Executives
Examine strategy, policy, and the systems behind talent decisions. Pair the model with The Truth About Equity book.
The framework
The Equity in Action Model
Published by CRW Diversity · Last updated November 2026
The Equity in Action Model is Celeste Warren's six-element framework for moving equity from good intentions to everyday leadership practice.
What is the Equity in Action Model?
Equity doesn't become real simply because an organization believes in it. It becomes real through the decisions leaders make every day. The Equity in Action Model, featured in this CRW Diversity catalog, gives leaders a practical way to examine how their decisions, behaviors, and systems shape the opportunities of the people they lead.
What are the six elements?
Awareness
Understand how assumptions, experiences, and organizational patterns influence decisions.
Ask: What assumptions are shaping this decision?
Access
Examine who has access to information, opportunities, relationships, and resources.
Ask: Who heard about this opportunity, and who did not?
Advocacy
Use your influence to ensure talent, ideas, and perspectives aren't overlooked.
Ask: Whose talent might be overlooked here?
Action
Turn awareness and good intentions into deliberate leadership decisions.
Ask: What deliberate choice will I make?
Accountability
Look beyond intentions and pay attention to outcomes.
Ask: What actually happened, and for whom?
Empowerment
Create the conditions for people to contribute, grow, and use their voices.
Ask: How will people be able to contribute and be heard?
How do you apply the model to one decision?
- Step 1: Pick a real decisionA promotion, a stretch assignment, a hiring slate, or a reorganization.
- Step 2: Walk the six elements in orderAsk the question for each element and note what you learn.
- Step 3: Make one deliberate changeAdjust who is considered, how the opportunity is shared, or how the decision is made.
- Step 4: Check the outcome laterAccountability means looking at results, not only intentions.
How each level of leadership uses it
Managers
Apply it to daily decisions through Equity in Action for Managers.
The model is the framework behind Celeste Warren's leadership development workshops and executive advisory.
Common questions
- What is the Equity in Action Model?
- The Equity in Action Model is Celeste Warren’s practical framework for moving from good intentions to everyday leadership practice. It helps leaders examine how their decisions, behaviors, and organizational systems shape the experiences and opportunities of the people they lead. It has six elements: Awareness, Access, Advocacy, Action, Accountability, and Empowerment.
- What are the six elements of the Equity in Action Model?
- Awareness: understand how assumptions and patterns influence decisions. Access: examine who has access to information, opportunities, relationships, and resources. Advocacy: use your influence so talent is not overlooked. Action: turn intentions into deliberate decisions. Accountability: pay attention to outcomes. Empowerment: create the conditions for people to contribute, grow, and use their voices.
- How can a leader apply the model this week?
- Pick one upcoming decision, such as a stretch assignment or a promotion slate, and run it through the six elements. Ask what assumptions are at play, who had access to the opportunity, whose talent might be overlooked, what deliberate choice you will make, how you will check the outcome, and how people will be empowered to contribute.
- What does Accountability mean in the model?
- In the Equity in Action Model, Accountability means looking beyond intentions and paying attention to outcomes. A leader may intend to be fair, but the test is what actually happens to people's opportunities and experiences. Accountability asks leaders to check results, notice patterns, and adjust decisions or systems when outcomes do not match intentions.
- Is the Equity in Action Model only for HR?
- No. The model is built for leaders at every level, because equity becomes real through the decisions leaders make every day. Executives use it to examine systems and strategy, managers apply it to daily decisions through Equity in Action for Managers, and HR and people leaders can use it to review policies and practices.
- Why focus on systems instead of just people?
- Because systems shape workplace culture every day. Policies, practices, access to opportunity, leadership decisions, and unwritten norms can help people succeed or quietly get in their way. After nearly four decades in human resources and organizational leadership, Celeste Warren argues that individual change matters, but lasting change also requires examining the systems around people.
For senior executives
Bring these ideas to your leadership team
Celeste Warren offers executive advisory: a confidential thought partnership for executives navigating complex leadership, culture, talent, and organizational challenges. It starts with understanding where you are and what may be standing in the way.