Beyond the Numbers: Why Metrics Don’t Tell The Whole Story About DEI

This is Becoming Inclusive from The Kaleidoscope Group, where we’re thinking differently about diversity, equity, and inclusion. For more empowered people at work. We’re committed to real change and that begins with real conversations. Welcome in. 

*to request the transcription, please email jodi.matas@kgdiversity.com*

Measuring diversity, equity and inclusion is an important, vital, part of implementing a robust strategy that delivers desired outcomes. But as organizations accrue data to qualify and quantify their efforts, they need to think beyond the organizational data points to ensure that their efforts not only focus on the business in the macro sense but also at the micro level to understand better the impact DEI has on the team level. At least that’s the point made by two senior DEI experts with the Kaleidoscope Group. 

In today’s episode of  Becoming Inclusive Podcast, host Reggie Ponder welcomed The Kaleidoscope Group’s COO Chris Georgas and Juan Luis Betancourt, CEO of Humantelligence, a software provider and culture management platform that helps organizations operationalize culture, improve collaboration, and drive team performance.

Drilling Down on DEI

According to Betancourt and Georgas, the focus in data analytics related to DEI is on groups rather than individuals. That’s not wrong, but it’s not enough. Both make the valid point that measuring groups of workers based on limited dimensions of diversity like race or gender may be off the mark because those populations aren’t monolithic. Within every racial or ethnic group, there is also a great deal of diversity and conscious and unconscious biases. These have to be tackled from the standpoint of the individual and how included those individuals feel on their teams—so that they’re able to contribute in meaningful ways that improve the employee experience for everyone. 

Changing and building culture is complex, but we can’t simply focus on the C-Suites and succession plans, both agreed. Betancourt goes on to say that understanding how people show up in terms of workstyles and motivations informs project managers and also gives the team members critical insights into their peers for a more cohesive team structure that can lead to higher-performing teams and greater degrees of inclusivity and equity. 

Optimizing Team Wellbeing

When we shift from a top-down approach to a team focus, we can understand the human connections among teams in more depth. Betancourt referred to this approach as the “UCC Framework”: reflecting “understand, connect, collaborate.”   Georgas says that this type of thinking allows organizations to demonstrate care for employees in a meaningful way, which also provides an opportunity for organizations to distinguish themselves from competitors to gain an advantage in the quest to hire and retain unique talent. 

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