Equity practice · Advanced

Equity Committee and Unit Equity Team Roles

Charter, staff and steer an equity committee or unit equity team so it has clear decision rights, fair membership, owned actions and accountability that measures systems rather than people.

About 48 minutes, plus optional practice · 4 lessons · Voluntary learning

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Course outline

Purpose, charter and decision rights
Distinguish an advisory equity committee from a decision-making body and from formal offices such as EOAD and Human Resources.
12 minutes
Membership without extracting unpaid labor
Explain the minority tax and how it can appear in equity committee work.
12 minutes
Activity inventory and action plans
Draft an inventory of equity-related activities already underway in a division or unit.
12 minutes
Accountability measures and executive sponsors
Distinguish measures of processes and outcomes from measures that score or rank individuals.
12 minutes

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What you’ll be able to do

Explore and practice

Distinguish an advisory equity committee from a decision-making body and from formal offices such as EOAD and Human Resources.
Explain the minority tax and how it can appear in equity committee work.
Draft an inventory of equity-related activities already underway in a division or unit.
Distinguish measures of processes and outcomes from measures that score or rank individuals.

What you can take into your work

Explain the distinction tested in each knowledge check.
Compare the responses to each fictional case and the reasons behind them.
Complete the course job aid for a situation you choose.

For one committee action, write one process measure and one outcome measure. For each, name the data source, baseline, review frequency and one limit. Draft a one-paragraph recommendation to your sponsor naming the decision you need and by when.

Equity Committee and Unit Equity Team Roles: practice guide

A reusable guide for a situation you choose

Charter, staff and steer an equity committee or unit equity team so it has clear decision rights, fair membership, owned actions and accountability that measures systems rather than people.

Use observable details rather than assigning motives.
Invite perspectives without requiring personal disclosure.
Keep learning separate from individual assessment or personnel decisions.

Charter checklist

Purpose in one or two sentences and the scope it covers.
Membership, selection, fixed terms and rotation.
Meeting time stated as paid work time, with supervisor agreement.
Decision rights for each kind of work: decide, recommend, consulted, informed.
Referral paths to EOAD, Human Resources, labor relations, the ADA coordinator, the Tribal liaison and legal counsel.
Executive sponsor, reporting line and charter review date.

Fair membership

Write a workload agreement for each member.
Recruit beyond the usual volunteers, including people with positional power.
Never require identity disclosure or ask a member to speak for a community.
Seek community perspective through engagement or consultation, not staff stand-ins.

Inventory and action plan fields

Activity, owner, population or process affected, intended change, status, evidence.
For each action: specific change, owner, partners, resources, first milestone, measure, review date.
Engagement plan for people affected, including Tribal liaison involvement where relevant.

Accountability without scoring people

Use process, outcome and experience measures; avoid rankings of staff or units.
State source, baseline, frequency, interpreter and limits for each measure.
Bring written recommendations with a decision date to the sponsor.
Report annually what changed, what did not and why, to leaders and contributors.

Try the guide and revisit it

For one committee action, write one process measure and one outcome measure. For each, name the data source, baseline, review frequency and one limit. Draft a one-paragraph recommendation to your sponsor naming the decision you need and by when.
Privately recall a measure at work that changed behavior in a way nobody intended. What did it reward, and what would a better measure have looked at instead?

Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.

Sources and further reading

Office of the Governor — Executive Order 23-12, Providing Equitable, Inclusive, and Effective Government for All (Legislative Reference Library copy)
Supports the renewal of the One Minnesota Council and the Governor's Community Council, references to agency-specific equity plans and the long-range plan, and annual reporting. Executive orders can be amended or rescinded; check current status.
Office of the Governor — Executive Order 19-01, Establishing the One Minnesota Council on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
Supports the origin of the One Minnesota Council and its focus on recruitment, retention, contracting, engagement and a long-range plan. Historical: this order was rescinded and replaced by Executive Order 23-12.
Minnesota Department of Human Services — Equity Policy (dated March 2017, copy hosted by the federal PeerTA network)
Supports the statement that DHS policy has called for equity committees in each administration and equity analysis of legislative proposals. This is an older version; confirm the current DHS policy internally before citing it as current.
Rodriguez, Campbell and Pololi — Addressing disparities in academic medicine: what of the minority tax? BMC Medical Education (2015)
Source of the minority tax concept in lesson 2. Research is from academic medicine; the course applies the idea by analogy to state committee work.
Minnesota Management and Budget — Enterprise Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) Guidelines
Supports the description of ERGs (executive sponsors, bylaws, work plans) and the statement that ERGs cannot replace labor-management committees.
Office of Equity, Opportunity, and Accessibility — Equity Analysis Toolkit
Supports the use of the state Equity Analysis Toolkit headings for sorting activities and planning accountable actions.
Minnesota Statutes section 10.65 — Government-to-government relationship with Tribal governments
Supports the statement that DHS is among agencies required to have a Tribal consultation policy and a Tribal liaison and to consult on matters with Tribal implications.

All research and sources across the program

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Course outline

Purpose, charter and decision rights

Distinguish an advisory equity committee from a decision-making body and from formal offices such as EOAD and Human Resources.

12 minutes

Membership without extracting unpaid labor

Explain the minority tax and how it can appear in equity committee work.

12 minutes

Activity inventory and action plans

Draft an inventory of equity-related activities already underway in a division or unit.

12 minutes

Accountability measures and executive sponsors

Distinguish measures of processes and outcomes from measures that score or rank individuals.

12 minutes

Sources and further reading

Office of the Governor — Executive Order 23-12, Providing Equitable, Inclusive, and Effective Government for All (Legislative Reference Library copy)

Supports the renewal of the One Minnesota Council and the Governor's Community Council, references to agency-specific equity plans and the long-range plan, and annual reporting. Executive orders can be amended or rescinded; check current status.

Office of the Governor — Executive Order 19-01, Establishing the One Minnesota Council on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

Supports the origin of the One Minnesota Council and its focus on recruitment, retention, contracting, engagement and a long-range plan. Historical: this order was rescinded and replaced by Executive Order 23-12.

Minnesota Department of Human Services — Equity Policy (dated March 2017, copy hosted by the federal PeerTA network)

Supports the statement that DHS policy has called for equity committees in each administration and equity analysis of legislative proposals. This is an older version; confirm the current DHS policy internally before citing it as current.

Rodriguez, Campbell and Pololi — Addressing disparities in academic medicine: what of the minority tax? BMC Medical Education (2015)

Source of the minority tax concept in lesson 2. Research is from academic medicine; the course applies the idea by analogy to state committee work.

Minnesota Management and Budget — Enterprise Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) Guidelines

Supports the description of ERGs (executive sponsors, bylaws, work plans) and the statement that ERGs cannot replace labor-management committees.

Office of Equity, Opportunity, and Accessibility — Equity Analysis Toolkit

Supports the use of the state Equity Analysis Toolkit headings for sorting activities and planning accountable actions.

Minnesota Statutes section 10.65 — Government-to-government relationship with Tribal governments

Supports the statement that DHS is among agencies required to have a Tribal consultation policy and a Tribal liaison and to consult on matters with Tribal implications.