Inclusive people development: Identifying, measuring & overcoming invisible barriers to DEI progress

Inclusive people development (IPD) is the process of growing knowledge and skills for employees while simultaneously removing barriers such as access to social capital and opportunity, so that all employees are empowered to do their best work. And while research recently commissioned by Torch shows that most companies have committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) goals as an immediate or short-term priority, they face significant and often invisible barriers to achieving them — barriers that are affecting retention, promotion and equitable pay rates.

In the context of business’s commitment to achieving DEI success, it’s important that employers understand better what’s holding them back from improving these key metrics. After all, aside from a moral imperative to act, a wealth of independent analysis shows that more diverse and inclusive workplaces perform better on financial metrics.

Beyond the business case for DEI itself is the question of how to get there. A recent report from The Josh Bersin Company, The Definitive Guide to Learning: Growth in the Flow of Work, suggests that employers with advanced learning and development programs may yield a 260% increase in financial results and more than a four-fold improvement in growth, innovation, and market leadership through smarter matching of strategic hiring challenges with existing employee ambitions.

By contrast, if companies don’t invest in the right development programs their performance can be below par, particularly in relation to DEI goals, suggesting a mismatch between what’s currently being delivered and what’s actually needed.

It’s an area that Torch has been researching extensively recently. Here’s what we have found that might help.

DEI work shouldn’t be a one-off program

In our survey of 500 HR managers across the U.S., 69% say addressing DEI was either an immediate or short-term priority, and 58% identified retention as their top priority. Yet, despite employers prioritizing and investing in DEI improvement, many organizations report they are not making progress on related goals, including retention.

The most cited barriers to retaining underrepresented groups were lack of leadership representation (40%) and coaching/mentoring opportunities (35%). It is perhaps no coincidence that these are challenges requiring longer-term efforts to effect change.

This struggle with retention of underrepresented groups may be hard to improve because often DEI is treated as a one-off “project” with an endpoint — and employers are not going deep enough for change to be fundamental and permanent. Indeed, findings by The Josh Bersin Company in 2021 suggest that 40% of companies still lack a comprehensive DEI strategy.

Employers currently lack awareness of their DEI performance

One of the biggest barriers to delivering against DEI goals is the mistaken perception that companies have already achieved what they set out to do. For example, we may have implemented compliance-focused programs such as targeted recruitment that increases representation, DEI training that raises awareness, as well as creating frameworks and suggestions for behavior change; and we may believe that with all this effort, we can mark this initiative off as “job done.”

Our evidence suggests this is short-sighted. We asked HR leaders whether they were measuring the impact of their efforts by comparing the retention of those who received developmental and learning opportunities compared to those who didn’t. We found that less than 50% were intentionally measuring any of these efforts (on-the-job training, individualized personal development plans, leadership coaching, mentorship, personalized online learning courses). A disappointing 13% report not measuring these efforts at all.

If you are not measuring the impact of your programs, you can’t say for sure whether you are improving on your DEI performance. We also found that if you are male, and the higher up the organization you are, the lower your awareness is of the true DEI picture. Our research reveals that executives were more optimistic than managers that DEI goals had been achieved. In addition, male leaders report that most of their DEI goals had been achieved, while their female colleagues report closer to half of their organization’s DEI goals had been achieved.

A lack of visibility is a problem. When organizations measure the correlations between DEI progress and HR strategy delivery, they are more likely to identify challenges with achieving fair pay, fair promotion and staff retention, as a first step toward enabling them to do something about it.

Conversely, organizations that don’t yet measure the links between DEI programs and outcomes may simply not be aware of issues of inequity, staff demotivation, or attrition.

One of the most impactful changes employers can make, then, is to increase measurement and awareness about the opportunity for improvement.

Personalized, professional development yields visible results

Where employers are tracking progress, we can see that coaching and mentoring has a significant impact. Where coaching or mentoring is absent, organizations are 63% less likely to be achieving goals related to equitable pay, for instance. They are also 58% less likely to be succeeding with fair access to promotions opportunities, and 33% more likely to experience retention challenges — the very priorities HR leaders are striving to address.

