A Pathway to Diversity and Inclusion

- By Paul Lachhu

Throughout the business world, diversity and inclusion are terms which are alternatively embraced and dreaded. While most businesses acknowledge that diverse and inclusive organizations are important for long-term business success, creating such an environment is easier said than done. Entrenched cultural practices and business norms can make change, flexibility, and open-mindedness uphill endeavors.

As a result, it takes commitment and effort to bring diversity and inclusion ideals to life within an organization. To help open a window on that process, the following paragraphs will explore the foundational commitments, organizational inputs, nurturing systems, best practices, and net effects on Supplier Diversity goals that form the core of a successful pathway to a diverse and inclusive organization.

Foundational Commitments

Committing to diversity and inclusion requires something beyond lip service and physical presence at appropriately sensitive events. For an organization to truly set up the right foundations, it must put two key elements on the line in writing. Those elements are time and money.

Time must be committed to the events, meetings, workshops, and conversations that underpin a dynamic organization. Money must also be committed to back decisions, guide operational practice, and reward or penalize those who participate in building up the new organizational culture.

with time and money allocated to diversity and inclusion, it naturally follows that monitoring systems will be put in place. No sane business spends without a goal, and goals have milestones and benchmarks to be tracked. These structures and systems, once put in place, measure performance in planning and implementing a system of accountability in the overall process of transforming the business.

Organizational Inputs

Of course, even the best laid plans and systems will wither on the vine without top management buy in for the concepts involved. The question here is how can executive level staff be motivated to promote diversity and inclusion?

The top methods for getting top management buy into diversity and inclusion initiatives include appeals to altruism, bottom line focus, and fear of shame. All three tie back to the idea of diversity and inclusion being the right course to pursue, but with differing motivations. The altruistic approach promotes a virtuous right thing to do; the bottom line approach shows why diversity is the right thing to do fiscally; and the fear approach points out that in the present environment, those not supportive of diversity and inclusion are left out, shamed, or shunned by their constituent communities. Any one, or all three approaches in combination, may work at a firm to generate rationalized buy in from top management.

Nurturing Systems

Once top management is on board and systems are in place, champions are needed to both spread the message and bridge social and cultural divide in the organization. Like true heroes, champions are cultivated, not born. Their abilities to succeed must be nurtured.

One key factor in bridging divides and creating organizational champions for diversity and inclusion is removing barriers for open dialogue and employee empowerment. To achieve this, top level sponsors generally precede champions. With executive buy in backing high profile leaders, space is created for organic champions to emerge.

Inviting organic champions into the space created by an official push is often as simple as asking employees to step up. Be sure to acknowledge and show thanks for good work in the right direction, which will build a positive behavioral cycle in the organization for diversity and inclusion practices as well as knock down internal barriers.

Best Practices

Truly inclusive and diverse practices don’t exist in a bubble. They need to be aligned with general business goals to become a natural and instinctive way of doing business. Companies that have found the sweet spot for this alignment do much more than win awards – they find they accrue real business results and the incentive to continue to invest in their diversity and inclusion efforts for staff and suppliers alike.

One company that has stood out in the marketplace as a leader in diversity and inclusion practices is Bank of America. Though they may not be as successful as they once were financially, they are continually renewing and recommitting to their diversity and inclusion goals for their corporate spending initiatives. In June of 2010, CEO Bryan Moynihan announced a pledge to devote another $10 billion in spending over five years to small, diverse, and locally owned suppliers for the firms needs.

Rather than being rare event or a departure, the announcement was almost not news. Through formalized strategic initiatives dating back to 1990, Bank of America has been a long time supporter of Minority and Women’s Owned Business Enterprises (MBWEs). Their specific initiatives have top level sponsorship, most visibly in the form of Geri Thomas, who currently holds the position of Global Diversity & Inclusion Executive with the firm.

By partnering their strategic pushes with tracking systems, Bank of America has been able to document a doubling in spending with MBWE’s over the last five years while simultaneously achieving greater internal efficiencies for suppliers and service delivery partners.

Another company that is incorporating the tools to help MWBEs build the necessary skills is Sanofi Aventis. “We are a big believer in mentorship and are working on a program to help vendors build capacity, networking, and relationship building,” said Kathleen Castore, manager of supplier diversity.

Net Effect on Supplier Diversity Goals

As Bank of America shows, having an integrated internal diversity program manifests itself in high profile supplier diversity goal achievements without sacrificing business effectiveness. This means that the net effect of the time and money committed at the start to diversity and inclusion programs can have real, tangible outcomes that can be taken to the press or straight to the finance department.

Becoming a diverse and inclusive organization doesn’t have to be an alienating or isolating experience for a company. On the contrary, by spending money and partnering strategically with local and MWBE’s, organizations both reflect and engage their changing customer bases. This greater integration between community and company increases loyalty and creates positive goodwill for most firms, a commodity not to be lightly dismissed in the modern day.

At ADM identifying suppliers with leadership potential is easy to recognize. “Those businesses that have done their research, understand our business model, reading all the information, are the ones still with us and who continue to grow. They took the time to understand our business and brought the kind of value we are looking for,” said Taylor.

There really is no reason to dread the thought of diversity and inclusion. With purpose driven planning and commitment from the start, organizations can effectively lay down the foundations, organizational inputs, nurturing systems, and best practice guides to achieve supplier diversity goals that enhance and advance the best interests of the firm. Though the process can be time consuming, the final positive rewards of that effort are visible throughout successful companies.