Optimizing the global DEI strategy of the world’s largest professional services firm.
Eliminating silos, aligning efforts, and operationalizing shared values—with accountability—led to remarkable results.
Deloitte Global | Professional Services | Level 3
The Situation | Siloed efforts | Evolving priorities
When I was named Deloitte’s first Global DEI Leader in 2019, the organization was already an established pacesetter in diversity and inclusion. They were driven by their purpose—making an impact that matters—and as the world’s largest provider of professional services, with a network of member firms operating in over 150 countries and territories, that impact was profound.
The issue? That impact had a limiting factor: they didn’t have anyone integrating the various local DEI efforts into one cohesive strategy.
Deloitte Global, which serves the member firms, was ready to optimize their DEI commitment: addressing silos, aligning efforts, and creating a leading and sustainable strategy that could be integrated into operations around the world. It was my role to create the roadmap.
Like many firms at the time, Deloitte’s existing DEI efforts were mainly focused on two goals: gender diversity in leadership and fostering a culture of inclusion. They had already acknowledged they “had more work to do” when 2020 gave rise to one of the world’s largest social movements for racial equity and justice. There was no question what side of the conversation our organization would be on.
With the support of leadership and the resources required to be bold, we were ready for the challenges of:
Driving transformative change across our massive global organization.
Putting our values and purpose into practice with an operational framework.
Building a system that was sustainable and responsive to the needs of all the communities we serve.
The Solution | System-wide Planning | Strategic Implementation
To kick off the planning phase, I assembled a taskforce of senior Managing Directors spread across geographies, business lines, and self-identified diversity. Scrutinizing every detail to establish our baseline, then measured and assessed gaps in diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the organization. This enabled us to identify opportunities, overall and by business unit, and set aspirational goals.
With a vision in place, I focused on designing and establishing a governance infrastructure comprised of 90 senior leaders, a Council of Executives, and an operations model to guide the delivery of the global strategy. This critical step enabled us to align multiple stakeholders, address the needs of our complex system, and embed accountability from the start.
Over the next 3-4 years, we implemented the strategy, rigorously measured the results, and refined as needed. It was a process of continual improvement across 50+ geographies and 21 business units, with a focus on our largest divisions: Technology, Finance, Human Resources and global business services.
A few highlights from along our journey:
We reimagined our recruiting process, from editing our sourcing strategy to implementing interviewer training. Establishing accountability to verify the slates were diverse enough to yield optimal outcomes kept it equitable. Instead of forced moves, we widened the net and tackled bias to make the best hires.
We created inclusive leaders, everywhere: It wasn’t a new idea—Inclusive Leadership had long been a tenant of Deloitte’s strategy—but the learning hadn’t been leveraged across the network. We quickly cascaded it downstream, with 360 surveys, self-assessments and inclusive leadership workshops.
We established “Business Resource Groups” (BRGs), replacing the affinity programs and employee resource groups that had previously been localized, and inherently limited in their effectiveness. The differentiating element? The impact of each BRG was not just tied to the employees, it was also tied to the business, empowering them to drive real change.
We designed an equitable and inclusive sponsorship program, that prioritizes those who need it but includes everyone, celebrates difference but doesn’t put the onus on the minority to educate, and creates two-way learning moments that simultaneously build advocacy for aspiring talent, and change our culture from the top.
The Impact | quantifiable | market-leading metrics | purpose-led foundation
While many DEI efforts flounder at the results stage, we made measurement and accountability a core element of our strategy. This required a rigorous and methodical approach: every quarter, we tracked progress and results of 22 distinct action items and 25 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at the global level, and countless more by business unit. More than just numbers on a page, these served to validate what was working or not, so we could adjust where it was needed.
Some of our biggest wins by the 3-year mark included:
Achieving market-leading representation of Black professionals—within 1% of reflecting the social make-up of the US itself.
Designing interventions to ensure equitable outcomes across each talent lifecycle milestone (development, pay, performance management, and promotions).
Increasing feelings of inclusion by 15% across all demographics globally.
Amplifying social impact with an increase in global volunteer hours to 40 paid hours a year per person directed towards social justice entrepreneurs.
What started as a bold new strategy is now in an operational state. Built to self-sustain and evolve, it continues to serve as the foundation of Deloitte’s purpose-led approach.
Takeaways for your own strategy | transparency | team effort | accountability
Commit to transparency: When we started this initiative, I didn’t have to convince anyone of the business case for building a better company, right up to the CEO. But even with our long-standing commitment to DEI and ESG, we weren’t transparently communicating these efforts. Breaking that barrier—by sharing the baseline, our aspirational goals, the steps we were taking, and annual progress—became a part of our strategy, driving accountability to the people we serve, inside and outside of our organization.
Make it a team effort: As Global DEI Leader, I was responsible for driving the initiative, but it took immense collaboration from many of my colleagues to achieve the results we did. This included my DEI team, our Taskforce + Advisory Council, People Team, volunteer Champions, and many passionate advocates inside the lines of business. They not only aided the execution, they pushed me and the firm to do more and do better. Your best results won’t come from a solo operation.
Build in accountability from the start: Our formal governance structure bridged business lines with HR, volunteer champions and experts, leaders, and doers—but its most impactful element was the underpinning of accountability. Our CHRO and COO worked closely with me to support the business in achieving the goals set out by holding their direct reports accountable and blocking and tackling any barriers. It was a lesson in what works.
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