The good news is that once they understand the opportunity, leaders can take immediate and appropriate action.

The recognition by respondents that coaching and mentoring are effective interventions reflects a larger truth: that meaningful behavior change happens most effectively in the context of a trusted relationship with a coach or mentor. A skilled advisor who personalizes the development to the individual manager or leader’s own unique needs, creates psychological safety, helps them apply learnings to day-to-day work, and holds them accountable, could really move the needle.

This is about development that changes not only mindsets, but also behaviors; change for individuals that will also ripple across the organization and lead to changes in culture as well.

Where employers do actively measure programs for impact on talent retention, relationship-centered programs — personalized to the individual employee — have particular impact on DEI goal achievement. In our survey, we found organizations that offer coaching or mentoring to underrepresented groups report reaching significantly more of their DEI goals than those who do not offer coaching and mentoring.

Our survey shows that employers do understand the value of tailored interventions. When respondents were asked what they saw as contributing most significantly to employee retention, the key success factors were development opportunities personalized to the individual employee and their unique role. A majority (60%) of HR leaders cite on-the-job training as the most effective intervention, followed by mentoring (indicated by 51%), personalized development plans (50%), and coaching (48%).

These personalized professional development opportunities meet DEI challenges head on. They focus on skills and behaviors, and equip individual employees with the tools to excel in their current roles, as well as to grow into their next ones. Lack of such resourcing, incidentally, could also explain why there is a greater tendency to struggle with retention and promotion rates for underrepresented talent, where companies don’t provide development opportunities such as coaching or mentoring.

Implementing a more personalized form of learning — tailored to the individual’s particular strengths and needs, and within the commitment of a longer-term mentor or coach relationship — contributes to a sense of belonging for the employee, a key feature of a successful DEI program. For underrepresented talent, as for all employees, this kind of investment in their professional development is a meaningful commitment to their ongoing career success.

Continuous communication and feedback are key to maintaining momentum

Increasing the transparency around DEI efforts can help workplace leaders get closer to their goals, and communication is a key component of transparency. Making DEI goals clear, demonstrating which programs are designed to support these goals, and reporting on progress to everyone within the organization increases overall awareness and ensures that everyone is on the same page.

This supports The Josh Bersin Company’s 2021 DEI research, which found that when employers listen to employees on matters of inclusion, and take action based on that input, they are 12 times more likely to engage and retain employees.

Evidence abounds that this really works in practice. San Francisco-based software company Zendesk rolled out a tightly integrated DEI program with multiple feedback channels, as well as mentoring and coaching options. As part of its Ignite Program, for instance, which provides a range of people development opportunities, Zendesk offers group coaching sessions for managers of underrepresented talent, that focus on creating psychological safety in their teams.

As well as a Diversity Council which brings managers together around DEI ambitions, Zendesk consciously makes space for regular team and one-on-one conversations, creates goals that focus on progress, learning and meaningful growth (over perfection/compliance), and uses employee input to encourage buy-in across different groups — demonstrating that effective DEI programs are active at multiple levels of the company.

These feedback loops and integrated programs with multiple touchpoints are also examples of seeing DEI as a process of continuous improvement.

Employers need to make their next move now

Overall, our research suggests that for any organization to improve retention and make progress towards its DEI goals, it must first develop greater awareness of how the company is performing today. Tracking performance against key metrics such as promotion and retention rates, equitable pay, and employee engagement can be paired with assessments of performance both across the organization as a whole, and in relation to underrepresented groups.

Beyond awareness-based communication, our findings highlight the importance of transparency and cross-organizational alignment on problems, solutions, and perceptions of progress, in achieving effective and sustainable DEI work.

With deeper organizational awareness and alignment, the good news is that personalized, relationship-centered programs are a very effective lever in driving desired behavioral shifts and organizational change.

Read more: Why stop at dry January? Make sober inclusivity part of your DEI strategy

While comprehensive DEI initiatives have multiple components, it’s important not to become overwhelmed by trying to do everything at once. Choose a way to move forward on your IPD program, but start doing it today.

Amy Lavoie is VP of People Success at Torch, a leading people development platform.