Case Studies

Example 1: Financial Organization

HEADLINE: Interrupting Bias: Leveraging the Social Identity Framework to Build Equity and Inclusion in our Financial Institutions
As a trusted resource for business leaders, policymakers, and innovators, Financial Health Network sits at a key intersection for creating equity in our Financial Institutions. In order to better serve their clients and communities, they hired Nova to lead their entire workforce through a program designed to give them the tangible tools they need to interrupt bias.

The Financial Organization is the leading authority on consumer financial health. We are a trusted resource for business leaders, policymakers and innovators united in a mission to improve the financial health of their customers, employees and communities. Through research, advisory services, measurement tools, and opportunities for cross-sector collaboration, we advance awareness, understanding and proven best practices in support of improved consumer financial health for all.

The Challenge:
The Financial Organization needed to get further faster with their Unconscious Bias training. They had a date set where their entire workforce would be on site at their headquarters for an annual meeting, and wanted to use that opportunity to engage them in an efficient but meaningful dialogue and training session.
The Solution:
Nova designed a program that included pre-work and concurrent training sessions, so that folks walked into the room with clear expectations and the ability to jump directly into the most impactful topics. These half-day workshop sessions were focused on self reflection that moved to action, and included a customized takeaway as a reminder of the topics covered and the short and long term commitments each individual made to be accountable to taking this work outside the classroom.
The Results:
The entire organization established a common language for conversations around challenging topics, agreed on our ground rules for how they approach this work using the Social Identity Framework, and made individualized action plans to take this learning outside the classroom and apply it to their everyday work.

HEADLINE: Leaping Ahead: Software Agency trains 50% of their total workforce in just 6 months.
As a fast-growing technology company, Software Agency knows the power of scale. When they were looking for a way to reach as many employees as possible for deep-dive Diversity & Inclusion learning, they knew they needed a program that would scale, without losing the power or efficacy of instructor-led training. Software Agency implemented Nova’s D&I Compass Toolkit and, with the help of expert facilitators, quickly built their employees’ knowledge and skillsets to launch a program with staying power.

About Software Agency: Software Agency’s category-defining Customer Experience Automation Platform helps over 85,000 businesses in 158 countries meaningfully engage with their customers. Software Agency gives businesses of all sizes access to hundreds of pre-built automations for powerful orchestration, segmentation and personalization.

The Challenge: Software Agency had a workforce that was highly engaged around DEI topics, and wanted to leverage that grassroots interest as a launchpad for formalizing education and training around Diversity & Inclusion topics. To do that, they needed a high-touch, replicable program that used the content as a catalyst for conversations, as well as highly skilled facilitators to hold space for these topics with their employees.
The Solution: Software Agency launched a program that could grow with the organization’s evolving approach and increased prioritization of D&I. Nova’s facilitators ran 13 cohorts of employees through 15 D&I Compass Toolkit topic modules in less than six months, laying the foundation for incoming D&I leadership to operationalize the program for all new hires going forward.
The Results: The pilot program reached more than 50% of Software Agency’s workforce in less than 6 months. It also became a cornerstone for their ongoing D&I effort, with all new-hire employees going through the program within their first quarter of work. By making DEI training a requirement for all our new hires moving forward, their full staff is able to learn and share their diversity story, and become more aware of the biases we all bring into the workplace.

HEADLINE: Beauty Supply Company delivers DEI training to their entire workforce, from executive leaders through retail employees.
Beauty Supply Company launched an initiative to scale training on DEI topics throughout their organization at the end of 2018, by leveraging Nova's D&I Compass toolkit. This initiative was the start of a multi-tiered learning approach, which included instructor-led training for leaders, executives, and hiring managers as well as a train-the-trainer and e-learning course deployment to reach their highly distributed retail workforce.

Beauty Supply Company is the world’s largest distributor of professional beauty supplies. Beauty Supply Company provides the channels that allow manufacturers of beauty supplies to reach customers, both professional and non-professional.

The Challenge: As a highly distributed workforce with both corporate and retail associates, Beauty Supply Company is uniquely challenged in building consistent inclusive practices and uniquely situated to make a major impact. Their team needed a multi-faceted learning program to ensure that they were setting the foundation for building an inclusive culture that lives their core values.
The Outcome: Nova designed and facilitated tailored instructor-led training programs for leaders, executives, and hiring managers to build a common language, introduce the concepts of Social Identity, and build core competencies around interrupting bias and microaggressions. In addition to these instructor-led programs, Nova rolled out both a train-the-trainer toolkit and e-learning to reach all of their associates with interactive foundational training content.
The Results: By February 2021, Beauty Supply Company had rolled out DEI training that could be accessed by all 30,000+ of their team members.