The world around us is changing every day. Global markets drive regional businesses, which in turn drives the need to understand needs and requirements from a broad range of perspectives. Additionally, there are social equity issues, although not new, are now becoming more integrated into the daily activities of our businesses and communities. There is tremendous value to incorporating diversity, buy too often businesses miss the advantages and simply focus upon policy statements and compliance attainment.
We often speak to companies about Diversity and are directed to their website policies or their Human Resources department. Different organizations manage these policies differently along a spectrum of words and actions. While it is certainly reasonable to focus upon diversity in hiring and developing people, this should not be the full extent of a company's diversity focus.
In the area of procurement there is an understanding of Supplier Diversity, and many organization are qualifying minority owned, women owned, veteran owned, LGBTQ+ owned companies as part of their approved vendor lists. This qualification allows suppliers to be actively involved in direct and indirect material bids. Additionally, this qualification allows the company to track the amount of spend that they have made through diverse suppliers. Often times, spend and network of diverse suppliers are aggregated and quantified to fill a paragraph in an annual report highlighting the company's commitment to diversity. While supplier diversity is a necessary first step in gaining the involvement of diverse suppliers, it falls short of capturing the benefits of diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
At Cricket Power, we help our customers focus upon Spend Diversity which extends beyond both personnel and supplier involvement. We believe in looking at Spend Diversity differently than simply top-down quantification of numbers ad dollars. Specifically, we focus upon measuring the impact that spend dollars have on local businesses and communities. In focusing upon the impact of spend, companies facilitate a much more actively engaged supply base. Through this deeper engagement comes the diversity of perspectives, and collaborative market development. Most importantly, understanding the impact at lower levels fosters the development of relationship that will grow and evolve through ongoing business.
Commitment to Diversity is much broader than just policies and programs. Breadth of perspectives/ideas along with inclusion in collaborative decision making helps to develop stronger communities which in turn drive local economic expansion. Innovation in products and new markets repeat over time and build diversity into a common business core value.
Obviously, commitment to diversity is a long-term endeavor and evolves over time. However, a good first step is to look at the impact each dollar spent has upon communities through diverse suppliers. Reach out to a Cricket Power team member for a free consultation around Spend Diversity.
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