Hi Aminata,
I've answered the questions below in bold.
- Examples of leadership development programs designed specifically for equity-seeking groups. This could be in your organization, seen in other organizations, training suppliers, etc. One example is the Thrive Program via Pride at Work Canada.
- A: A great example is Catalyst that works on helping women achieve greater equity in organizations. https://www.catalyst.org/en-us I'd also suggest checking out LEAP that is leadership education for people of Asia Pacific background https://www.leap.org/
- Examples of other development programs like mentoring, career development, etc. designed specifically for equity seeking groups. This could be in your organization, seen in other organizations, external providers, etc.
- A: An organization that my team at Talent Metrics Consulting works with is Moxxie Mentoring Foundation which supports women in business to help them guide their way through businesses. https://www.moxxiementoring.org/
- The approaches organizations use to ensure representation at higher leadership levels (from Managers to Executives). Representation means the presence of individuals from different identities, mirroring the diversity of the people your organization serves such as clients, society, etc.
- A: There are two broad techniques that we use with our clients. First is a pipeline approach where we evaluate the demographics and attrition of potential leaders in the leadership pipeline. This includes assessing the number of recommendations made of potential leaders. We assess demographics to try to identify potential bias and review metrics to ensure that the recommendations align with outcomes. Secondly, we examine the overall succession plan to determine whether the pipeline is providing opportunities and a fair evaluation of leaders regardless of demographic category. This also includes feedback from leaders and employee perceptions of the pipeline.
- How have you embedded DEI into your succession planning practices to make it more equitable, increase diversity while also fostering inclusion. It's one thing to increase representation. However, if people do not feel included, you are no further ahead.
- A: Generally inclusion is asssed through surveys and focus groups for our client organizations.
- Bonus: How do you ensure your participant pools (for learning, succession planning, etc.) have a more balanced representation?
- A: We remind our clients to assess how often people are being asked to join in a succession process, whether they're using objective and subjective measures of performance and to assess the overall health of their talent pool given their employee demographics.
Great questions! I hope this helps!