{"id":23046,"date":"2022-05-05T13:06:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T17:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seramount.com\/?p=23046"},"modified":"2025-11-24T12:51:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:51:49","slug":"what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seramount.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Transformative DEI Change\u2014and How Can Your Company Achieve It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">We Talked to 30 Chief Diversity Officers to Find Out.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Most diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) leaders strive for \u201ctransformative change\u201d within their organizations, but how will corporations know when they\u2019ve achieved this goal? Last month, we convened 30 Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) from around the globe for our inaugural <a href=\"https:\/\/seramount.com\/what-we-do\/dei-research-partnership\/cdo-collaborative\/\">CDO Collaborative<\/a> Roundtable to discuss this very question. During our conversation, these CDOs pointed toward three indicators that would signal this transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Indicator One: Every Business Unit Is Held Accountable for DEI<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to truly embed DEI into an organization\u2019s culture and reach the point of transformative change, <a href=\"https:\/\/seramount.com\/articles\/four-ways-to-drive-accountability-for-dei-in-your-organization\/\">companies need meaningful metrics<\/a> as well as the willingness and courage to use the data to hold themselves and their leaders accountable for their diversity goals and results. But while metrics are important, they are insufficient on their own to promote business unit change. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/seramount.com\/articles\/why-your-cdo-cant-own-your-corporate-dei-strategy\/\">DEI-enabled model<\/a>, where ownership and accountability exist across functions, each division has DEI goals, and business and talent leaders are held accountable by linking compensation and performance evaluations to DEI progress. This connection signals that DEI is imperative to the business and helps cascade accountability throughout the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Indicator Two: Diversity is Represented at Every Level in the Organization<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When we talk about diversity in the workplace, many focus on increasing representation at the most senior levels of leadership. But our CDOs agree that transformative change can only be reached when there is diversity at <em>every<\/em> level of the organization, from entry level to the c-suite and executive boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This diversity can only be achieved when there is a diverse pipeline of job candidates to hire from, so a focus needs to be placed on recruiting practices. Hiring managers and HR teams need to fully understand the organization\u2019s DEI strategy and goals, and do the work necessary to <a href=\"https:\/\/seramount.com\/articles\/mitigate-bias-in-the-interview-process-with-these-three-steps\/\">mitigate bias in the interview process<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-yellow_line_quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIt means breaking down the hierarchy to be inclusive\u2014it means having diverse voices at every level,\u201d one CDO told us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Indicator Three: DEI Is No Longer a Stand-Alone Topic<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Transformational change is achieved when DEI is so engrained in the culture of an organization that it\u2019s not thought of as a stand-alone topic\u2014it\u2019s a \u201cconcept in how we do business.\u201d At this point in the transformative change process, DEI is part of everything from hiring practices and client interactions to communications and <a href=\"https:\/\/seramount.com\/what-we-do\/leadership-and-team-development\/\">learning and development programs<\/a>. ALL employees at all levels feel a responsibility to help shape the culture of their company and, as a result, are conditioned to notice the inequities that do exist. The CDO is a trusted partner and advisor, not the go-to for every issue. Instead of \u201chelping\u201d the DEI team, employees take it upon themselves to say, \u201cThis is what I\u2019m doing to advance DEI.\u201d As one CDO said, organizations will know they\u2019ve reached transformative change when they \u201cno longer have to write a checklist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DEI progress has been a slow journey for most organizations around the world, and to lead change, CDOs have to define what that change actually looks like. CDOs continue to express authentic hope for real progress which helps keep the momentum alive. They believe transformative change can happen, and that confidence is half the battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">To learn more about Seramount\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/seramount.com\/what-we-do\/dei-research-partnership\/cdo-collaborative\/\">CDO Collaborative<\/a> and to understand if your organization\u2019s DEI priorities are a good match, please&nbsp;contact <a href=\"https:\/\/seramount.com\/contact-us\/\">Martha Baum<\/a>.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We Talked to 30 Chief Diversity Officers to Find Out. Most diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) leaders strive for \u201ctransformative change\u201d within their organizations, but how will corporations know when they\u2019ve achieved this goal? Last month, we convened 30 Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) from around the globe for our inaugural CDO Collaborative Roundtable to discuss [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[366],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dei-strategy-and-measurement"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is Transformative DEI Change\u2014and How Can Your Company Achieve It? | Seramount<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Most DEI leaders strive for \u201ctransformative DEI change,&quot; but how will corporations know when they\u2019ve achieved this goal?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is Transformative DEI Change\u2014and How Can Your Company Achieve It?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most DEI leaders strive for \u201ctransformative DEI change,&quot; but how will corporations know when they\u2019ve achieved this goal?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Seramount\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seramount\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-05T17:06:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-24T17:51:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ReportCovers_Thumb_1_Blue.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"721\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"481\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Seramount\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Seramount\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Casey\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/982de3d7c384442747d56c948bed4954\"},\"headline\":\"What Is Transformative DEI Change\u2014and How Can Your Company Achieve It?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-05T17:06:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-24T17:51:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/\"},\"wordCount\":579,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"DEI Strategy and Measurement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seramount1stg.wpengine.com\/articles\/what-is-transformative-dei-change-and-how-can-your-company-achieve-it\/\",\"name\":\"What Is Transformative DEI Change\u2014and How Can Your Company Achieve It? 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