Where's the Diversity Data?

What does the DATA say? Data does not tell us everything, but data tells us a lot about what's happening with DEI. Let's start with our updated diversity problem statement based on yesterday's tips: "Since January of 2010, retention rates for Black engineering technicians at our Indianapolis plant have declined from 50% to 15% compared to non-Hispanic Whites which has stayed steady at 72% over the same time period. The retention rate for Black engineering technicians at our other Mid-West plants has averaged 65%." This is a good problem statement! Before jumping to solutions, it's important to understand your data.

Improper conclusions and solutions are inevitable when you don't understand your data. Once you better understand your data, then you can look at simple statistics like mean, median, mode, and range (MMR). Now, review your organizations' data, and ask yourself these three questions:

1. Are you confident in the data source?

2. Are you confident in how retention was measured?

3. Has someone analyzed these data for the (MMR)?

The goal is to answer yes to each of these questions. Tomorrow, I'll share more guidance on how to analyze your data.