SMI Supplier Diversity Playbook

  • Executive Summary
  • Supplier Diversity Defined
  • Why Supplier Diversity in Healthcare
  • Background & History of Supplier Diversity
  • Change Management: How to Gain Support for your Supplier Diversity Program

  • Executive Summary
  • Supplier Diversity Program Self-Assessment
  • Goal Setting, Getting Started

  • Executive Summary
  • Achieving Supplier Diversity Goals with Data
  • Supplier Diversity Measurements of Success

  • Executive Summary
  • Creating the Ecosystem
  • Operational Deployment

  • Executive Summary
  • Identify Your External Partners
  • Develop a Community Partnerships Map
  • Creating External Partnerships

  • Executive Summary
  • Critical Strategies to Identify Diverse Suppliers
  • Critical strategies for Engagement and Inclusion of Diverse Suppliers
  • Capacity strategies to strengthen the diverse business community

  • Executive Summary
  • Types of Technology
  • Data Enrichment Platforms
  • Supplier Diversity Dashboards

  • Executive Summary
  • Three Key Steps to Success
  • Decision Making Tools to Support RFP Criteria and Scoring

    • Chapter 4. Internal Engagement for Growing Supplier Diversity

    This Chapter focuses on strategies to work across departments to promote and integrate supplier diversity into organizational priorities and decision-making.

    Program Alignment for Success

    Best practice supplier diversity programs align with the strategic direction and priorities of the organization. Examples include aligning your program objectives with the organizational mission, diversity and inclusion efforts, and goals around social determinants of health and equitable community wealth building. This can include creating a shared understanding of why supplier diversity is important through connection to the
    Community Health needs Assessment (CHNA)

    data and storytelling of the benefits of a supplier diversity program. More details on the Why of supplier diversity can be found in Chapter 1.

    Creating the ecosystem

    One way to generate internal engagement is to connect procurement activities to larger organizational and community efforts, supplier development opportunities and industry trends. A robust supplier diversity ecosystem includes engaged internal departments and stakeholders, community engagement efforts led by your organization and creation of
    collaboration resources.

    Methods to imbed Supplier Diversity into your institution

    Successful implementation of a supplier diversity program resides upon clear goals and accountability. Cultivate organizational awareness, accountability, and buy-in across the organization through regularly updated internal dashboards of diverse supplier spend by functional area. Tie executive compensation to supplier diversity goals and outcomes. Measure economic impact in the community through job creation, diversity of supplier workforce and diverse supplier ownership. Highlight success stories to build momentum internally through your intranet, blogs and celebrations.

  • Creating the Ecosystem
  • Operational Deployment

    • Introduction

    One of the many benefits of supplier diversity is the opportunity for different departments and organizational staff to collaborate on creating a more equitable supply chain. Chapter 4 provides strategies to work across departments to promote and integrate supplier diversity into organizational priorities and decision-making.

    This chapter includes multiple strategies:

    • Align your supplier diversity program with organizational strategies, goals
    • Create the ecosystem of supplier diversity through relationship development, collaboration, and education.
    • Imbed supplier diversity into the organization through operational deployment. This includes cultivating organizational awareness, accountability, and buy-in across the organization.

    Program Alignment for Success

    One of the most challenging components of a successful supplier diversity program is competing interests and demands of the sourcing team. Consider any system-wide projects underway that may impact program expansion such as a hospital merger or ERP implementation. Explore how the institution’s supplier diversity program aligns with other corporate initiatives, such as DEI goals, commitments to addressing the social determinants of health, and the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)
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    implementation plan. Co-create supplier diversity goals between supply chain and various departments as a method to drive impact, focus, and create buy-in.

    More details on setting the stage for supplier diversity can be found in Chapter 1.

     

    Creating the Ecosystem

    Building a strong supplier diversity ecosystem includes intentional engagement of internal departments. A strong network of relationships within your organization
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    can support awareness and collaborate around shared supplier diversity goals. According to the Pew Research Article on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, 56% of employees believe focusing on DEI at work is a good thing. Promoting a supplier diversity program internally is one way to build employee awareness of organizational initiatives that seek to advance health equity. Methods to engage team members outside of supply chain include:

    • Create a communication plan to raise awareness such as a presentation, policy statement, and talking points for sharing your supplier diversity program with internal stakeholders.
    • Prioritize building awareness first within Supply Chain and then begin education to strategic stakeholders.
    • Collaborate with other departments focused on health equity work to elevate your goals and cross-promote initiatives to gain further awareness and support.
    • Create transparent accountability mechanisms within the organization to ensure that progress is regularly assessed, reported, and celebrated.
    • Create a full-time role embedded within the supply chain to support the organizational effort and display a financial commitment to the work.

