Supplier Diversity For Dummies

Chapter 11

Creating an Environment that Puts Diverse Businesses First

IN THIS CHAPTER

Advocating for small and diverse businesses internally

Understanding that trust, respect, and transparency are the keys to managing relationships

Sometimes when managing the politics that can surround supplier diversity, people can forget what’s important: connecting small and diverse businesses to opportunities within their organizations. Of course, because procurement is a contracting environment, organizations have to protect themselves from liability and risk at all costs. But if you think about it, you really don’t have much of a program if the small and diverse business community isn’t there.

In your haste to safeguard your organization, you can unwittingly create policies, processes, and procedures that are unnecessarily cumbersome. (I’ve even heard this scenario referred to as a small business tax.) This situation isn’t conducive to creating a business-centric environment and can be a deterrent for doing business with you, which is counter to what you’re trying to achieve.

In this chapter, I discuss creating an environment that puts small and diverse businesses first; nurturing a culture of trust, respect, and transparency (TRT); and managing supplier relationships.

Becoming the Champion ...