Client results

Shared Success Stories: Designit

This international design firm harnesses the power of diversity, equity, and inclusion to turn change into progress.

Design has the fundamental ability to change the way people live, work and play. At Designit the aim is to harness the power of collective creativity to design solutions that meet the different needs individuals have, regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender and physical or mental abilities. This includes a shift from a human-centred perspective to a humanity-centred one. Designit aims to pursue long-term progress for all over immediate value for some.

Designit partnered with Belong Consultancy to frame their aspirations and guide their long-term vision with a comprehensive DEI Strategy. The organisation had an ambitious DEI vision for change. Belong Consultancy focused on uncovering barriers to diversity, equity and inclusion and identifying what was working well, to develop a high-impact strategy and ensure successful implementation. To realise the benefits of a diverse workforce, they needed to embed inclusion into work practices, behaviours and values to ensure accountability throughout the organisation. Belong Consultancy collaborated with Designit on this effort for over a year.

Belong Consultancy conducted a detailed current state assessment to reveal strengths and assets, as well as gaps and challenges. Belong Consultancy worked closely with Designit to develop and operationalise their DEI vision through the Inclusive Innovation and Design Principles and the organisational values.

To account for different local contexts and realities, different levels of understanding based on team and individual experiences, Belong Consultancy created a separate DEI localisation strategy to:

• Identify quick wins to build momentum.
• Identify the key milestones to track change efforts.

At TCP, we know what get measures gets done and DEI is no exception. It is imperative that an organisation measures the implementation and effectiveness of the DEI. Belong Consultancy developed specific indicators linked to each strategic objective that Designit could measure and report on annually.

The DEI strategy created for Designit includes three key strategic themes that enables Designit to adopt an inclusive approach to design that advances shared progress for all. Each theme has a specific set of strategic objectives to achieve near- and medium-term priorities, while advancing the long-term goal of being different by design. To support success, Belong Consultancy embrace an end-to-end approach by creating specific messaging principles to inform internal and external DEI communications.