This Board Diversity Toolkit is a guide and resource for board chairs, nomination committee chairs, company/board secretaries, and CEOs looking to make an effective and lasting transition towards a diverse board culture that supports sustained improvement in the board’s effectiveness and performance. It is a practical instructional tool that combines years of experience in both board and diversity consulting to support an inclusive future anchored in best practice. 

Filled with useful, practical information on how to advance board diversity, this Toolkit aims to contribute to better working environments and, ultimately, to better businesses. It can be used by a wide variety of companies and organizations, at any stage of growth, to determine a diversity baseline, identify gaps, and chart a path towards greater diversity. 

Although board diversity is increasingly recognised as a necessary part of an effective board, it can be challenging to know how to transition to a genuinely diverse board. 

This toolkit aims to demystify the road to achieving diversity by outlining concrete ways that boards can: 

• Align the organization and board to a new mission that embraces diversity 

• Start the conversation in a constructive way to avoid threatening existing board members.

• Support long-serving board members to understand the business benefits of improving diversity

• Gain support from shareholders and investors around the value of board diversity

• Nurture a culture that recognizes diversity as critical for growth and performance

• Help a board that finds change uncomfortable to start a conversation on board diversity 

Chapter One of this Toolkit outlines the business case for diversity while Chapter Two presents key considerations for driving inclusion, covering everything from training and bias to data-driven planning. Finally, Chapter Three presents a framework for how boards can begin implementing a plan to accelerate their board diversity goals. 

The Board Diversity Toolkit is produced by the Board Diversity Charter, a joint initiative of TheBoardroom Africa and Alitheia Capital, in partnership with Board Excellence. The Charter is a call for leading corporations and small and medium enterprises to demonstrate leadership in gender diversity.