CHALLENGE: MASTERING THE LANDSCAPE OF DIVERSE SUPPLIERS
CHALLENGE Mastering the Landscape of Diverse Suppliers The Challenge When a business is dedicated up and down the chain of command to contract with diverse suppliers, where does it find businesses to work with? The universe of diverse suppliers does not just present itself — especially in Arizona, where, due to fewer regulations about supplier diversity, many diverse suppliers may not be certified. Other diverse enterprises may not think that they could have success walking into the office of a large business, so they don’t try. Some small businesses may not realize when they have an opportunity to bid for suitable work. Finding the right diverse suppliers requires the concerted efforts of a company’s supplier diversity program to understand what’s out there and how that could benefit the company. Just as much as it is about building internal support for the idea, building a successful supplier diversity program is about mastering the external landscape of diverse suppliers.
BEST PRACTICE: Network strategically One of the major jobs of a supplier diversity manager is to be the face of his or her company to the world of diverse suppliers. Getting out and meeting businesspeople is essential.
INITIAL STEP: Attend a wide variety of networking events Managers of successful supplier diversity programs stress that they don’t have 8-to-5 jobs. Interfacing with small businesspeople requires going to a wide array of networking events and, among what are often familiar faces, looking for new opportunities that may be presenting themselves. “Sometimes you find the best suppliers can’t attend the things that you attend,” says Chet Yancy of ASU. “They can’t attend midday meetings. So that’s why you attend receptions in the evenings.” Surveying the field of diverse suppliers is a constant process. “Gathering their capability information such as skill sets, qualified personnel, financial backing, and safety is important. Going to supplier diversity conferences — where you can meet a lot of small contractors that you wouldn’t meet any other way — is essential to growing our subcontractor and vendor base,” says Charles Eaton of Hensel Phelps. Or, in other words: The job cannot be done well from a desk.
ADVANCED STEP: Establish strategic networking goals With a reasonable grasp of the landscape, a supplier diversity team should look to set goals for networking, down to the level of individual events. “A more tactical approach is showing up with a booth, putting it up, and being out there in the community, soliciting all participants,” says Mike Angulo of SRP. “A strategic approach is more of a targeting approach — going to conferences or trade shows with a specific purpose, having an idea of who we want to meet, and what we want to accomplish to build the right relationships.”
SUPPLIER DIVERSITY BEST PRACTICES WHITE PAPER
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