PHASE 1

Assess & Analyze

Guided by Step Up's Equity Maturity Model (the model), we assess where your organization is on its DEI journey. Equity exists in a continuous cycle, and through the model, we measure the organization's ability to embed equity in its strategy, operations, and culture.

The five domains the model measures include:

  • Leadership
  • Talent Strategy, Management, and Development
  • Client Strategy, Outreach, and Service
  • Brand, Marketing, and Communications
  • Vendor Strategy, Outreach, and Experience
PHASE 2

Ideation & Planning

We utilize information drawn from Phase 1 to align your organization's mission, vision, and purpose. We co-create visioning pathways with a Theory of Change (TOC) process and the Technology of Participation (ToP®) group facilitation methods developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs and perfected in organizations and communities worldwide over the past 40+ years.

The five domains the model measures include:

  • Leadership
  • Talent Strategy, Management, and Development
  • Client Strategy, Outreach, and Service
  • Brand, Marketing, and Communications
  • Vendor Strategy, Outreach, and Experience
PHASE 3

Implementation & Sustainability

Phase 3 focuses on executing a strategic action plan that creates accountability, supports stakeholders, and expands your organization's influence to center DEI policies and practices. During this phase, we will focus on knowledge sharing and learning.

The strategic action plan includes:

  • Communication tools to empathize the need for change
  • Processes to collect constructive feedback
  • Guides for individuals to understand their place in change
  • Learning curriculum and training plans
  • Coaching informed strategies and tactics for managing and supervising
PHASE 4

Evaluation & Adjustment

Equity in evaluation requires a shift in how learning and accountability are viewed and practiced. Evaluation is rooted in defining, describing, and analyzing the world based on a history informed by white, Western culture values and experiences. As a result, many of the policies, practices, and interventions seen as effective developed through an incomplete lens. We reframe existing evaluation methodologies and shift towards more equitable practices that value the knowledge and wisdom communities bring to the process. We adapt, redesign, and reimagine policies, strategies, and ways to allocate resources, including voices that reflect the assets and needs of those experiencing the most disparate outcomes.

We begin with key questions:

  • Who is the evaluation for?
  • What are the ways in which learning is taking place?
  • What are the small or early changes they are making in their day-to-day work and lives that show the adoption of new ways of thinking and ways of doing?