20 Culture Forward Maturity Model and Leader Reflection Tool
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is committed to ensuring the U.S. research enterprise is inclusive, harnessing the talent of all sectors of American society to advance the frontiers of science, engineering, and education. NSF has developed the Culture Forward Maturity Model (CFMM) to enable us to champion leadership behaviors, promote an inclusive culture, and measure the progress and impact of culture initiatives in the agency. This maturity model consists of five stages, including Compliance, Evolving, Acceptance, Cohesion, and Inclusion. These stages provide a roadmap for the organization to progress from a compliance-driven and reactive culture to a fully inclusive one.
The CFMM includes approximately 30 distinct criteria that are centered around assessing four core lines of effort: Culture, Operations, Policy, and Talent Management. To evaluate each criterion, the CFMM leverages a mixed-method data analysis strategy to conduct a comprehensive assessment of all organizational data available. Quantitative data in the form of Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) results, workforce data, and other internal assessments are integrated with qualitative data in the form of policy documents, strategy documents, weekly rollups, and other accomplishments. This comprehensive approach creates a detailed and accurate picture of the current state of NSF’s culture of inclusion.
This organization-wide assessment process includes four phases. Phase 1 includes understanding the organization, identifying key points of contact and conducting a kickoff meeting with representatives from all functional areas (e.g., training, recruitment, communications, etc). Phase 2 includes all data collection efforts. The assessment methodology is non-disruptive, and the most action required from the organization relates to delivering qualitative data. Once data collection has completed, Phase 3 includes conducting a series of quantitative and qualitative data analyses.
Quantitative data analyses include chi-square tests to identify discrepancies between diversity benchmarks and observed NSF workforce data; analyses of variance to identify group mean differences along key outcome variables such as salary and rate of salary increase; and organization-level adverse impact ratios which provide information about the extent to which members of one group are hired less than 80% of the time than members of another group. For the qualitative analyses, external raters are trained to achieve alignment on how well they understand each level on the Culture Forward Maturity spectrum, as well as the level of requisite evidence related to each level. These raters are also trained to evaluate the inclusion of different historically underrepresented groups based on various factors which include but are not limited to race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, disability, and immigration.
Following all analyses, Phase 4 includes the presentation of findings in an executive-sponsored outbrief. The organization will be given a full technical report that details all findings of the assessment, including line of effort ratings for each of the lines of effort, as well as a total Culture Forward Assessment Rating. Based on the nuanced findings of the in-depth assessment, NSF will be given a tailored action plan for improvement.
Finally, the CFMM has a companion tool to measure individual-level inclusive leader behaviors and goals. The Leader Reflection Tool (LRT) contains three sections designed to allow leaders to document and reflect on the inclusiveness of their leadership practices. The first section is a self-assessment which asks leaders to respond to questions about specific actions that they have undertaken to promote inclusion within themselves and their team, office, directorate, or organization. The second section is a self-reflection that offers space for leaders to reflect on specific and tangible actions that they have employed to be more inclusive. The third section allows leaders to write actionable goals to direct their future behavior with the intent to foster an inclusive culture. The CDIO has recently completed a pilot of the LRT with the Office of Budget, Finance, and Award Management and initial psychometric assessments have shown high reliability of the self-assessment portion of the LRT (α=0.86). Combined, the CFMM and LRT are powerful tools for assessing organizational areas of strength and opportunities for growth.
