The Discovery phase includes a cultural/needs assessment that includes various tools to understand the culture of the organization with regards to knowledge and commitment to DEI. We custom design assessments of participants and stakeholder groups to establish a baseline of understanding and perspectives of DEI issues, opportunities, terms and relevance to mission and programs. This may include: 

1. Surveys designed to provide quantitative data on current perspectives of DEI concepts and practices. These surveys also provide a baseline and metrics from which progress can be monitored and evaluated. 
2. Focus Groups and Listening Sessions designed to provide safe and respectful spaces to respond to key DEI questions related to agency and listen. Feedback is captured in transcripts without analysis or interpretation. 
3. One-on-one interviews with key stakeholders or representatives of other groups whose voices have not been sufficiently heard.
4. Consultations with the client leadership teams to identify and prioritize strategies for the application and implementation of key DEI Best Practices, potential ideas and strategies. 
5. Community Engagement:
   Internal for Client: DEI Consultants will create and implement customized engagement practices for each client based on the findings from the Discovery Phase. We model best practices for engagements to resource participants skills and understanding in having productive conversations about difficult subjects. We provide continuous interactions with leadership and other stakeholders sharing our consulting expertise, recommendations, strategies, and best practices in support of DEI challenges and opportunities that arise, as each client determines their best pathway for DEI advancement.
   External community engagement: Engage external stakeholders, and local communities to align with internal goals. Interaction and feedback to insure Client DEI efforts are respectful of community context and are mutually aligned and informed. 

Using feedback from the Discovery and Engagement activities, we create a menu of Training Topics to consider. We support our clients’ selection of priority topics and together schedule appropriate dates and times. We then facilitate the chosen topics in an interactive, story-based approach. We also offer relevant articles, exercises, case stories, and other resource information to be used before and after training to reinforce understanding, adaptation, skill enhancement, implementation, and sustainability. We also have the capacity to develop on-demand modules for specific topics. See Resources Section for Sample Training Topics.

Retreats (in person or virtual) – Corporate, Non-Profit, Associations – For C-Suite, Sr. Leadership, Managers, DEI Committee Members, ERG Group Leaders, Frontline Employees. Includes collaborative planning, design, facilitation, and evaluation.

We analyze all quantitative and qualitative data and develop key recommendations for implementation in a written format. This typically includes unfiltered perspectives of participating stakeholders. This capturing of stakeholder voices is a powerful asset for moving forward. 

Communications Consultation to keep various stakeholders informed and engaged. These include leadership debrief and facilitated meetings at key junctures of the contract. 

Strategic Alignment Consultation with core values, mission, and strategic direction in service of clarity, improved operational function and transformation of disruption or conflict into opportunities for advancing client values, and DEI principles and practices appropriately. We also offer strategic organizational structure consultations to advance DEI.

Planning Consultation appropriate team meetings and one-on-one meetings with client DEI point person(s).

Retainer Consultation emerging issues and opportunities that exceed anticipated planning hours. Typically, this emerges as a viable next step contractual relationship to offer guidance on implementation of recommendations.