Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion / Minnesota.gov

What is it and why is it important?

Diversity at Commerce is the practice and quality of including and involving people from a range of differences across race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, age or generation, socio-economic status, and more.

Diversity is important because our differences are valuable. Those differences bring new talents, new ways of thinking and problem solving, better understanding of the needs of various communities, increased creativity, increased performance, and increased innovation.

Equity at Commerce refers to the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people. Equity is the proactive and ongoing reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that distribute power and resources, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all so that individuals and communities thrive. Whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity is ensuring everyone has what they need to be successful.

Equity is important because we do not all start from the same place, with the same access, with the same opportunities, with the same resources. Policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that assume the same starting point for all contribute to disparate outcomes and perpetuate the marginalization of many Minnesotan communities. To effectively serve all Minnesotans, it is vital that Commerce approaches its work with an equity lens.

Inclusion at Commerce refers to actively promoting belonging by leveraging the value of diversity. Inclusion is an intentional effort to transform the status quo by creating and maintaining a sense of welcome, belonging, and community for all.

Inclusion is important because you can have diversity without inclusion (e.g.- tokenism, assimilation), but you can’t have inclusion without diversity. Focusing on inclusion gets you further than just focusing solely on diversity. A focus on inclusion emphasizes outcomes of diversity and equity, rather than assuming an increase in diversity alone will automatically create equity in access and opportunity.

Actions Commerce has taken in its commitment to diversity:
- Leadership Role Created to Lead DEI Initiatives
  - In 2021, Commerce created a new executive role, the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This role was created to embed an equity lens into the foundation of our work. The director serves as chair of the agency’s Equity Change Team and as Commerce’s DEI Liaison to the Governor’s Office of Inclusion.
- Created an Equity Change Team (ECT)
  - The ECT is a group of agency staff and leaders convened in 2021 to expand Commerce’s capacity to work in a more inclusive and culturally competent manner. The ECT is chaired by Commerce’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Each ECT member participates in at least one of six sub-teams. Each sub-team focuses on specific areas of Commerce’s DEI goals and strategic plan in order to bring change to that area.
- Equitable practices and requirements formally incorporated into hiring process
  - Our official hiring process has been designed to remove barriers for applicants, work against the effects of biases, and drive equitable processes and outcomes. These hiring practices help hiring managers make more equitable decisions.
- Tracking utilization data
  - The Equity Change Team is identifying goals and exploring metrics that will help us track our progress in creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace environment. The Department’s Equity Change Plan adopted the goal of retaining, 75% of disabled, veteran, and BIPOC employees for at least two years after hire. Affirmative Action goals show whether Commerce is hiring employees that reflect the composition of Minnesota’s population. Commerce tracks the data trends in Affirmative Action measures for BIPOC employees, female employees, and employees with disabilities.
Actions Commerce has taken in its commitment to equity:
- Implemented an Equity Lens Framework
  - The Equity Lens Framework is a tool designed to guide and anchor staff toward common values and to serve as a support tool as we reflect on our respective gaps in knowledge. These guideposts will ideally help us achieve equity in our day-to-day work.
- Hired a Director of Community Outreach and Equity
  - Commerce created this new leadership role to develop and coordinate strategies to increase community engagement. Increased community engagement will contribute to equitable results through our policies, practices, attitudes, and actions.
- Commercial Justice Initiative
  - The Equity Change Team is partnering with each division to identify and address inequities in each department’s outcomes; to ensure all Minnesotans are equitably served.
Actions Commerce has taken in its commitment to inclusion:
- Implemented Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) for all staff
  - The IDI is an assessment tool that provides feedback on a person’s ability to recognize, understand, and adapt to cultural differences. Commerce uses the IDI agency wide as a quantitative measure of our collective capacity to be inclusive. It’s also a tool for employees to continue developing their intercultural competence.
- Community Conversations
  - These internal agency-wide conversations provide a shared space where employees can share perspectives, learn from, listen to, and encourage one another. Sometimes these conversations are about current events that may weigh on us or ongoing issues of life that warrant discussion in the workplace. We also make space to connect and better understand each other’s experiences.
- Stay Interviews
  - We want to learn what your experience working at Commerce is like to help ensure that everyone shares in a sense of belonging. Commerce has begun conducting stay interviews to understand from our own colleagues what we’re doing well so we can replicate positive experiences at Commerce for everyone. It’s also a safe space for employees to tell us what we’re not doing well and why they might not feel valued or feel a sense of belonging at Commerce. We want to address those issues and prevent them from happening again.
- Training for All Employees
  - Commerce offers monthly training on DEI topics. Recent topics include:
    - Equity considerations in the hiring process
    - Equity in interviewing
    - Unconscious Bias
    - DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging)
    - Cross-cultural communication
- IDEA Credits Program
  - Our capacity to be inclusive is directly related to our measure of cultural competence. The IDEA Credits Program requires each employee to complete 4 DEI-related learning experiences each year. Employees choose their learning experiences. The goal is to give employees autonomy in the development of their intercultural competence.
- Senior Leadership DEI Development Cohort
  - Each division’s senior leadership commits to monthly meetings as a cohort. The focus is developing DEI competencies so they can more effectively lead with a DEI lens.