How can the process of hiring a DEI consultant itself be co-creative? (part 2 of 4)
At Co-Creating Inclusion, we often talk about how we believe the process of creating inclusion should itself be inclusive - it’s in our name!
This is no less true even during the process of hiring a DEI consultant.
We have found that organizations often default to standard processes for “vendor procurement” that replicate existing power structures of “the client’s needs come first” and assumes a more transactional relationship where a client outlines a scope of work and then has vendors bid competitively on it.
I was an architect for almost 20 years so have sat on both sides of the table as the consultant being considered for hire as well as the one selecting consultants. I’ve participated in interviews where the competing consultants are given a set amount of time and expected to follow a certain format, answer questions, and then bids are “leveled” and contenders rated on a scoresheet.
No more.
Or as I said to my team a while back… no more dog and pony.
I’m not saying this type of process should never be followed, or that there aren’t benefits. We just know that clients who need or want to follow this type of process are probably not a fit for us.
For one thing, professions such as architecture follow a pretty standard process and have pretty standard ways of defining scope - the size of the building, the location, the schedule, number of occupants, the types of spaces needed within the building etc. Same thing for pretty much any process that has a relatively standardized and quantifiable outcome.
DEI feel very different to me. An organization just starting out with DEI doesn’t necessarily have an idea of a clear cut scope and in fact, if they think they do (”we want x number of workshops”), they might well be putting the cart before the horse.
Although there is a lot in common across the industry, DEI consultants also have much more varied approaches. Some focus on surveys, others on workshops, or maybe it’s coaching, or strategy, or some combination, sequenced in a variety of ways.
Another difference is that it is harder for organizations who are just starting out at DEI to do their own needs analysis.
As we talked about last week, grassroots DEI efforts during stage 1 of DEI organizational development start to identify needs and pain points, but unless you already have DEI expertise in house, designing the scope should be a co-creative process that involves those who will be delivering the scope.
There is no one right way to do this, but for me, my heart always sinks a little if an organization that hasn’t done a lot of DEI work approaches us with a clear scope already defined. Other consultants may differ, but part of the value we offer is in customizing the scope of our work to meet the needs of each of our clients. In fact, we often joke to ourselves about our “pathological inability to doing anything the same way twice” because we are constantly iterating on our work. In fact, we have learned that what best serves our clients is to design for uncertainty. We almost always discover things during the course of our work that makes adjustments to our approach necessary and we are ever working to plan for that and build it into our scope.
Our preferred process for potential clients is outlined here, but I thought I’d approach this from the perspective of a client and the process I’d suggest in particular for small to mid-sized organizations looking to hire a DEI consultant for the first time.
1) Gather information that will be helpful to potential DEI consultants
Put together any information you have on the DEI work your organization has done to date, if any. Have there been discussions, book clubs, ERGs, employee surveys, town halls etc? Why does your organization want to move forward with DEI? What is your biggest challenge that is causing you to seek a consultant? What goals do you want to achieve? If you have some idea of the services you might require (survey, interviews, organizational assessment, workshops, DEI and leadership coaching, DEI strategy etc.) you can note that but I would refrain from trying to actually design the scope (ie including quantity, length, sequencing etc.)
You probably want to include other information about the organization itself - when it was founded, what it’s mission is, how many employees and office locations there are, any recent leadership changes or other relevant events.
If you haven’t yet already, consider forming a DEI workgroup or committee with staff from across the organization who can be the “hiring committee” for the DEI consultant and give input on the information you have put together as well as at every step of the process. This workgroup should be involved in meeting with potential consultants and have input into the final decision.
If you already know some characteristics or requirements you have for your DEI consultant, you can start articulating those too, but try and stay as open as possible at this stage.
2) Put together a list of potential DEI consultants
Start crowdsourcing recommendations for DEI consultants from across all staff - who do people know or have heard of? Reach out to partners, vendors, colleagues in the industry as well. You can also do research online via google search etc. Similar to a job posting, think about how you can get the word out that you are seeking a DEI consultant.
3) Decide how you are going to develop a short list of DEI consultants
Perhaps your DEI workgroup will review all recommendations, develop some criteria for narrowing the list down, and then start reaching out to each of them, following their process for getting in touch and talking about working together.
