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Now comes the exciting part of bringing your diversity goals to life. After you've included your team in the goal-setting process, ensure your tactics for achieving those goals are equally empowering and actually work for your team.

Aligning your diversity goals to the right tactics is key for your impact and the morale of your team. Adam Ward, partner at recruiting firm Growth by Design Talent (GBD) and a former head of recruiting at Pinterest, says organizations should be wary of the damage that failed diversity tactics can cause within the workforce. “It can create stress, slow down your diversity efforts, and deflate employee morale if they feel their efforts have failed,” he says.

Here are three things to consider when approaching your tactics and strategies for translating your diversity goals to reality:

1 Start internally before going external.The classic mistake that many employers make is to assume they can only increase diversity through external recruiting efforts without first looking to their own internal teams. This is especially problematic as diversity tends to decrease as you look to more senior roles in most organizations. Your most immediate opportunity with any role you're hiring for is to first see if there are people already in your organization from underrepresented groups that you can promote.Many employers miss the step of communicating open roles they are trying to fill to their existing team. Take steps to proactively communicate all new opportunities internally to allow people to raise their hands and apply, just as you would external candidates. Be sure your process accounts for internal candidates from underrepresented groups in the same way you do external candidates. For example, if you set a rule mandating specific diversity representation in the hiring process, be sure you are equally accounting for your internal candidate slate as well.

2 Develop a role-specific diversity strategy and avoid a one-size-fits-all approach.In 2003, frustrated and embarrassed by the lack of non-white representation among the league's coaches, the NFL created the Rooney Rule. Named for former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the rule stipulates that teams must interview at least one non-white candidate for every available coach position. In 2020, the rule was amended to require that teams interview “minorities and/or female applicants” for all executive positions. Since its inception, the Rooney Rule has been adopted by a wide range of organizations looking to diversify.While the rule has proven effective for many groups, its widespread adoption has also laid bare its shortcomings. “In leadership hiring, the Rooney Rule might be a great approach,” says Ward, “but it might not be as effective if you are hiring 20 accountants for finance.” The Rooney Rule was designed for one specific role in a specific industry. That doesn't mean other groups can't adopt it. It just means they have to do so thoughtfully and take the time to make changes that suit their particular role and situation.The truth is, there is no silver bullet when it comes to diversity hiring tactics. To best succeed, try to develop a game plan tailored to each kind of role in your organization. This strategy should account for who you can advance internally and what your options are for external hiring. Try to resist the urge to force a universal diversity hiring tactic on all of your roles.By the way, it's worth noting that, despite all its popularity, the Rooney Rule has proven largely ineffective in the NFL. As of 2021, there were still only three Black head coaches—the same number as there were when the rule was passed.

3 Experiment, learn, iterate, and build a playbook for your tactics.One thing that every leader deeply engaged in diversity hiring tactics will tell you is that this work is hard and it's never perfect out of the gate. Diversity hiring requires shifting systems, changing many people's perspectives, and also addressing historic inequities that have existed in society since the beginning of time. It requires constant iteration and experimentation. Some strategies will fail; some tactics will prove to be misguided. What is important is the fact that you are trying and constantly learning.If one strategy doesn't work, try something else. If your team members get demoralized, remind them what's at stake. Think of every step that doesn't go according to plan as another key learning to file away. We recommend developing an internal playbook for diversity hiring at your organization to capture at every step which tactics work or don't work with each role you are hiring for. This will enable your team to collectively build institutional knowledge and every insight you glean will be shared by everyone.