Beyond pledges
September 23, 2022
Bold, visible, simple, often well-intentioned, pledges have become increasingly popular in the corporate world, but what about their impact?
The Globe and Mail surveyed 209 of the 473 signatories of the 2020 BlackNorth Initiative, and found that, after a year, the vast majority had made little or no tangible progress in meeting their goals of boosting diversity and elevating Black people to leadership roles.
In the survey, more than half of the respondents neither increased the number of Black employees in their workforce nor elevated Black people to executive roles or to the board level during the first year of the commitment. Survey respondents shared that progress was hard to track, and many indicated they simply did not collect detailed demographic data about employees and directors before they signed the Black North pledge.
Existing research shows that those who publicly pledge to do something are more likely to follow through than those who don’t — pledges can create social pressure and have the added benefit of encouraging others to follow suit. However, progress needs to be regularly measured and publicly shared to realize the impact potential. Beyond the initial pledge, accountability is required to drive change.
Our own research confirms that many impact investment funds and social impact accelerators have reservations about signing on to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)-related pledges and challenges without being accountable to associated quantitative targets.
Good intentions and commitment to pledges fail to meet their potential unless they are followed by concrete actions embedded into an organization's strategy. Success is driven by continual progress and action. While pledges provide an aspiration, without baseline data, clear targets, accountability and concrete actions, progress and impact of pledges will remain stalled. If fulfilled, pledges have the opportunity to drive credible action and change at scale.
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