Certified Diversity Professional (CDP)® Competencies
1. The Role of a Diversity Practitioner
- Assemble the foundational components of a successful diversity and inclusion effort by creating a strategic plan and developing standard operating procedures; effectively communicate the role of a Diversity practitioner
2. The Business Case for Diversity and Inclusion
- Justify the case for maximizing workplace diversity and inclusion efforts by using traditional business principles; write a compelling business case that produces information and/or gains support for equity and inclusive excellence
3. EEO Laws in the U.S. and Abroad
- Compare the basic tenets of global legislation that prohibits employment discrimination; consult with direct supervisors, and delegate responsibility for addressing unprofessional and/or illegal behavior
4. Harassment Around the World
- Advise managers and employees about strategies to prevent and correct harassment in the workplace; develop clear procedures to investigate and follow-up with complaints
5. Diversity Recruiting and Retention
- Coordinate best practices and innovative techniques to recruit, on-board, develop, include, engage and retain diverse workers
6. Reinventing Diversity Training
- Design, present and evaluate training sessions that result in the acquisition of new skills, the practice of intentional behaviors, or a positive change in the organizational culture
7. Handling Difficult Conversations
- Confidently initiate and mediate complex discussions about diversity; develop an effective message of inclusion for employees, students, patients, customers, Board members, supplies, partners, or other stakeholders
8. Resource Groups & Diversity Councils
- Collaborate with and delegate to internal allies in order to analyze the organizational climate, integrate D & I within business units, and achieve mission-centered objectives
9. Empowering Women in the Workplace
- Develop interventions that will eliminate the gender gap in compensation, promote work-life integration, build a diverse pipeline, and increase the overall inclusion of women
10. Disability & Special Needs Accommodations
- Encourage employees to eliminate the stereotypes associated with workers who have visible and non-visible disabilities; help supervisors to provide appropriate accommodations upon request
11. Generational Intelligence
- Prepare the workplace for changes in the organizational scope and structure by acknowledging generational differences in the approach to work, as well as in expectations for management
12. Designing Programs for Veterans
- Improve the Organization’s ability to employ a diverse veteran population by utilizing best practices for optimal workplace performance
13. Immigrant Groups in the Workplace
- Modify diversity terminology, policies and practices to include nationality, as well as create more opportunities for employees to learn about and work in different cultures
14. Navigating through Religion & Belief Systems
- Identify the complexities associated with religion and non-religion at work; help supervisors and employees to steer through issues relative to sincerely held personal beliefs
15. LGBTQ+ Inclusion
- Build LGBTQ+ inclusive workplaces with policies that are discrimination- and harassment-free, as well as with practices that are fair
16. Measuring the Impact of Diversity & Inclusion
- Evaluate diversity and inclusion efforts by assessing the achievement of annual plan goals, identifying areas for improvement, and directing future progress; calculate the quantifiable benefit or return on investment from Diversity & Inclusion work
Certified Diversity Executive (CDE)® Competencies
1. Personal Awareness & Managing Blind Spots
- Eliminate personal blind spots and develop one’s own emotional intelligence; compare activism with advocacy; identify opportunities for empathy, compassion, care, and specialized focus
2. Improving Your Approach to the Bottom Line
- Construct a concise, data-driven approach to demonstrating the business benefits of equity and inclusion; communicate with stakeholders more effectively by distinguishing between Personal Value (What’s In It For Me — WIIFM) and Organizational Value
3. Global Best Practices
- Operate a best-in-class diversity effort by adopting professional methods and/or techniques that have been globally accepted as superior in fostering equity, defining inclusive excellence, and achieving a discrimination- and harassment-free work environment
4. The Elements of Leading a Large-Scale D&I Effort
- Develop a formal framework from which to advance diversity and inclusion work, including the formation of a strategic plan, standards, policies, budget, and an organizational chart
5. Race, Power & Privilege
- Present alternatives to an outdated social and power construct in the workplace; identify the nuances behind the theory of privilege; encourage White males to actively engage in a culture that is becoming increasingly diverse
6. Boardroom Diversity
- Improve policies, management, and decision making at the board level to reflect inclusive leadership; ensure a pipeline of diverse board candidates
7. Supplier Diversity
- Build a diverse vendor base and enhance the organization’s cost-saving opportunities with an inclusive supply chain strategy
8. Innovation Through Diversity & Inclusion
- Investigate new and creative approaches to doing business better by promoting diversity of thought and inclusion of divergent perspectives; justify the organization’s ability to truly harness innovation, agility, and disruption
9. Impediments to Inclusion & Cultural Competence
- Correct practices that may prevent or protract organizational equity; create specific strategies to eliminate institutional impediments to inclusion and cultural competence
10. Unconscious Bias
- Identify implicit associations that lead to discrimination, inequality, and exclusion; present effective techniques to help managers and employees overcome stereotypes and biases
11. Executive Commitment & Sponsorship
- Secure the right type of support from, and engage, senior-level leaders in equity, diversity and inclusion efforts
12. Strategic Purpose & Partnerships
- Assemble strategic and mission-centered teams; build relationships with division leaders, mid-level managers, resource groups and community partners
13. Connecting Demographic Shifts to Organizational Strategy
- Research, forecast and interpret how global demographic changes and user trends will impact the organization; advise flexible, long-term strategies to respond to market fluxes
14. Integrating Cultures Amidst Merger & Acquisition Activity
- Reconcile cultural expectations and practices amidst a unification of companies, departments, or agencies; consult with leadership about potential problems and opportunities
15. The Next Generation of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Work
- Evaluate how workplace diversity and inclusion efforts have changed over the years, and prepare the organization to adopt forward-thinking practices and strategies
16. Advanced Data Insight and Analysis
- Collect timely and relevant data for measurement and evaluation purposes, benchmark the organization’s Diversity & Inclusion progress against similarly situated employers, and compile analytic insights to drive organizational culture change and reconstruct inequitable inter-connected systems