Transforming Agency Culture through D&I Initiatives

Challenge

A U.S. government intelligence agency sought to identify and remediate barriers to advancement for their Black/African American workforce. After conducting a study that identified disparities between the rate of the Black/African American and white workforce promotion rates, the agency engaged Guidehouse to support them in addressing the identified barriers, improving overall culture, and creating a more diverse and inclusive environment that cuts across all levels and functions of the agency.

Solution

Guidehouse worked with the agency to create a Diversity & Inclusion Maturity Framework designed to embed Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) in every aspect of the organization and assess progress on a regular basis. After conducting a baseline assessment on the framework, Guidehouse proposed ideas for implementing and advancing the framework through focused, deliberate, and sustainable actions that enabled the agency to progress to a more diverse and inclusive environment at all levels and functions.

After assessing the agency’s D&I maturity level, the Guidehouse team developed the Diversity & Inclusion Roadmap, which establishes strategic objectives at the corporate level.

To address recommendations that resulted from the study about promotions in the Black/African American population, the Guidehouse team facilitated more than 20 live sensing sessions across the agency to gauge workforce sentiment and capture implementation ideas. The Guidehouse team designed processes to prioritize ideas and engage volunteer stakeholders in the change. To support effective change management, Guidehouse developed a strategic communications strategy, 90-day rolling communications plan, and briefings that addressed stakeholders ranging from members of Congress to the workforce. The team also developed a Tableau dashboard to manage the project and track the status and impact of nearly 40 aligned initiatives.

Impact

Guidehouse led the client as they laid the groundwork for sustainable organizational and cultural change by engaging different parts of the workforce, including leadership at the highest ranks, and providing a framework and roadmap to guide the agency’s transformation toward an intrinsically diverse and inclusive culture.

The finalized goals and roadmap will guide the agency’s strategy, communications, and workforce engagement plan as they begin to build the infrastructure required to support the implementation of the D&I Maturity Framework.