Alternatively, you could put out a “request for interest” but what I would recommend at this stage in the process is to make it very simple for a DEI consultant to express interest - it should take them 10 minutes to answer a few questions and submit whatever pre-existing materials they have that will tell you more about them. DEI consultants are very busy right now and expecting them to put in a lot of unpaid work that isn’t reciprocated in effort on your end sets the wrong tone for the relationship. Do you really want a DEI consultant that will let you take advantage of them? How is that aligned with DEI values?
4) Have initial conversations with potential DEI consultants
You will likely want to start with a short list of no more than 4-5 consultants to have an initial conversation with. Here I would recommend that you let each consultant lead the call according to their process. This is going to give you a much better idea of their approach and what it will be like to work with them than if you force them to follow a format that you determine.
Ideally your DEI workgroup is having these calls and reflecting on them together afterwards to share initial impressions and takeaways.
5) Work towards finalizing a scope and proposal from at least one consultant
If you can, we recommend following each consultant’s process of mutually determining whether it’s a good fit and getting to the point where they can submit a proposal. We strongly recommend that you avoid asking a consultant to submit a proposal when they haven’t even had the chance to meet you and learn more about your needs. Not only is this a waste of their time but it is also a waste of your time. You may think you’re saving time by having consultants submit proposals to help you decide who to meet with but if you are not going to get proposals tailored to your needs, you are wasting your own time as well. No matter how detailed the documentation provided, we have found we learn so much more in a conversation. In fact, we no longer submit proposals when we haven’t had the chance to meet first (virtually or in-person).
We also recommend that the scope is developed co-creatively between you and each consultant - let them design and recommend the scope and get input from you. Expect a good DEI consultant to build in opportunities for them to be responsive to what they discover as you work together.
If a clear first choice emerges from this process, you don’t need more than one proposal! I know, this might be a radical and even unthinkable idea.
However, if your organization requires you to obtain more than one proposal, try and find more than one consultant that you would seriously consider hiring. Please try not to ask a consultant for a proposal simply to have a “competitive bid” - again, this is taking advantage of unpaid DEI consultant labor. And yes, if each consultant is designing their own scope, you may not have “apples to apples” bids to “compare” or “level.” That’s ok, because part of what you are assessing is which consultant proposed the scope that feels like the best fit.
Another approach to consider is asking for a fee estimate and a meeting to review the fee estimate together. Ideally a proposal is a written confirmation of a scope and fee that has already been discussed and mutually agreed to as the best approach to the project with that consultant, even if you haven’t made your final selection yet. In other words, if you were to go ahead with this consultant, what would the best agreement on the scope be?
We highly recommend NOT going through a process that results in the “lowest bidder” getting the project as this is not always going to get you the consultant that is the best fit for you. Trying to negotiate your DEI consultant down is also ill-advised. Instead, if you have budget constraints, consider going more slowly - if you can’t do the entire scope in the first year, do the first piece of it. At least for us, we have learned the hard way that compressing our process due to client budget constraints is less effective.
6) Make your decision and share transparently
When you choose your DEI consultant, it is really valuable to tell them not just that you chose them but WHY. Telling them what most appealed to you about them helps to cultivate what hopefully already has been and will continue to be a collaborative dialog about mutual priorities, goals and expectations.
It’s also important to communicate out to staff the reasons for your decision for similar reasons. Hopefully you have been providing frequent updates about the process but consider having your DEI workgroup share their reflections and takeaways as well as the reasoning behind the selection.
Don’t forget to let the consultants you don’t decide to work with some of the reasons for your decision too. It is both courteous and inclusive to let them know what appealed to you about them as well as the reasons you ultimately decided they weren’t the best fit.
A word about operationalizing a DEI budget
Congratulations on making the big step of hiring a DEI consultant! This is a milestone in and of itself. The last thing to note is that even though over time your DEI consultant budget should decrease, operationalizing DEI and integrating it into every aspect of your org requires operationalizing a DEI budget that won’t.
During early stages of DEI organizational development, that budget will go towards your DEI consultant but don’t forgot to also account for the staff time it will take to participate in DEI learning and initiatives. As you start to take DEI in house, your budget will likely shift from an external consultant to internal time as well as, potentially, internal roles.
DEI longevity is not achieved without a DEI budget that also has longevity.
How does that sound? What questions do you have? If you’ve been part of a DEI consultant hiring process, what would you add or change?
Header image credit: Banner by thom masat on Unsplash
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