Welcome
How do your organization's DEI practices stack up?
Forrester’s study found that organizations with mature Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices have better sales outcomes. How is your organization’s DEI practices? Take our short self-assessment to find out.
The assessment will yield customized results and recommendations based on your responses and should take no more than 2 minutes to complete.
Questions
What resources does your company offer for employees? (Select all that apply.)
Questions
Which of the following exists at your company? (Select all that apply.)
Questions
As a manager, have you taken training to improve your DEI hiring practices?
Questions
As a manager, have you taken training to increase inclusion or belonging on your team?
Questions
As a manager, have you spoken with your team about inclusive sales practices?
Questions
Has your team undergone diversity, inclusion, or belonging training?
Questions
To the best of your knowledge, which of the following has your company done in 2021? (Select all that apply.)
Your Results Overview
Diversity is not a phase, and it’s certainly not a buzzword. Companies with strong DEI practices have better-performing sales teams. Forrester surveyed 500 sales leaders, asking each to report standard DEI practices and sales metrics. Forrester analyzed these metrics across DEI maturity levels and found that sales teams with leading DEI practices have better sales outcomes. Specifically, leading DEI teams have higher forecasts, conversion rates, sales attainment, and customer satisfaction.
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Your maturity result: Beginner Intermediate Advanced
Recommendations
Beginner
Your score means your US sales team DEI maturity is only at the beginning stage. This means:
- Your organization is complying with required regulations, such as EEOC.
- Your organization lacks a defined strategy and supporting elements that characterize a comprehensive DEI practice.
- Your team demographics may not be representative of your customer base.
You need to develop a cohesive vision for your DEI practice that describes how the diversity of your workforce, the inclusivity of your culture, and the equity of your business processes support your customer experience strategy.
- Ground your vision in your brand values as well as industry best practices.
- Evaluate your product portfolio and ensure that your products are accessible according to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), are digital, and are designed to be inclusive.
Moving from the vision stage to the implementation stage is an iterative process that should begin with a listening strategy.
- Leverage voice of the customer (VoC) and voice of the employee (VoE) to understand the needs of both your customers and your workforce.
- Establish baseline metrics for your DEI practice and set initial goals.
- Create a stakeholder team to own progress towards those goals.
Intermediate
Your score means your US sales team DEI maturity has advanced to the intermediate stage. Your organization has a defined vision and has initiated activities to support progress towards its DEI goals. Focus on these activities to progress your organization’s practice towards a more advanced state.
- Integrate learning programs (e.g., unconscious bias training, inclusive leadership programs) into development plans for your sales teams.
- Incorporate messaging around DEI into onboarding programs and culture discussions.
- Increase the frequency of your organization’s listening programs to better understand the real-time experiences of your team members and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Ensure that your internal (company) employee brand messaging is aligned with your external (customer) brand messaging, as well as your broader (community) messaging, such as social media responses, charitable support, etc.
- Focus on allyship and ensuring balanced participation in initiatives, (e.g., DEI committee work, affinity groups, etc.) and avoid burdening the underrepresented communities in your employee population with doing the work of DEI.
- Conduct regular reviews of messaging, including website collateral, talent acquisition materials, and other internal and external documents, to ensure they leverage inclusive language.
Advanced
Congratulations, your score means that your US sales team DEI maturity is advanced! You have a defined vision and embed DEI into your daily practices, including goal setting, training, and hiring. To ensure you stay ahead of the curve you should:
- Set up a continuous cadence of listening and action in terms of initiatives and investments to drive the most impact for your organization’s employees and your customers.
- Ensure that DEI activities are prioritized and funded, rather than being volunteer efforts.
- Tie accountability to DEI metrics to executive compensation.
- Engage with DEI within your organization’s community, share learnings, and evolve your thinking around the topic.
Next Steps
Read the research
Thank you for taking the time to complete this assessment! Read the full PDF Forrester report commissioned by LinkedIn or view the digital version here.
View your detailed results
Methodology And Disclaimer
Methodology And Disclaimers
Methodology
Methodology
In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 500 sales leaders in the US to evaluate the relationship between DEI practices and sales outcomes. The study was completed in November 2021.
Disclaimers
Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this assessment, LinkedIn and Forrester are unable to accept any legal responsibility for any actions taken on the basis of the information contained herein.