How can you use OKRs for Diversity & Inclusion?

Diversity & Inclusion takes priority in many organizations today because it helps employers create a collaborative, stable, and performance-focused environment for employees. Effective communication is often used to maintain this initiative, but unfortunately, it is still a bit of a grey area for some businesses. Luckily OKRs can help track D&I. Usually, it is a goal-setting strategy used by small, medium, and large companies; however, it can facilitate an inclusive workforce.

What is Diversity & Inclusion? 

Diversity & Inclusion is an approach that business owners or employers use to monitor performance and create a diverse workforce. It will give every employee (or team member) a sense of belonging in the organization, allowing them to work more effectively. Communicating business goals regularly is a gateway to ensuring employees understand what the organization is trying to achieve and be passionate about it. 

Why Is It Important for Organizations To Have Goals For Diversity And Inclusion?

Having goals for diversity and inclusion is essential for business in many ways. A few include: 

1. D&I Goals help business owners focus on hiring talents. Different organizational tasks require people of special skill sets or age groups. For instance, a younger person will likely be more open-minded and enthusiastic about achieving the company’s mission than most older people. 

2. D&I Goals will help set a proper work culture that is friendly and focused. Some employees feel left out of the company’s activities because they do not belong to the active or majority groups. However, with D&I, everyone gets a sense of belonging, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, etc. 

3. D&I Goals facilitate a healthy and better work environment. Employees’ willingness to work increases daily.  

How Can You Set OKRs For Diversity & Inclusion?

OKRs are goal-setting methods; clearly, they associate with Diversity & Inclusion strategies to establish a stable work environment. Together, they ensure improved communication, improve and manage outputs, and facilitate team alignment. 

To set OKRs for D&I, here are things to do: 

Review Goals 

For Objectives & Key Results to work in a company that prioritizes D&I, such an organization needs to review its goals. The secret is having measurable, achievable, and straightforward goals aligned with individual or team tasks. 

Know Who to Hold Accountable 

Individual and team OKRs are interplays in this D&I initiative. However, for them to be successful, there is a need to create a chain of command, especially in leadership. There should be someone to hold accountable. 

Bring the Team Together

One more way to set OKRs for Diversity and Inclusion is to bring the team together. Maintaining an effective communication strategy facilitates the smooth execution of tasks that ultimately play a role in achieving business goals. And while at it, the team needs to keep an open eye to track performance and objectives. 

Examples To Set OKRs For Diversity & Inclusion

Here are 5 instances to set OKRs for D&I performance goals. 

1. Raise awareness of problems around diversity and inclusion in the company through seminars, symposiums, and briefs. 
2. Initiate a mentor-mentee program to help junior employees gain more insight into business and goals from senior colleagues. 
3. Prioritize hiring individuals skilled or from diverse interest backgrounds to meet the company’s demands. 
4. Provide resource materials often that sensitize employees about the company’s mission and the need for them to remain comfortable. 
5. Get regular data on employees to see individual performance and to determine the efficacy of diversity or inclusion in the workplace. 

How To Create More Inclusive Teams with Diversity OKRs?

To build more inclusive teams with Diversity OKRs, a company can consider the following: 

• Maintaining good communication with the team through audio calls, zoom, video calls, etc., frequently. 
• Ensuring the collaboration of different teams to meet a specific target. 
• Reviewing the effort of every team to determine what aspect is lacking this initiative and developing strategies for improvement. 
• Constantly keeping up with the organization’s progress and ensuring good accountability. 

Rewards & Recognitions for Acing D&I OKRs

A few things are obvious if a company has successfully aced D&I OKRs. 

• Effective workplace mentoring workshop or initiative 
• Good flexibility due to healthy work culture and interest in hiring diverse individuals  
• Clear, smart, and actionable goals understood by employees

Conclusion

Diversity & Inclusion can be facilitated using OKRs, and what better way to do this than using Huminos software? This OKR software is designed to help businesses aspire to grow, improve communication or work culture, and monitor performance goals. In a workplace where the employer needs to find out where diversity and inclusion are lacking and need improvement with OKRs, Huminos will be a useful tool to save the day.