    Collaboration Tactics

    Successful supplier diversity programs leverage internal champions at every level of the organization. Examples of engagement efforts include developing a supplier diversity work group, collaborating with purpose-driven departments, and elevating existing training and resources around health equity to include supplier diversity information.

    Developing a supplier diversity work group builds a space for cooperation and problem-solving when developing the program. With the support from an executive sponsor, recruit team members from various areas including buyers, contract managers, value analysis, and someone responsible for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Engage these team members to develop procedures, create educational materials, and promote the supplier diversity program. Support the program’s success by letting team members participate as part of their current role during paid hours.

    Aligning your supplier diversity efforts with purpose-driven departments creates more opportunities for cross-promotion and builds awareness of supplier diversity goals and methods to engage. Examples of departments that participate in social responsibility initiatives can be found here.
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    One common method is to connect with other strategic initiatives, such as sustainability efforts. Tying procurement efforts to organizational goals helps increase internal support and positions procurement as a strategy to address community health needs, such as nutrition, carbon emissions, and equity.

    Another way to increase engagement and support for supplier diversity programs is through existing DEI training and resources. Review relevant materials currently in use in your organization and explore how to include more information about supplier diversity in these materials and training. If your organization has robust education in place within the diversity, equity, and inclusion function such as cultural competency training, explore using these resources to build awareness within the purchasing department. Identify any external memberships or subscriptions that might offer resources, find examples here.
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    Inquire with your data and analytics team or financial analysts on the development of supplier diversity data integration.

    Engagement talking points are a helpful tool to promote change and amplify the message of the supplier diversity program. Participants in the supplier diversity work group can leverage language from chapter 1 to customize the business case for individual departments. When developing talking points, focus on key priorities of the department engaged. For example, if a technology department values customer service and innovation, highlight the benefits of working with existing diverse technology businesses using innovative practices. Develop talking points that emphasize how supplier diversity can contribute to achieving specific departmental or organizational goals.

    Another effective method to promote a supplier diversity program internally is through a supplier diversity commitment statement that can be referenced while engaging employees and the community. Best practice is for the CEO to be the author of the statement and to make it publicly available on your website. Kaiser Permanente’s Impact Spending website provides an example of a publicly available commitment statement.

    Below is an example of the type of language to incorporate into this kind of statement. Integrating your organizational mission, vision, and priorities into the policy statement further reinforces alignment with the supplier diversity program.

    Sample Language – Policy Statement

    (Your Organization) is committed to the health of the communities we serve and addressing the social determinants of health. We do this by leveraging (Your Organization) purchasing practices to create economically and racially equitable economies that sustain healthy communities. In alignment with our mission/vision/values, (Your Organization) aims to drive social impact by fully activating the organization as a community asset and responsible steward.

     

    Operational Deployment

    Achieving supplier diversity goals through internal engagement requires that they are embedded into existing business practices and that accountability extends beyond the supply chain. Engage with departments outlined here
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    to collaborate on shared goals and ways to advance the initiatives.

    A clear method to communicate that supplier diversity is a priority is through the creation of an incentive bonus structure based upon the execution of outlined supplier diversity goals. Tying compensation to supplier diversity outcomes creates accountability and is often done as part of a larger DEI measure of success for leadership. Success for this type of program requires strong internal measurement and reporting of supplier diversity activity.

    Stakeholder management is a strategic way to expand internal engagement in a supplier diversity program, an example of which can be found on pages nine and ten of the Target 2022 Sustainability Report. The Target report highlights the diversity in stakeholders of a for-profit organization that expands beyond the customer’s voice to include the community, investors, vendors, the government, and employees.

    Consider who your stakeholder groups are when developing goals and actions to achieve those goals. Examples of potential actions to engage stakeholders around supplier diversity can be found here.
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    A successful internal engagement program requires a clear vision of why your organization is invested in supplier diversity, building an internal network of champions, obtaining buy-in throughout the organization, and aligning compensation with goals.