Scaling DE&I through supplier diversity

02 The solution

Gaining insights to identify near-term opportunities

Our solution included three distinct phases: performing a current assessment based on stakeholder interviews, followed by benchmarking and opportunity mapping.

1

Assessment

We conducted in-depth interviews with a cross-section of senior leaders in the organization, gauging their perspectives on topics including the appetite for change and potential barriers to scaling supplier diversity.

The strength that stood out immediately to us was the organization's reputation and its existing relationships with diverse suppliers. "They have a lot of really strong relationships in their community," says Valerie Fissidas, Senior Research Associate at Korn Ferry. "They serve a very diverse community, and they are a leader in their community for health care, and they wanted to make sure that they are reflective of the communities that they serve."

The stakeholder interviews also turned up several key operational challenges. The organization lacked many of the processes and infrastructure seen in best-in-class supplier diversity programs, such as:

• Resources and team members dedicated to supplier diversity
• A centralized repository of suppliers that can be accessed by all stakeholders
• Internal knowledge of the procurement and vendor selection process
• Education or training programs for new vendors

The limited data on diverse suppliers was a recurring theme. Though the organization did have data on the total number of diverse suppliers, the data was not segmented by ownership designations, such as which businesses were run by women, minorities, veterans or LGBTQ+ individuals. The organization had a solid foundation and the will, but the lack of actionable data left it largely flying blind.

"If you want to build this, you need data," Falayi advised the client. "You need a way to translate insight into action."

2

Benchmarking

We then identified a list of five comparable health care organizations whose supplier diversity programs were considered best-in-class. Some of the most important shared attributes included:

• Strategic alignment — supplier diversity equal in status to workforce diversity and seamlessly aligned with strategy, structure and culture.
• Supplier outreach — established programs to develop opportunities for diverse suppliers through mentoring, internal referrals, matchmaking, speaking engagements, networking and scholarships.
• Goal-setting — multiyear goals based on clear benchmarks, such as the percentage of annual procurement spend that goes to diverse suppliers.
• Leadership buy-in — involvement at the VP, SVP or C-suite level, including, in some cases, incorporating supplier diversity goals into individual performance metrics.

“Seeing how similar organizations are further along on the journey is key”, says Fissidas, who led the benchmark analysis. Understanding how they approached the same challenges and limitations helped clarify near-term opportunities while keeping the bigger picture in focus.

3

Opportunity analysis

Finally, we blended insights from the stakeholder interviews and benchmarking to develop an opportunities map. Recommendations focused on the organization's existing strengths, such as expanding current partnerships with diverse suppliers through training, education and community outreach.

Together with the client, we worked to identify actionable short-term opportunities to deepen those relationships. This included hosting community events and educational sessions for local businesses on how to become a vendor and partnering with existing suppliers on workshops about inclusive business practices.

"We recommended that they really dive in and not only go after new suppliers but also focus on the relationship that they have with current suppliers," Fissidas says. "That was one of the more personal recommendations to that organization just because of their community focus."