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      FIGURE 4-1: Differences in measuring results.

Becoming Collaborative Partners

      Supplier diversity and DEI definitely have aspects that make them great collaborative partners. Based on their timelines and history, in many ways DEI and supplier diversity have grown together. Each started by government executive order, with little guidance other than the intended outcome. Unfortunately, the path to get there was never completely laid out. Through trial and error, both programs have had to figure out their respective roles and how best to deliver value to the organizations.

      Based on the differences I describe in the earlier section “Diving into Their Different Audiences, Tactics, and Results,” each has forged a distinct path and role — DEI in HR and supplier diversity in procurement — and both have managed to grow and become strategic staples by working together as natural collaborative partners.

Perusing the Pitfalls of Combining Supplier Diversity and DEI

      In recent years, two trends have appeared to sometimes blur the line between supplier diversity and DEI. Understandably, how your diversity efforts are structured depends on budget, personnel, or exactly how your organization views diversity. Whatever the reason, it should align with what your organization wants to accomplish and how you want the public and your stakeholders to perceive your diversity efforts. But in this setting, for the two programs to exist without one cannibalizing the other is a challenge. The following sections cover some of the current trends and the problems they present.

Best practice is for these functions to work alongside each other, not one under the other. You’re creating supplier diversity and DEI rather than supplier diversity or DEI. As important as both of these are and will continue to be in the future, setting up a choice would be a hard, and maybe costly, decision to make.

      Combining diversity efforts under one umbrella

      This structure presents challenges for a few reasons:

      The changing role of the Chief Diversity Officer

      Using an umbrella approach also impacts the leader tasked with managing it — the Chief Diversity Officer, or CDO. There have been quite a few hires and announcements of newly appointed CDOs. With some organizations, it’s the same as it’s always been, focused on DEI. In others, it’s an all-encompassing position covering all things diversity, including supplier diversity.

The emphasis on diversity is definitely a positive one. However, does the CDO title truly reflect what’s happening with diversity? For example, the CDO title has primarily been associated with DEI. However, if a comprehensive diversity strategy includes creating equitable opportunities for employees and suppliers, are diversity professionals, who are usually trained to support one portion of a program, equipped to handle the rigors of another aspect of diversity that includes different audiences and has its own set of challenges, objectives, and KPIs? Will this merging of the two require CDOs to be well versed in both areas, or is it setting diversity efforts up to fail by overreaching the capacity of the professional in charge?

      Changing the name of supplier diversity to “supplier diversity and inclusion”

      This change has been subtle and is still relatively new, but it’s showing up more in job descriptions or job titles across the board. The premise is that, like DEI, diversity gets businesses in the door, and inclusion ensures that they feel welcomed after they’re there. This point may be semantics, but it gives the impression that it’s a blended function. But as I discuss in the preceding section, that blending is difficult to execute and still devote the same level of priority to each one.