In this episode, Jamey discusses the crucial topic of setting DEI goals within organizations. He first talks about the common misstep organizations make by jumping directly into DEI programs without evaluating their current standing or readiness, and without setting clear goals to track the success of these initiatives. The episode also talks about the importance of establishing DEI goals that align with other organizational objectives and are monitored and adjusted regularly to ensure effectiveness.

Jamey introduces the SMART Plus framework for setting DEI goals, explaining the traditional SMART criteria— Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—and adding elements focused on accountability and DEI alignment. This additional focus includes assessing DEI readiness, capacity, and leadership alignment to ensure that the organization is fully prepared to meet its DEI objectives.

To find out more or connect with Jamey, visit: https://Equity-at-work.com

Key Topics Discussed:

• Introduction to the importance of setting DEI goals
• Risks of starting DEI programs without proper goal-setting
• Alignment of DEI goals with overall organizational objectives
• Overview of the traditional SMART goal-setting framework
• Introduction of the SMART Plus framework, including elements of accountability and DEI alignment
• Importance of assessing DEI readiness, capacity, and leadership alignment

I'm Jamie Applegate, senior director of DEI at Equity at Work. And this is your DEI minute. Your go to podcast for leaders looking to navigate the ever evolving landscape of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Whether you're just starting out with DEI or looking to sustain your long term successes, each episode will provide you with the actions you can take to move DEI forward at your organization. All in 15 minutes or less. Join us every other week as we break through the noise and help you do DEI right. Let's get to it. Today, we're gonna talk about how to set DEI goals.

As I mentioned on a previous episode, many organizations get really excited about the diversity, equity, and inclusion work, and they jump right into new programs, initiatives, and activities. You might have heard me mention things like starting diversity recruiting efforts with HBCUs, undertaking pay equity assessments, implementing mentorship programs for team members from underrepresented backgrounds, developing DEI trainings, and beginning community service projects. I said last time that all of these had a clear flaw related to the organizations getting ahead of themselves and not focusing on where they currently stand and assessing their readiness for those activities. This lack of focus on readiness will come back to haunt these worthwhile initiatives. I'll say what I said last time, that you absolutely should do those things, but not right from the jump. Today, we're gonna talk about another reason why jumping right into new programs, initiatives, and activities can be a strategic misstep, and it's all about goal setting. The truth is that too often, we start new DEI programs without setting goals around them, which means we have no clear way to determine if those initiatives that we've invested time, energy, and resources into have been successful and should be continued or expanded, or if they've struggled and we should seek to identify barriers or change direction. So now that we know we need to set goals for DEI and not just jump into our exciting programs and initiatives, let's talk about how to actually set them.

So for this episode, we are going to talk through the framework we use for setting goals and then tune into our next episode where we will walk through a real world example, for a specific DEI program that we are currently working with a client on implementing. Let's start off with our mindset around DEI goals and this one is very easy. DEI goals are just like other goals. You need to set them, you need to monitor progress and make adjustments in your approach as you work toward them, and you need to assess your success in achieving them over the long term. Your organization has a list of big picture goals, and they're probably key performance indicator dashboards that show progress toward those goals, which are reviewed regularly so that everyone on the team is moving in the right direction towards organizational success. If If the organization is on the right track, then a few other things are definitely happening beneath those big picture goals. The first one is that each individual team member has their own goals that tie into and support the big picture goals. As you move up the organizational hierarchy, each layer's goals should represent a collection of the goals from the layer below.

For example, in an organization that has directors, managers, and frontline workers, the frontline workers should have individual goals, and then the managers have individual goals that encompass the goals of the frontline workers, and the directors have individual goals that encompass the goals of the managers and the frontline workers. So it all cascades down. Secondly, not only are big picture and individual goals set, but they are shared along with the behaviors and activities that an individual contributor should do to be successful. It's not much value to tell someone what the end goal is without providing support about how they should go about achieving it and getting there. Finally, individual and big picture goal should be monitored regularly, and adjustment should be made. It might sound simple, but many organizations recognize that they're not gonna hit a goal and they simply keep going right through it as though nothing has changed. Strategic organizations consistently look out for barriers and challenges, and they adjust on the fly at both the organizational and individual contributor levels. Communicating constantly about changes to goals and as mentioned above, the expected activities and behaviors that will drive those outcomes.

DEI goals should be just like this. There should be key performance indicators that show progress towards success and they should be reviewed regularly to ensure that the team is moving forward together. So remember, DEI goals are just like other goals. The really important thing here is that just like the goals your organization might have around production or operations or safety or sales or recruitment and hiring and promotions or employee engagement or social media reach, you should have goals for DEI. Both big picture organizational goals and goals for each individual contributor. So let's talk about how to set those DEI goals. So now that we know we need to set goals for DEI and not just jump into a buzzy program or initiative, let's talk about how to set them. 1st, we're gonna walk through a framework and then we're gonna go through a real world example for a specific DEI program that we recently supported the client in implementing.

