first phase.
The second thing is recognising that you can’t do anything by yourself. It’s about making sure that you’re building an internal network. This might include connecting with your ERG chairs and engaging with wider stakeholders you’ll need to work with to get things done. These stakeholders could include HR, learning and development, and talent acquisition.
On top of that, it’s really important that we, as ED&I professionals—or if you’re working internally—have a vision for your role that aligns with the vision of senior executives in the organisation. Engaging with senior leaders is going to be absolutely critical, and sharing that vision with them is essential. Another key aspect is making sure you’re clear on the outcomes you expect to achieve and whether you have budget alignment to support them.
Senior leaders often ask what quick wins ED&I leaders should aim for in their first hundred days. The truth of the matter is that there are no real quick wins. This is a long game. We’ve got to think about the bigger strategic vision because we’re trying to address structural inequity and structural discrimination. That takes time and effort.
If there are any quick wins, for me the biggest one would be vision and values alignment. That means ensuring your role and function as an ED&I leader aligns with the vision of senior executives and stakeholders in the organisation. Unless we are all clear on what we’re doing and the journey to get there, obstacles will arise along the way.
Another quick win might be getting leaders to understand that, in order to be effective, there are resource implications. Have some early conversations about effectively funding the work you need to do. You can’t do this work on the cheap.
FAIRER Consulting is happy to assist you to develop a strategy for change. Our consultants would be delighted to see how we can help.