US-based, global investment banking and asset management firm William Blair first came to us with a brief to help them define their Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) strategy. Faced with increasing competition for talent, together with rising client expectations regarding working with companies with a strong D&I position, William Blair needed to build the right culture to attract, retain and develop diverse talent and enable the business to deliver on their vision to be the premier global boutique.

We worked in partnership with William Blair to define their definition of D&I, taking an inclusive and global approach to engaging the firm and ensuring we heard from voices from across the business. This was achieved through senior leadership interviews, leadership mini-hackathons, and global employee hackathons across Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, London, Frankfurt and Zurich. We then embedded D&I into the heart of a new employee value proposition, Truly Invested, together with a set of cultural values: Actively Inclusive, Agile for Clients and Competitively Fit for the Future.

We also defined their measurement strategy through the creation of a D&I dashboard outlining key targets across diversity statistics, inclusive behaviours and the candidate and employee experience. The objective of the dashboard was to hold leadership accountable for cultural change as well as enable the business to monitor overall progress.

Through our work, we helped create a more inclusive culture for William Blair to help attract and retain the right talent, meet the D&I expectations of current and prospective clients, and ultimately define the required culture strategy to deliver on their vision and future ambitions.