Mentoring, networking and coaching are important, but Best Companies for Multicultural Women are doing even more to make sure more women of color reach the highest ranks.

First, the good news: Women of color make up more than one fifth of all employees at this year’s Best Companies for Multicultural Women, but even more importantly, they represent a multicultural, multigenerational way of thinking that companies need to be successful in the global marketplace.

The bad news? As women of color move up the corporate ladder, their numbers shrink dramatically,  to 13 percent of managers, 7 percent of senior managers — and wait for it — only 3 percent of corporate executives.

No, this isn’t surprising. But what is surprising is what the Best Companies are doing about it. Certainly, these companies, which employ a combined 2.6 million minority women, are home to a vast array of valuable programs like mentoring, networking and even sponsorship. But more and more, these companies are backing up such programs with a commitment to accountability.

Senior level executives need performance-based reasons to hire, mentor and promote diverse candidates, writes Lisa Armstrong in Rate Your Boss. The challenge, says Lisa, is that even with the best intentions in place, leaders tend to hire people who look and think as they do.

Without performance measures in place, “it's hard to change embedded behavior, whether we're talking about diversity or any other organizational objective,” says Peter J. Aranda, chief executive officer and executive director of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, a St. Louis-based organization that awards merit-based fellowships for minority candidates pursuing MBAs.

For the Best Companies, accountability starts at the top. “Diversity is part of the annual review for [Macy’s Chairman, President and CEO] Terry Lundgren and all his 11 direct reports,” says Corliss Fong, vice president of diversity strategy at the retail giant. “And we have strong programs for succession planning, which helps to make sure that our senior level is as diverse as our management and associate levels.”

And that’s just one example. Walmart first began tying compensation to diversity goals in 2004, when then-chief executive officer H. Lee Scott stood up in front of 20,000 associates, suppliers and investors at the annual shareholders meeting and put 15 percent of his bonus on the line if he didn’t meet diversity goals in his direct reports. Today, 50,000 officers and senior managers follow that standard. Managers are also expected to mentor at least one associate who is of a diverse gender, race or background annually.

In the end, it’s really about putting your money (or your manager’s money) where your company’s mouth is. At the Working Mother Research Institute, we’ve seen how even the best laid corporate culture plans can crumble in the hands of one disengaged manager. Adding diversity to a manager’s list of performance metrics— and even, compensation metrics, as 40 percent of our Best Companies do — is one powerful way to fuel real change at every level.

Jennifer Owens is Director of the Working Mother Research Institute