It Takes a Whole Orchestra to Play a Symphony 

A 17% increase of team diversity in the suppliers working on the company’s client accounts was achieved by a holistic commitment to an inclusive culture.

Challenge

A CEO of a global company, generating billions of dollars annually, publicly committed to foster inclusive and diverse collaborative behavior among the members of his organization as well as among the company’s suppliers and service providers, was faced with the challenge of nudging the latter to do so. But how could this be achieved without seeming to dictate to suppliers how they should conduct their internal human capital strategy, all the while recognizing that if the supplier did not contribute to the philosophy and mission of the organization, they should sail apart? 

We helped this company nudge their suppliers, working on their accounts, to be more diverse and inclusive.

Insights

Informed by a thorough diagnostic of the current organization’s relationship with suppliers, we delved deeply into the metrics and processes used by the firm to assess, monitor, and control their relationships with their suppliers. A specific segmentation of suppliers and of the processes used was carried out to calculate the likelihood that each supplier could provide a diverse team working on the client's account and what it would take to make it happen.

The findings showed that the organization needed 1) to adopt a behavioral supplier strategy and 2) to foster transparency on how each supplier’s relationship was assessed, monitored, controlled and the weight it would have in fostering or deepening the relationship (e.g. any engagement renewal or in getting new contracts with the client).

Impact

Within six months, a comprehensive global reorganization of the processes and metrics used was designed and successfully implemented. During this time, the organization communicated intensively with its suppliers about the forthcoming change in how their relationship was assessed, monitored, and controlled and how it would be moving forward. The firm simplified and provided transparency on how the supplier was compared to oneself and competitors in their activities and abilities to provide diverse and inclusive teams working on their accounts. Within 12 months, a 17% increase of team diversity in the suppliers working on the client's accounts was observed and there was a steady growth in the diversification of the workforce of the organization of the suppliers working on the client’s accounts.