What it Means to be a Salesforce.org Equality Partner

An organization’s focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is an ongoing journey that is never truly completed. There is always more work to be done and room to improve. Similar to the core Salesforce value of Equality for All, Exponent Partners is also committed to creating a truly equitable workplace that mirrors the diversity of our communities. The Salesforce.org partner community recognizes this critical work as a pillar of corporate responsibility and ultimately customer success. With this in mind, Salesforce.org recently created the Equality Partners group, and Exponent Partners is proud to be in the first cohort.

Equity is a Journey not a Destination

DEI initiatives should be more than a simple statement on a website or a one-off workshop. Organizations that are committed to equity and social impact have a responsibility to keep diversity, equity, and inclusion as a core focus year after year. By creating an equitable and inclusive workforce that is a reflection of the diversity in our society, we are more adaptable to the evolving needs of the communities we serve, and are able to better provide services by intentionally drawing from the wealth of diverse talent in our ecosystem and fostering professional development for traditionally underrepresented groups.

Equality Partners are dedicated to driving diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organizations. This means that we keep Equity in Action at the forefront of everything we do, from taking the 1% Pledge, to participating in the Salesforce Talent Alliance, to partnering with organizations like PepUp Tech and Climbhire and supporting organizations like Amplify.

Four Key Components of DEI Initiatives

Exponent Partners is proud to have kicked off the Equity in Action series with Salesforce.org, a six-part webinar series designed for partners to learn from one another about how they are taking action to drive tangible change and outcomes for DEI and workforce diversity. Presented by Mandy Kutschied, Vice President of Talent and Culture, the Advancing Workforce Diversity session touched on how Exponent Partners is being intentional in creating a whole-organization culture that focuses on driving social justice, with a deep-dive into how we are creating unique career paths for individuals that will lead to success.

So how does Exponent Partners architect for equity? By considering both the art and science of designing and building towards a better organization. While an evolving and nuanced effort, architecting for equity boils down to four key components that guide our commitment to DEI.

• Intention
• Action
• Outcomes
• Accountability

The first is Intention. This is the starting point where we define our Why. Why are we doing this work? Why is this work critical to aligning with our core values? We use this intentionality to determine the actions we take towards this effort.

Then we consider our Action. What actions are we taking? For example, are we simply issuing a statement on our website? Or are working to truly bring in a more diverse candidate pool, create equitable professional development opportunities, and bring disparities into alignment?

Third, we work towards just Outcomes. By defining desired outcomes that reflect the true change we are looking for, we know how well we are doing and how much for room there is to improve. And there is always room for improvement! The intention behind our actions is the foundation, and the actions we take are the building blocks that ultimately create the outcomes. The outcomes are the pieces that allow us to shift focus into that ongoing feedback loop that is required to demonstrate a true commitment to this work.

Which brings us to the fourth critical component of this architecture: Accountability. Are we holding ourselves accountable to the intentionality we led with? Do we need to adjust our actions to improve our outcomes?

For workforce diversity, this means being honest about our results. We want a diverse candidate pool so that we can have equitable and inclusive hiring practices that will ultimately give us that workforce diversity that is critical to both ours and our clients’ success. We want to put aside dated, coded terms like “culture fit” and instead focus on culture adds. We want to ensure that we’re providing equitable paths for mobility and career growth. And we want to amplify our impact by partnering with key organizations to promote a more diverse Salesforce.org ecosystem.

Equity is a Work in Progress

And as Mandy Kutschied made sure to note right up front in the Advancing Workforce Diversity webinar, Exponent Partners has not fully realized this vision! To be clear, this is “evolving and everlasting work,” and Exponent intends to continually hone our intentionality, actions, and outcomes to remain accountable and deepen our commitment to an equitable society.

Being an Equality Partner is just one aspect of that commitment, and while there’s plenty of room to grow, we are honored to work alongside Salesforce.org to promote DEI initiatives for other organizations while we continue to strengthen our own workforce diversity.

If you’re interested in joining us on our journey, check out the open positions and apply today.