Expert guidance and step-by-step instruction for building a successful diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative from scratch In Diversity and Inclusion Matters: Tactics and Tools to Inspire Equity and Game-Changing Performance, award-winning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) expert Jason R. Thompson delivers a practical and engaging handbook for implementing a DE&I program in your organization. The CAPE technique, developed by the author, gives you a clear blueprint and the tools you'll need to make your diversity program a success. In this book, you'll learn how to achieve early and significant wins to create the necessary and long term organizational change needed for successful DE&I programs. Find out what data you need to collect, how to analyze it, and choose the right goals for your organization. In addition, the CAPE technique will show your progress and ROI. You will learn to: Manage and lead a diversity council and implement diversity initiatives in the correct order Get early buy-in and long-term commitment from a Chief Executive Officer by knowing what to ask for and when Set appropriate and realistic expectations for a DE&I program with the executive leadership team Perfect for diversity and inclusion professionals, human resources leaders, founders, business owners, and executives, Diversity and Inclusion Matters will also earn a place in the libraries of students of human resources, leadership, management, and finance.

Table of Contents:
Preface ix Foreword xvii Part One The CAPE Process 1 1. How to Become an Exceptional DE&I Organization 3 Four Shades of Brown 3 The Importance of DE&I Now 5 A Diverse Workforce Will Have Tension 6 DE&I Officers Need a Broad Range of Skills 8 Why DE&I Programs Fail 10 The How: CAPE Foundation for Successful DE&I Programs 12 2. DE&I Fundamentals, CAPE, and Organizational Change 17 Overwhelmed and Needing a Process 17 The Basics of Every DE&I Program 19 3. Data for DE&I 31 Fill the Cup of Others 31 The Illusion and Challenge of Data 33 The Recruitment Data Challenge 37 4. Collect the Data 41 Give a Brown Guy a Chance 41 When to Start Collecting Data 42 What Data to Collect 43 Where to Get the Demographic Data You Need 45 Who Is Being Included in the Data? 48 Respecting Demographic Data 49 5. Analyze the Data 53 Seeing It So Clear Now 53 Using the Data to Know What You Have 54 The How: Analyzing Data to Identify Recruitment Issues 58 The How: Analyzing Data to Identify Retention Issues 59 Assume Competence 62 6. Plan your Program 65 The World’s Park 65 Plan Only after You Analyze the Data 67 Getting Started on Your Plan 68 4-2-50 Program 70 How to Measure ROI in Your DE&I Program 72 The How: CAPE DE&I Plan Template 73 How to Complete the CAPE DE&I Template 74 7. Execute on the Plan 79 Audio Must Match Video 79 E Is for Execute 80 The How: A CAPE Path to Execute 82 Part Two Practical Lessons Learned in DE&I Programs 89 8. DE&I Programs Should Look Like the Company 91 Looking for Four-Leaf Clovers 91 Sports – US Olympic and Paralympic Committee 93 Healthcare 94 Tech – Techstars 96 Education – University of Wyoming, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Western Governors University 98 Organizational Mission Alignment 99 The How: An Organizational Mission- Alignment Exercise 100 9. DE&I Challenges That No One Tells You 105 Whose Mother Are We Talking About? 105 Staff and Budget 107 Responsibility for Things Beyond Your Control 109 Managing Expectations 112 10. When to Get CEO Involvement 115 What Friends Do 115 Setting CEO Expectations 117 When to Involve the CEO 118 Connecting CEO and Leadership Commitment to Diversity 121 How to Get CEO Commitment 123 11. Employee Resource Groups 125 Check Your Bias 125 Employee Resource Groups 127 Define ERG Membership 128 Setting Boundaries for ERGs 130 Establish Communication Guidelines 132 Managing ERG Fundraisers 133 Let ERGs Fail 134 The How: Suggested Rules and Structures for ERGs 135 12. DE&I Committees 143 Focus on the Right Things 143 Why DE&I Committees Fail 145 What Happens When Companies Start with a DE&I Committee 147 Three Simple Rules for a Better DE&I Committee 148 13. Using DE&I Training to Make Organizational Change 153 Trees Just Don’t Happen 153 Diversity Training: Episode versus Series 155 DE&I Training as a Response to an Episode 156 DE&I Training as a Series of Ongoing Trainings 157 CAPE and DE&I Trainings 158 The Two Types of DE&I Trainings 159 Unconscious Bias 159 The ADKAR Model 161 14. Inclusion Practices 167 Don’t Ask Me to Organize the Davids 167 How to Measure Inclusion 169 How the CAPE Inclusion Tracker Works 171 The Fair Pay Solution 174 15. Your Mental Health 177 A Day at the Pool 177 Mental Health for You and Your Colleagues 180 Part Three Things I Wish I Had Known 185 16. Top Challenges for DE&I Professionals 187 Voices Telling You What You Can’t Do 187 The Myth That Diversity Lowers Quality 189 A Hire from an Underrepresented Group Is Not Performing 190 Chain of Command 190 Your Positional Authority 192 Staffing and Budget 193 Diversity Committees 194 Working with Other Departments 195 Efficacy of Résumé Redacting 196 Belonging versus Inclusion 197 Allies 199 Making the Implicit Explicit 199 Bridging the Gap Between Intent and Impact 200 Validating the Experiences of Others 201 17. Jason-isms 203 The Gift of Time 203 The Jason-isms 205 Conclusion 209 Acknowledgments 211 About the Author 213 Index 215