What you'll learn:
- Define DEI at work and explain equity vs. equality, belonging, and justice
- Identify barrier “triggers” across the employee lifecycle using key HR metrics
- Disaggregate and interpret workforce data ethically (including the 80% rule)
- Collect qualitative insights safely via interviews, focus groups, and surveys
- Diagnose root causes using 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, and process mapping
- Build a practical barrier-removal action plan with measures and ownership
Have you ever looked at a policy, hiring process, or promotion decision and thought, “Something about this isn’t working for everyone”? That “gut check” is often a sign that a workplace barrier is hiding in plain sight.
And barriers are costly. Employees with mentors are reported to be up to 5x more likely to be promoted—yet mentorship and sponsorship often go to the same “in-network” people. Organizations also face major legal and reputational exposure when inequities go unchecked—regulators recover hundreds of millions of dollars each year from workplace discrimination claims. On top of that, only about 15% of change efforts fully achieve their intended goals, meaning even well-intended DEI initiatives can stall without a clear process.
This course gives you a practical, step-by-step toolkit to uncover where inequities show up across the employee lifecycle—and how to fix the systems creating them.
You’ll learn how to:
- Define DEI clearly (and understand equity vs. equality, plus belonging and justice)
- Spot “triggers” in workforce outcomes (hiring, pay, development, promotion, retention, exit)
- Collect and disaggregate HR data responsibly to reveal hidden disparities (including the 80% rule)
- Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative research (interviews, focus groups, ERG input) to understand the “why” behind the numbers
- Diagnose root causes using tools like the 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, and employee-lifecycle mapping
- Design targeted interventions (policy reform, training, mentoring/sponsorship, process redesign) that remove barriers—not just symptoms
- Communicate findings, manage resistance, and apply change management so solutions actually stick
- Measure impact over time and build an actionable, repeatable barrier analysis plan for your organization
By the end of the course, you won’t just “understand” barrier analysis—you’ll leave with a concrete action plan you can take back to work, whether you’re improving hiring, promotions, development access, or employee experience.
If you’re ready to stop guessing, start investigating, and build more equitable systems from the inside out, this course is for you.
