Motivating leaders to take deliberate steps to increase and develop the diversity of BASF’s workforce in North America was the impetus for creating a robust reporting tool called the Talent/Diversity + Inclusion Dashboard.

Introduced in 2012, the unit-level dashboard provides greater visibility into how hiring decisions made in each unit move the needle on the company’s strategic goal of forming the best team and building a robust pipeline of high caliber, diverse talent for future growth.

The dashboard includes BASF overall talent benchmarks and the results of unit-level leadership team decision-making. This approach was very different from the prior static views of the company’s regional composition.

“We wanted a concrete way to look beyond seeing statistics as the goal and instead broaden the lens to see our diversity and inclusion for what it really is: The outcome of our behaviors,” says Pat Rossman, Chief Diversity Officer. “How do leaders behave, how do teams behave, and what behaviors must we adopt to find and engage the best talent from all backgrounds? The dashboard helps us answer these questions and understand that when we increase the attention we pay to making teams more diverse and more inclusive, a change in those statistics naturally follow.”

The dashboard is unique, because it provides a mirror against which leaders can judge the results of their talent decisions and see if they are successfully managing their talent in strategic ways. It also helps trigger deeper discussions that can increase the success of the team.

“By helping leaders see how diversity is integrated into all talent practices, they better understand how to influence and effect change in their groups, and how talent decisions connect to business performance,” says Rossman.

The dashboard results show improvement in many units across North America. Year-end 2013 data show that many more units have moved into the “green” on BASF’s regional KPI scorecard. Dashboard results also show steady improvement in the retention of diverse talent, which is now essentially on par with nondiverse talent.