The AdaMarie Inclusion Lab

Building Better Teams

Many leaders want to build inclusive companies, but they don’t know where to start. AdaMarie gets you out from under the equity & inclusion overwhelm.

How to design gender bias out of your workplace

Led by the best in workplace equity

Our methodology was designed by Sara Sanford, AdaMarie’s in-house Equity Consultant. She personally facilitates all workshops and is the brains behind AdaMarie equity initiatives.

Sara is the founder of GEN and the architect behind the GEN Certification, the first gold standard for intersectional equity in U.S. businesses, which has expanded to certify businesses globally. She is a professor at the University of Washington’s School of Information, where she teaches on the intersection of equity, ethics, and data, and she is the author of Inclusion Inc: How to Design Intersectional Equity into the Workplace.

Sara believes we now have the tools for all businesses to be equity-centered if they choose to be. She has been interviewed by the New York Times, and her book, Inclusion, Inc., is available through major online outlets.

If you’re ready to build more equity into your company culture, Sara would love to connect with you on a free 20-minute discovery call.

The AdaMarie Difference

Most organizations have followed the same formula for decades: (1) Recruit underrepresented employees, (2) Encourage them to lean in, (3) Conduct diversity trainings for the whole organization. This approach is outdated, ineffective, and has been proven to backfire in ways that can cause more harm than good.

Now that we know better, we can do better.

AdaMarie’s methods are different.

Backed by data around what actually works, we treat equity & inclusion like any other critical business function, providing services that are:

  • Action-Oriented

    No more vague directives to “increase a sense of belonging.” Our recommendations identify the exact steps you need to take to close opportunity gaps, and the change management guidance to implement best practices so that they actually “stick.”

  • Tailored

    Inclusion is not a one-size-fits-all template. Just as you respect the diversity of your employees, we respect the diversity of the employers we work with. After getting to know your employees and culture, we tailor a roadmap that honors where you’ve been and catalyzes growth that suits your goals.

  • Intersectional

    Gender is not binary and it does not exist in a silo. Many other facets of identity intersect with how gender impacts people in the workplace. AdaMarie’s intersectional method takes into account how race, age, neurodivergence, caretaker responsibilities, and disability status interact with gender in the workplace.

OFFERINGS

If you’ve been meaning to start your equity & inclusion journey but haven’t known where to begin, we’re here for you.

Equity Assessment

One of the bravest phrases we think a leader can say is, “We know we’re at the starting line, but we don’t know how to get started.” Our Equity Assessment will help you find a path forward. This composite assessment of employee experience and incorporation of best practices provides actionable insights, meaningful benchmarks, and a go-forward plan. Organizations learn exactly where they sit on a comprehensive equity maturity model, what’s going well, and how they can optimize processes to close opportunity gaps and ensure sustainable equity for all. We can customize our assessment to integrate with your current engagement survey or other equity & inclusion initiatives.

AdaMarie Approved

For those companies looking to partner on next steps, we offer the AdaMarie approval process. After completing an Equity Assessment, organizations partner with AdaMarie to optimize their processes for inclusion. Upon successful completion of their optimization roadmap, these organizations are publicly recognized as AdaMarie Approved, gaining access to excellent recruits, ongoing mentorship, and quarterly check-ins.

A LA CARTE

If you’ve already been investing in a focused approach to inclusion, and you just need some extra assistance diving deep in a particular area, we’re ready to help with that, too.

  • In each AdaMarie workshop, we don’t just teach; we collaborate with you to understand your employees’ perceptions of their work environment and culture.  We help participants practice inclusive behaviors and facilitate honest discussions, providing actionable takeaways for immediate application.

    Our approach uniquely combines skills coaching with the latest research on how unconscious bias infiltrates the workplace and directly impacts women and other marginalized groups.  We design all AdaMarie programming based on data that shows what truly works.

    Workshops are available ad hoc or within a series package.  While each workshop would be customized based on your specific company needs, examples of past workshops include:

    • Finding Your Path to Leadership

    • How to Not Sell Your Story Short

    • Mentorship vs. Sponsorship: Learning the skills to develop your female employees

    • Workplace Equity: It’s Systemic

    • All in the Family: Highlighting and retaining the strengths of (your business here) parents

    • Collaborative Competencies: How to run meetings and discussions that draw out everyone’s perspectives

    • Rewarding Values-Based Action: Moving from ‘diversity’ to ‘inclusion’ by recognizing proactive employees

  • We can help implement best practices in any of the following areas:

    • Recruiting and Hiring: Debias your application process, optimize job descriptions for diverse audiences, interview for merit-based hires, and evolve your outreach strategy

    • Performance and Pay: How much transparency is enough? Optimize your performance evaluations and pay criteria against standards proven to retain talent.

    • Mentors and Sponsors: Match mentors with meaning, structure sponsorship for success.

    • Flexibility: How much is enough? Managing family leave and hybrid work.

    • Leadership: Setting representation targets, and promoting through a pipeline.

  • Sometimes you just need focused one-on-one time to problem-solve a complex equity & inclusion challenge. We’re here for weekly, monthly, quarterly or ad hoc advising on your most urgent DEI priorities.