How We As Agency Can Move the Needle for DE&I

Written by: Funmi Olosunde, VP, Director of Project Management

I am a project manager by trade, and a project manager at heart. I work to outline the steps and resources it takes to get from point A to point B. That’s a relatively straightforward exercise when managing projects and budgets, but it is much harder when helping to build a DE&I strategy that drives behavioral change. When it came to wanting to move the needle as an agency, there was no shortage of ideas—in my head and in the minds of many of our colleagues—but we had to add the passion to the methodology, the practical to the aspirational. To make these ideas really stick, we had to organize them into an agency-wide plan that was clear and actionable. We knew the opportunities in front of us, but we needed to build a path for how to get there.

In 2020, we formed the DE&I Action Committee, charged with defining our evergreen DE&I mission and pillars and brainstorming initiatives. From there, the DE&I Advisory Council was established to anchor those initiatives to our pillars so that they are relevant and measurable over time. The Council meets weekly and is integrated with every capability at RFH, including and especially our Executive Leadership Team. The Action Committee still meets to brainstorm new ideas, contribute content for our newsletters, and help evangelize agency-wide initiatives. This open environment for all our talent encourages participation at any and all levels of commitment and helps ensure that our DE&I strategy is infused into the way we behave, the way we operate.

But setting aside our established mission and clear pillars, we don’t want DE&I to be a set of items on a list that we just check off, or an afterthought to what we do. We are doing the deep, intentional work to make sure that Razorfish Health is a welcoming agency. We want to recruit great talent, develop them as individuals with bespoke growth plans, and encourage them as a collective to adopt an inclusive mindset for every decision we make. That said, we don’t know everything—and we can’t—so with various trainings and partnerships, we have also adopted a learning mindset to disrupt the status quo.

With this foundation, we’re starting to see a tangible impact on our talent and how we approach our work. We know that we can’t change the world, but we are committed to improving our world every day.  

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At Razorfish Health, we know what it takes to navigate the modern health care landscape. If you want to fuel your knowledge, please reach out to Delia.Pavlichko@razorfishhealth.com. We’re interested in hearing your perspective as well as your thoughts on the upcoming communication challenges and opportunities.