Orange Grove Consulting

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am Access Fund's justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) and policy associate. We're a small environmental nonprofit that focuses on protecting climbing areas, and the environments around them, around the country.

I work with various land management agencies working with Congress — I'm working with grassroots partners on environment and climate justice policy. However, the more significant chunk of my work is on the JEDI side, where I determine ways to make the climate community, and outdoor community as a whole, more inclusive and welcoming of everyone. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Orange Grove Consulting?

We were working to make our company more diverse and inclusive. I did an initial assessment of our diversity and inclusion needs — I discovered that the women on our staff were consistently less happy with their workplace experience and facing more obstacles and challenges than their male colleagues. 

Our number one area for growth was improving the experience for women who are a part of our team and we needed help with that. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Orange Grove provided us with an intensive four-part training series on diversity, equity, and inclusion tailored specifically towards gender equity in the workplace. 

The training was very interactive and there was a lot of engagement with our staff. One Orange Grove teammate led our training and presented the material in an engaging way — all the presentations were interesting and relevant to our needs. They then facilitated discussions on various diversity- and inclusion-related topics with our staff. 

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with two teammates: Keely (Senior VP, Marketing and Client Solutions) handled logistics, and Roshan (Senior Facilitator & Consultant) led our training. There was also another teammate from Orange Grove who helped Keely with logistics. 

How did you come to work with Orange Grove Consulting?

We did an extensive search online for a consultant to help with training and thought leadership to help us improve the workplace for women on our staff. I also got some referrals from friends and colleagues in the diversity and equity space. 

After checking out multiple offers, Orange Grove seemed like the best organization for us — they were focused on gender equity and the materials they presented were practical. Many of the other training series companies pitched to me had a lot of jargon and not as much strategy. Orange Grove had a very tangible, practical approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion training.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $20,000 with Orange Grove. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Orange Grove from May–July 2021 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We measured the success of the partnership via staff feedback, what they learned, and if they could apply it to their day-to-day work. Orange Grove also held a post-training assessment, and the results were better than I expected. 

The overwhelming majority of the staff had a lot of positive feedback about the presentations and applied knowledge from the training to their work. I also got a lot of input from staff, saying they appreciated how comfortable and open the Orange Grove facilitated discussions were. 

How did Orange Grove Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Keely handled our logistics. The Orange Grove team handled everything so well I barely even noticed their management — they took care of everything. 

We mainly communicated via phone calls and email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really felt like Orange Grove knew what they were doing — they had a very streamlined, practical approach to a very difficult topic. They did an excellent job of making the training feel like a place where people could be open, honest, and a little vulnerable, which was extremely important for our entire staff. 

We didn't want anyone on staff to be afraid of saying the wrong thing or offending someone. Our coordinator did a great job of creating a space where people felt comfortable sharing and talking to each other about diversity and inclusion. 

The Orange Grove team was really good at getting engagement from our staff, who were excited about the training and learned a lot about issues they cared about. 

Orange Grove was extremely professional, was passionate about diversity, had great facilitation skills, and had a lot of practical and applied knowledge. Overall, it was a great program. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think that their training could have focused even more on gender. My staff and I would have liked to see more emphasis on specific gender equity issues in the workplace.   

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Before starting the program, clients should go into depth about what each training session entails and if there are any specific topics they think would work well with a particular training module. Then, they should work with Orange Grove to ensure that the training is tailored to their needs.