Companies in Action for Racial Equity (CARE) Combines Six Sigma and Change Management

Joy Mason is a Six Sigma Black Belt who spent many years at Eli Lilly in continuous improvement before taking on a consulting career.

She introduces the idea of CARE, and more clearly defines the following words: inclusion, diversity, racism, equity and discrimination.

She explains how Six Sigma and the DMAIC model can be used to more specifically tackle the problem or challenge of inequity within an organization.

Example:

• Define: We are only retaining 15% of Black employees in exempt-level engineering positions in Indianapolis.
• Measure: Retention rates for Black engineers since 2010 has declined to 15% compared to non-Hispanic Whites which has stayed steady at 72% over the same time period.
• Analyze: A lack of mentoring, sponsorship, and development opportunities are the root cause processes missing from the organization.
• Improve: Seek executives who are opened to being trained on culture, systems change, anti-racism and allyship and connect them with a small group of Black STEM students at the local university for relationship-building and mentoring on campus.
• Control: Incorporate lessons learned, make adjustments, and formalize a mentoring policy and program with accountable and critical metrics with clear ownership.

Read the entire article at https://www.leanblog.org/2020/08/companies-in-action-for-racial-equity-c-a-r-e/