Full Sail Partners Blog | human resources

Fostering Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B) is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity for project-based firms. DEI&B creates environments that go beyond just diversity and inclusion, aiming to build equitable spaces where individuals feel welcomed, valued, and empowered. Surprisingly, not every company has a DEI&B initiative in place. Let’s review the core aspects of DEI&B, and what implementation strategies firms can use to promote these values.

Diversity

Diversity, the first pillar of DEI&B, acknowledges the variety of human characteristics and identities within a group or organization. It goes beyond just race and gender, encompassing various aspects that we don’t always think about such as age, ability and disability, socio-economic status, religion, nationality, and many more. In the context of project-based firms, where collaboration and innovation are key, recognizing and embracing diversity is especially important. Recognizing this is the foundation for fostering an environment where each team member's strengths and talents can thrive, ultimately contributing to the overall success of the projects and the organization.

Equity

Equity is about ensuring fairness, impartiality, and justice in the treatment of individuals, particularly in environments with historical disadvantages. Project-based firms need to actively address systemic biases, structural inequalities, and discriminatory practices. Achieving equity in a company involves creating policies and procedures that reward based on personal merit, ensuring everyone has an equal chance to succeed no matter what groups they may belong to.

Inclusion

Inclusion is the creation of environments where all individuals feel welcomed, respected, and valued. In project-based firms, inclusive practices involve actively embracing diversity and fostering a sense of belonging. This means creating spaces where people of diverse backgrounds, identities, and perspectives can thrive, express themselves authentically, and engage in meaningful collaboration without fear of discrimination.

Belonging

Belonging is the newest addition to DEI&B. It goes beyond diversity and inclusion, addressing individuals' emotional and psychological need to feel connected and respected within their professional environments. The feeling of belonging involves creating spaces where people can bring their whole selves to work, form genuine connections, and contribute to a collective identity and purpose.

Importance of DEI&B to Project-Based Firms

Beyond being morally imperative, DEI&B is crucial for project-based firms for several reasons: Fosters Positive Employee Engagement: DEI&B creates a positive and inclusive work culture, leading to higher employee engagement and satisfaction. Drives Innovation: Diverse teams bring a variety of perspectives and ideas, driving innovation and problem-solving in project-based settings. Broadens Talent Pool: Embracing diversity expands the talent pool, bringing in individuals with different skills, experiences, and viewpoints. Maintains Competitive Advantage: Companies with diverse teams often outperform their peers, maintaining a competitive advantage in the market.

Methods to Foster DEI&B in the Workplace

We’ve seen why DEI&B is important, but how do we go about putting these systems in place? Here are several ways that project-based firms can implement various initiatives to foster DEI&B:

Diverse Hiring Practices: Actively seek diverse candidates and create inclusive hiring processes. Remember to look deeper into the categories we don’t always recognize, like nationality, socio-economic status, and age.
Training and Education: Provide ongoing training on diversity, equity, and inclusion to enhance awareness and understanding.
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Establish ERGs to provide support, networking, and mentorship for underrepresented groups.
Flexible Work Policies: Implement flexible work policies to accommodate diverse needs and promote work-life balance. This can include options for hybrid and fully remote work.
Leadership Development: Invest in leadership development programs that prioritize diversity and inclusion.
Diversity Metrics & Accountability: Establish measurable goals and hold the organization accountable for progress.
Employee Engagement Activities/Events: Organize activities and events that encourage diversity and promote inclusion. These can be as simple as company mixers, sporting events, or other group activities.
Promotion of Diversity in Content and Marketing: Ensure that marketing materials and content reflect the diversity within the organization.

Making Diversity Programs Effective

Initiating diversity programs can be challenging, but it is essential for the success of DEI&B. Companies need to do three things in order to make an effective diversity program.

First, you must recognize the full spectrum of diversity. As we’ve talked about already, not all aspects of diversity are easy to see. Understand that diversity encompasses various categories beyond gender and race, including gender identity, age, ability, religion, political beliefs, and socioeconomic status.
Second, embed DEI&B in the company culture. Company culture is many things: the embodiment of a company’s values, its mission, and even its environment. DEI&B should be ingrained in the philosophy of the company.
Finally, appoint DEI&B Leaders. Designate a group responsible for DEI&B programs and initiatives to ensure focused attention and progress. This group does not necessarily have to be management, instead, a dedicated team or individual can ensure focused attention and steady progress in promoting diversity and inclusion within the organization.

