The turn of a new year is always a chance for change, for growth, and for new beginnings. Take pride in your achievements, forgive yourself for your struggles, and get ready for the new opportunities waiting for you. To start the year off, here are some of our thoughts on how the supplier diversity world can get ready too!
Reflect, Renew, and Refresh
It’s 2023, so new year new me, right? Get a head start by reflecting on what came before! How did your marketing campaign go? Did you make new connections? Maybe you had a new idea for a program, or product, but couldn’t find the time?
The beginning of the year is a great time to develop a new strategy, and there’s no need to start from scratch. Reflect on your mindset and challenge your assumptions. Renew your network by reaching out to new and old contacts and plant seeds for the future. Refresh your business pitch, or your outreach strategy, and breathe new wind into your sails. Take a deep breath and you will be ready to dive in to 2023.
Define Your Success
There is so much you can accomplish this year. How do you get it all done? Once you know what you might do, you decide what you can do. Achievable goals are the paving stones on the road to success, and every road takes planning. You want your business to be more successful, but what does success mean to you? More customers? Bigger contracts? Choose a goal that you can measure and your strategy gets the focus it needs.
Grow your network by certifying with a diverse supplier council. Make your supply chain more inclusive by measuring how much you spend on different groups. Earn executive support by understanding the business case for diversity. Real progress is less about reaching a finish line, and more about improving on yesterday. Step-by-step you can reach your goals, and aligning with community can give you the support you need.
Build Communities Together
When supplier diversity is your goal you have strength in numbers, and by supporting inclusion the numbers can only go up! If you aren’t sure how to help, or where to set your targets, diverse communities are here to help. Reach out! Business communities, supplier councils, and support organizations are just some of the ways to learn from diversity. Attending events is a great way to network. Corporates can get involved by hosting their own events too, don’t wait for diversity to come to you!
This year make supplier diversity your goal. Get diverse certified, buy from Veteran and disabled-owned businesses, and partner with community-led organizations. When you support inclusion, you create opportunity. Collaborate, cooperate, and connect in 2023. Together we can accomplish so much more than we could apart. Happy New Year from the IWSCC!
