DEI task force creation

Organizations with DEI task forces see increased participation in DEI work, diversification of the voices and perspectives involved in DEI decision-making, and improvements toward becoming a more inclusive and equitable company. Ask the taskforce to complete an audit of your current practices like meeting norms, decision-making structures, interview practices, and work-from-home policies. Have the taskforce ask questions like:

• Who might be most impacted by this?
• What perspectives haven’t we considered?
• Is there a more equitable way to do this?

Sample DEI task force curriculum (Group of 3-5 people)

This curriculum is for a 3 month taskforce, meeting every other week for 60 minutes. Ideally, the first meeting would be longer to accommodate more team building and alignment setting!

• Meeting 1: Connect & align
  • AGENDA:
    • Intro: Taskforce leader shares why the taskforce was created
    • Ground-rules: What norms will allow the group to be most effective?
    • Round Robin: Introductions if needed, and share what brought them here
    • Brainstorm: What would make us feel like we’ve accomplished what we set out to do?
    • Round Robin: What will keep you committed to this taskforce?
• Meeting 2: Vision & goals
  • AGENDA:
    • Review: What did we say would make us feel successful? (review from last meeting)
    • Brainstorm: How might we go about getting there?
    • Brainstorm: What areas do we want to focus on? (Use the LifeLabs Inclusion Audit as a guide for what to focus on.)
    • Brainstorm: How do we want to involve the company leadership? How do we want to involve all employees?
    • Round Robin: What is the purpose of this group? (collect thoughts, designate one person to put thoughts together and propose a final statement)
• Meeting 3: Plan creation + naming of Individual responsibilities (who will do what, by when?). See sample message below.
  • AGENDA:
    • Review: Which areas did we say we want to focus on? (review from last meeting)
    • Action: Each person selects 1-2 areas they’d like to work on.
    • Breakout Rooms: Each subgroup gets together and establishes a plan of action (interview employees, research internal documentation, connect with department leaders, etc.)
    • Round Robin: What are you excited about?
• Meeting 4: Reporting results so far, creating recommendation lists for each bucket of the audit.
  • AGENDA:
    • Round Robin: Each taskforce shares the work they’ve completed and any feedback requests they have for the group. Give each group the same amount of time.
• Meeting 5: Final share & support (what progress have you made, what support do you need?)
  • AGENDA:
    • Round Robin: Quick taskforce updates, 1-2 minutes each
    • Next steps: Who needs the information each taskforce has collected? How will that be shared? Who will be owning it?
    • Brainstorm: As a group, what are our next steps?
• Meeting 6: Retrospective (what went well, what did we learn, what can we celebrate?)
  • AGENDA:
    • Round Robin: What are you proud of (in context of this group)?
    • Brainstorm: Create a list of the work we’ve done (with a scribe capturing it)
    • Taskforce leader: Share appreciation and impact
    • Taskforce leader: Confirm next steps

Sample DEI task force communications

(Template created by LifeLabs Learning. Feel free to copy, paste, and alter to match your org.)

Message 1 (Invitation to full team):

Dear team,

In light of the recent violent acts of racism but also a resurgence of hope for equity and inclusion in our country, we want to use this energy to turn our focus inward and be the change we want to see.

We are assembling a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force, and want to invite you to join.

Who: We’re looking for 6-10 coworkers with diverse perspectives, identities, roles and a passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion. We will give ERG/Affinity group leaders first priority given their history of dedication to equity in our organization. If we have more than 10 people interested, all others can help the task force by submitting ideas and providing feedback.