Conclusion

Embracing and valuing the concepts of DEI&B in project-based firms not only aligns with social responsibility, but also drives positive organizational outcomes. By actively fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, project-based firms can create environments where individuals thrive personally and professionally, ultimately contributing to the success and innovation of the organization. To learn even more about DEI&B and how Full Sail Partners is helping firms with this initiative, check out the replay of our LinkedIn Live by clicking the image below.

The goal of change management is to facilitate successful transitions within a company from the current state to a desired future state. This involves effectively managing the people, processes, systems, and culture impacted by the change to minimize resistance, mitigate risks, and achieve the desired outcomes. In every company, HR’s main role is to function as the “grease” if you will between the goals of the company and how the people in the company contribute to achieving those goals. 

According to an article from AIHR, HR plays a variety of roles in supporting change:

Being an active member of the change management team.
Being a coach to a manager who is a change leader.
Providing training on change management.
Helping to build processes the organization can follow for change management.
Leading the change as HR professionals.

Managing the People 

How do HR professionals help employees embrace change?

Companies are truly the embodiment of the people who work there. Each employee is both a distinct, individual working personality and a significant piece of the whole company. And because company leaders recognize the importance of their people, the HR function plays a vital role in the overall change management process. Communicating directly with leadership, HR helps people get ready for change by supporting employees throughout the change process, providing transparency, addressing concerns, explaining the reasons behind the change, and soliciting feedback. With employee buy-in, morale will remain strong through the journey of change.

Managing the Processes

How do HR professionals help engender a culture that accepts and supports change? 

Training and Development: HR identifies the skills and knowledge gaps that may arise due to the change and develops training programs to equip employees with the necessary competencies to adapt to new processes, technologies, or ways of working. They also provide coaching and support to managers to help them lead their teams through change effectively. 

Change Readiness Assessment: HR conducts assessments to gauge the company's readiness for change, including evaluating the current culture, identifying potential resistance, and assessing the capacity for change adoption. Based on these assessments, HR develops strategies to address any barriers to change.

Change Planning and Implementation: HR collaborates with other departments to develop change management plans that outline the objectives, timelines, resource requirements, and communication strategies for implementing the change. They coordinate with project teams to ensure that change initiatives are executed smoothly and effectively.

Employee Support and Assistance: HR provides ongoing support to employees during the transition period, offering resources such as counseling services, employee assistance programs, and access to relevant information to help them cope with any challenges or uncertainties arising from the change. 

Performance Management: HR revisits performance management systems and processes to align them with the new objectives and priorities resulting from the change. They may adjust performance metrics, goals, and feedback mechanisms to ensure they support the desired outcomes of the change initiative. 

Culture Alignment: HR works to align the organizational culture with the desired state by promoting values and behaviors that support the change. They may initiate culture change initiatives, promote collaboration and teamwork, and recognize and reward behaviors that demonstrate alignment with the change objectives. 

Feedback and Continuous Improvement: HR gathers feedback from employees and stakeholders throughout the change process to assess the effectiveness of change initiatives and identify areas for improvement. They use this feedback to refine change management strategies and ensure that future changes are implemented more successfully. 

Minimizing Resistance to Change

How can HR professionals prevent common roadblocks to change?

Suggestions from a Principal Change Management Advisor at Prosci are:

Getting in Early to the Process: HR must be present at the early stages of the change process. Often, team leaders, project managers and executives forget about the “people side” of change in their efforts to move forward. It is very important for HR to be there at the beginning of the change process to advocate for the employees.

Having Clear Communications: Lack of clear communications in companies can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. HR will be the mediator between change management teams and employees, so they need clear communications to update people on the change timeline. In order to have a successful employee experience and keep morale high, communication is a necessity.

Getting Leadership Support: Leadership must back all processes in change management. There needs to be a clear vision for change that HR professionals can understand. Then they can relay change objectives to the rest of the company in a consistent manner.

Managing Expectations: HR professionals should manage leadership and employee expectations during change initiatives. With good communication and the right support, HR teams can manage expectations, preventing push back and increasing buy-in from all team members.