For setting goals, a strong framework is SMART plus. You might have heard of SMART goals. They're pretty straightforward. They're very, very popular, and that's a great place to start. But I found that it's missing a few elements, so we do SMART plus to add those back in and make sure that we cover everything we need. So here we go. If you don't know, SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. And here's a little bit of detail on each of those.

So for specific, what are you setting out to achieve? What activities are we going to do to achieve them? Measurable. How will we know if we've achieved this goal? What data will tell us whether or not we've achieved what we set out to do? Also, how are we gonna collect that data? Is it qualitative or quantitative? Quick side note on the measurable thing here, this is where a lot of organizations get tripped up. They don't have a clear idea of how they're going to measure the impact of what they're implementing. It is critical to identify the metrics that you will use to determine success and to have a robust data and analytics program to track them. A is for achievable, are we sure that we can achieve this goal? Do we have the capacity, skills, time, energy, and resources that we need? Relevant, does this goal align with our organization strategic priorities? And does this goal help advance them? Why does this goal matter? And last 1, t, time bound. When are we starting? When do we expect to accomplish this goal? And what's happening at every moment in between? So that's smart goals. You've probably seen them in a chart. You've probably had supervisor or teammates say, let's have a smart goal around this.

It's a really great way to sort of get the ball rolling and make sure you're covering key portions and key sort of components of your goals. So then for us, we like to add in plus, and these are focused on accountability and for DEI specifically, DEI alignment. So we also include a discussion about accountability. So who's leading this? Who's ultimately responsible for achieving this goal? A simple way to think about accountability is to use what's, what's called a RACI chart to identify stakeholders, and that's RACI. So r is for responsible, this person does the work to complete the task. A is for accountable, this person delegates work and reviews deliverables. This person is all about troubleshooting and making sure the overall goal that we're working toward it. C is for consulted, this person provides input based on expertise or based on potential impact.

And I is for informed, they are kept in the loop on overall progress but they're not super involved in the day to day. So the next part of the plus framework is DEI aligned, and this is related to the achievable and the relevant items in the SMART goal framework, but it's more specifically tuned to DEI alignment. So let's talk about DEI readiness. Are we ready for this DEI goal? We talked in a previous episode about DEI readiness and how to get DEI ready and make sure that we know where we are and kinda where we're going. So here are some questions you can ask to assess your DEI readiness. Where are we right now on our DEI work overall? Are we still focusing on foundational organizational culture? Things like psychological safety and trust? Or are we setting the DEI foundation? Are we operationalizing DEI? Are we expanding and enhancing DEI? Where are we right now? Where we are really matters and it should be reflected in the goals we set. It's the difference between foundational education about what the words diversity, equity, and inclusion mean, And then on the much more advanced level, how we can foster an inclusive workplace for transgender teammates. So one of those might be something you start with really early, just to get everyone on the same page.

And then the later one might be a more sort of specific topic that you're focusing on as the need arises at your organization. And so after DEI readiness, we also wanna talk about DEI capacity. So we talked about achievable and do we have the skills, time, energy, and resources do we need, but DEI capacity is related to that, but it's a little bit different. Do we have team members with the capacity to lead this DEI goal? So many folks are hired in positions because they're great at the operational skills and maybe even the personal and management skills that are needed to drive the organizations organization forward. For this, it's all about, do they have the DEI skills? Let's move beyond organizational readiness and focus on the individuals who will be leading. Do we have the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to successfully meet this goal from a DEI perspective? Are folks trained in what we are trying to roll out? Are folks knowledgeable? Do they have experience with this specific topic? Finally, we wanna talk about leadership alignment. Is our leadership team on the same page and ready to support this goal? Are our leaders in agreement on this goal? Do they all support this as a goal? If not, we need to pause and get everybody on the same page. Are they all bought in and willing to serve as champions and advocates for this goal? Are they willing to actively participate? If we are rolling out a training, are they willing to be the first ones to go through it? Both to provide feedback, but then also to share with the rest of the organization.

Hey, I went through this training and it was meaningful to me because, fill in the blank, as to why it is important for them and for the organization. So that's how we set SMART plus goals, and join us next time to walk through a real world example of a project we are working on with a client and how we set goals for that. And that's a wrap. I'm Jamie Applegate and that's your DEI Minute for today. Thank you for listening. That's a wrap. I'm Jamie Applegate and that's your DEI Minute for today. Thank you for listening.

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