If your business plans to take a proactive approach to gender equality, it is important to develop clear goals and indicators to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation process. Measuring progress is crucial to see if the implemented measures are actually enhancing gender equality in your supply chain. By tracking and reporting your progress you will be able to identify what works and what needs improvement.
Goal setting is a vital step to creating metrics. Using the SMART goals method; specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. Goals need to have clear indicators in order to be measurable.
Some examples of clear indicators could be:
The number of women owned businesses in your supply chain. When your organization’s goal is to increase diversity and inclusion in the supply chain, this is a very important metric. While the number of women owned businesses or total spend on women-owned businesses are important indicators for measuring diversity and inclusion in the supply chain, there are several other key indicators that can provide a more comprehensive view of an organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, including supplier gender performance on specific gender criteria, participation in supplier development programs and transparency in reporting.
Setting clear goals is not only crucial to measure progress, it also provides a clear direction for the organization and individuals (roadmap) and it supports the alignment and commitment of key stakeholders, moreover it facilitates clear communication and transparency.
When your organization is ready to develop goals for enhanced gender equality in the supply chain, it is important to align the goals with the broader organizational strategies. Alignment ensures that every initiative supports the broader mission and vision, efforts are coordinated and consistent, resources are utilized efficiently, and progress in one area contributes to the overall success of the organization.
The methods to use to ensure alignment with the broader strategies are regular reviews of the organization’s strategic plan and consistency with the goals, collaboration between the different departments and teams to increase commitment and shared responsibility, support from leadership, integration in the strategic planning process, clear communication of goals to all relevant stakeholders and establish feedback mechanism and to see if goals are still aligned and be open for adjustments as part of the journey.