Three CEOs from HR companies have joined forces to launch a software startup that helps companies identify biases.
The founders are utilizing the software and coaching from their own startups to work to build inclusive structures at large organizations. Houston-based LeanDEI was launched in February by Vivek Mehta, founder and CEO of Austin-based Weeve; Anisa Aven, CEO at Houston-based TurnKey Coaching Solutions; and Shwetha Pai, CEO at Cincinnati-based OrgAnalytix.
As of April, LeanDEI does not have any active contracts, but Mehta said the team is in negotiations with several companies averaging 2,000 employees each and hopes to start working with them in the next month. The startup's sales pipeline is around $2.5 million, said Mehta, co-founder and managing director of LeanDEI.
The startup plans to use a three-step process in working with companies to improve their DEI strategies, Mehta said. First, the LeanDEI team identifies the unconscious bias within the organization. Next, the team engages with the company's employees using conversational chatbot AI named Kim, and finally, LeanDEI takes what it has learned to consult and coach the company's leaders.
Although an oft-cited Workforce Management report estimates U.S. companies spend approximately $8 billion a year on diversity and inclusion efforts, Mehta said very little is changing.
"A lot of these initiatives are very surface level. They're things that are just responsive to external factors. They're not really specific to the internal climates of an organization and not really (focused) on actually resolving issues that employees are facing," he said. “When we run our analysis, when we engage with employees, we understand the employees that are specifically impacted, what they're impacted by, and the people that we need to enable in order to most effectively resolve those issues."
LeanDEI utilizes the three founders' companies and their expertise. OrgAnalytix works with network analysis and understanding relationships within the company. Weeve is a conversational AI company that deals with building the right pipeline between employees and leaders. And TurnKey Coaching Solutions provides coaching — LeanDEI has access to over 1,000 coaches and consultants from this business.
“Besides the obvious moral impetus, 2020 showed us that diversity, equity, inclusion issues are C-level issues. Social disruption is happening, regardless of whether people want to respond to it or not,” Mehta said. “What we know for sure is that companies that invest in diversity and inclusion tend to be more innovative than their peers; they have stronger hiring pipelines and lower turnover.”
More Houston-based businesses have been taking initiatives to create more racial inclusion in the workplace. Since December 2020, over 100 companies have committed to a racial pledge created by the Greater Houston Partnership. In addition, more businesses have created diversity, equity and inclusion roles, including Cadence Bank, the GHP and Lone Star College. In 2020, McConnell & Jones also launched Kaleidoscope, the firm’s new service line to help companies expand their diversity programs and organize their supply chain.