Explaining Cultural Shift: Many people comfortable with the existing culture become resistant to change. HR professionals can work with those individuals to show the value of the cultural change and how it will benefit everyone in the long run. This will take the fear out of those resistant to the changes and make the transition easier.

Leading an Effective Change and Getting Desired Outcomes

HR professionals taking proactive steps to avoid the challenges that come with change management can increase the likelihood of success in change management initiatives. Getting buy-in from leadership at the outset will lead to employee buy-in and increased morale. Furthermore, clear communication, employee engagement, careful planning, and ongoing support are essential for navigating change successfully. As HR plays many roles in supporting change, it is an essential part of any change management plan and should be included from the beginning of the process.

02-02-23_ADPWorkforceNow_Banner As a project management software, Deltek Vantagepoint offers many capabilities for managing projects and teams. One of the most important aspects of managing a project is ensuring that the team is able to work together seamlessly. This is where Deltek Vantagepoint's integration with ADP Workforce Now comes in.

ADP Workforce Now is a human resources management system that offers a variety of features for managing employee data. By integrating Deltek Vantagepoint with ADP Workforce Now, organizations can take advantage of both systems' capabilities to manage projects and people more effectively.

From the moment of first hire, you can keep your employee data in sync with the ADP Workforce Now Connector for Deltek Vantagepoint. This allows for a single source of truth with the need for only a one-time data entry occurrence.

The integration between Deltek Vantagepoint and ADP Workforce Now allows organizations to:

View employee data from both systems in one place
Update employee information in both systems from one central location
Create and manage employee profiles from either system

One Source of Truth for Core Employee Information

With this integration, there is one single source of truth for the origin or updates of core employee information. By having one point of entry, duplication of entry and possibility of errors is reduced.

Because ADP has a self-service portal, employees can update information as they need to in their record, and the Blackbox Connector will pick up the changes on the next scheduled synchronization, which is set based on your business needs.

If an update to a single employee record is needed sooner than the scheduled synchronization, then that record can be synchronized on demand via a Workflow button within the Employees Hub in Deltek Vantagepoint.

You Decide What Information Is Mapped Between Systems

With the initial setup process, you will assist with a mapping exercise that will determine which fields in ADP are mapped to their respective fields within Deltek Vantagepoint. If there is a field within ADP that has a respective field within Vantagepoint then the Blackbox Connector can pick it up. Example standard mappings include:

Workers in ADP are inserted or updated within the Employees Hub in Deltek Vantagepoint.

Degrees in ADP can be mapped to the Degrees/Education grid within Vantagepoint.
Skills in ADP can be mapped to the Skills grid in Vantagepoint.
Licenses in ADP map to the Licenses grid in Vantagepoint.
Emergency contacts are mapped to the Emergency contacts grid in Vantagepoint.
PTO balances can be taken from ADP and mapped into Vantagepoint.

Cash Disbursement GL entries can also be retrieved from ADP and put into Vantagepoint. This process can also automate the upload of payroll data to ADP.

Easily Adapts as Your Business Adapts

As your business evolves, no code changes are needed. If you add custom fields or change relationships between ADP columns and Deltek Vantagepoint columns, dynamic mapping is available within the Blackbox Connector. This drag and drop process includes advanced mapping capabilities if they are needed.

No More Flat Files with This API-Driven Connector

The Blackbox Connector connects ADP and Deltek Vantagepoint via API. This means that all Employee synchronizations are done electronically, which eliminates the need for flat files and overnight processes. To restrict the impact on your system, only records that are newly created or changed within ADP are brought across during synchronization. Your synchronization can be scheduled multiple times per day.

The Benefits Are Clear

The benefits of the Blackbox Connector between ADP Workforce Now and Deltek Vantagepoint are clear:

By having a single source of truth, duplication of entry and errors are reduced.
With the interval based scheduled or on demand synchronizations, you stay up to date with your staff information.
This enterprise grade technology is being offered at reasonable prices and comes with the full support of the Full Sail Partners’ team of Deltek experts.

The Blackbox Connector is also future-proof which alleviates any fear of upgrades or changes. All of that is handled for you.

The integration between these two systems makes it easy for organizations to manage their projects and teams more effectively. By being able to view and update employee information in one central location, organizations can save time and resources.

To see the Deltek Vantagepoint Blackbox Connector for ADP Workforce Now in action click the image below.