Ask a consultant: What is the best way to audit diversity initiatives?

Q: What are the best practices for auditing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives?

A: If you burden the department in charge of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) with an inability to audit the process, you assure its failure. Without defining a workflow and baseline for the process, you end up with continuously changing requirements and definitions. That makes it nearly impossible to define clear accountability for delivering outcomes.

Too often DEI is stated in terms of social justice and aspirations for inclusion, without a system to make it possible. Resources are hired and named, then left to their own devices to achieve an outcome that will run into a torrent of established resistance.

Simply naming the issue and sporadically attaching funding — without clear actions — becomes a comfortable substitute for change. A clear definition of the problem and a well-defined project plan is essential. This will help the team navigate continuously changing contexts and effectively engage with hands-off leadership. Ultimately, this positions the team to take on the vast set of deliverables required for lasting transformation.

DEI, as all processes, requires a clear strategic goal. What is the DEI initiative creating, and what new system will be enacted? A project needs a baseline from which to make measurable goals and to improve.

Annual audits of DEI efforts without clear streams of accountability and definitions of tasks can never be supplanted by leaders or top clients delivering lip service to success. An audit should demonstrate a clear sequence of planned actions, expected outcomes and the variances observed.

The variances should be assessed beyond data, facts and insights. There must be applicable lessons learned. These lessons become the basis of an organization's strategic filters for growth.

Decisions such as corporate strategy, product development and hiring should be made through this filtering system. This allows teams to be intentional as they navigate changes in the organization, while maintaining alignment to strategic DEI imperatives. Managing these changes brings all stakeholders to the table for methodical decision-making.

Such actions will enrich organizational intelligence and improve a shared comprehension of DEI strategies and actions. Creating structure without strategic outcomes and clear workflows is simply creating chaos.

Ernest Owens is an assistant professor of management at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.