The co-author of “Black Faces in High Places: 10 Strategic Actions for Black Professionals to Reach the Top and Stay There,” Dr. Pinkett cannot emphasize enough the reinforcement of robust diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the workplace today. To walk the talk, Dr. Pinkett and his team at BCT Partners—a global, multimillion-dollar research, training, consulting, technology, and data analytics firm—empower leaders to make DEI a part of their organizations’ ethos.

In a conversation with Manage HR, Dr. Pinkett, CEO, along with Lawrence Hibbert, Founder and Managing Partner, discusses the mission and vision behind BCT Partners. They share insights on how their company marries innovative technologies with data to build a more equitable society.

How is BCT established in the DEI space?

Dr. Pinkett: BCT is a global, diverse-led consulting firm that focuses on research, training, technology, analytics, and traditional management consulting. We have blazed the trail in developing innovative and effective solutions for a more diverse and equitable society with the aid of immersive virtual reality (VR) and precision analytics, along with our team’s unparalleled subject matter expertise.

Hibbert: Our mission is to harness the power of diversity insights and innovation to transform lives, accelerate equity, and create lasting change. We recognize that the power of people and the capabilities, skills, and experiences they bring to work are important, and unleashing these aspects can help an organization become what it is destined to be.

Please walk us through the services and solutions BCT offers.

Dr. Pinkett: BCT’s ‘Through My Eyes’ is the first VR program designed to mitigate workplace discrimination. In an ambitious bid to change the discrimination equation, these series of 360-degree video-based VR immersion enable the user to “walk in the shoes” of someone who faces bias in their daily life and embody their experiences. They can “see” the world through someone else’s eyes, assume their identity in a workplace, and can hear their inner thoughts. Our unique program has been instrumental in fostering human understanding and empathy for people across different demographics who face unconscious bias.

BCT is revolutionizing the way data can be leveraged to achieve the ultimate goal of equity in the workplace. Our data-driven approach to DEI initiatives involves capturing data through the VR solution with regard to the user’s focus and choices, enabling personalized action planning.

Hibbert: BCT specializes in precision analytics a combination of machine learning, precision data analysis, and social science expertise to build causal models. Tapping into the power of analytics as an effective assessment tool, we help our clients optimize the performance of their social programs by mining data that can be organized into subgroups of individuals and constituents.

We manage the entire lifecycle of assessment, research, and evaluation investigations to yield insights into difficult questions. “What is working and why? Who is benefitting? What precise insights can be uncovered? How can results be optimized?” are some of the longstanding questions to which we help find answers with our precision analytics services that leverage qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-mode research methodologies.

As an outcome-driven solution, our precision analytics help organizations automate data analysis, glean case-specific insights, explore what worked and for whom, and assess program biases through an easy-to-use outcomes dashboard.

What, according to you, are the differentiating factors that provide BCT a competitive edge?

Dr. Pinkett: We focus on moving people from insights to action to progress management to organizational transformation through continuous learning and adaptation. To solve complex social issues, we find our uniqueness in marrying diversity, equity, and inclusion with technology along with data science, social science, and evaluation science. We bring an equity lens to diverse sectors, navigating them to support and service their stakeholders more equitably.

Are there any specific industries that BCT caters to?

Dr. Pinkett: BCT brings the powerful combination of DEI and technology to enterprises in diverse industries with an aim to bring about equity in four domains: workforce, workplace, marketplace, and community. Our prolific clientele includes Fortune 500 corporations, nonprofit organizations, foundations, other philanthropic organizations, and government agencies.

Typically, we are approached by organizations looking to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, where their efforts often get stalled by middle management that refrains from embracing DEI. There’s a popular saying: “middle management is where DEI goes to die.” In addition, organizations with demographic populations, often black indigenous and people of color, facing setbacks in their career advancements also find our solutions and services significantly useful. With DEI becoming an integral aspect of the corporate culture, companies seek a sustainable DEI strategy and not a onetime fix—a unique proposition that BCT brings to the table.

Could you cite a customer success story where BCT turned the client’s challenge on its head?

Hibbert: A healthcare system once sought our services back in 2018. Amid a merger, the client wanted to ensure a smooth transition to an integrated organization wherein cultural synergies are amplified while potential culture clashes are mitigated. We performed a DEI assessment to ensure that the acquisition took place without any hiccups. BCT also developed a DEI framework tailored to the clients’ DEI mission, vision, goals, strategies, and measures to launch their first DEI program, a DEI council and resource groups, along with organization-wide training programs.

In doing so, we used VR and our analytics to analyze their pay equity and identify inequities that they could mitigate. We helped them create a series of questions for their employee engagement survey, which produced an index used to measure their performance on DEI. What’s remarkable was that this DEI index significantly increased even during the pandemic when companies were facing difficulties in virtually engaging their isolated workforce.

What does the future hold for BCT?

The constantly increasing recognition and the recent accolades have propelled a natural progression of BCT, helping us grow and flourish over time. With a growing consulting practice, we will continue to take pride in what we do and aspire to bring in true change.