When Felicia Williams took a job as vice president of internal audit at Macy’s, she made it clear that she eventually wanted to move up the management ranks.

Her boss, Thomas Cody, then vice chairman of the Cincinnati-based department store chain, saw her potential and stepped up to help. He introduced Felicia to top execs in his network, prepped her before challenging meetings and, importantly, gave candid critiques to help her shine. “He put his stamp on me as a person of value and explained to people why I needed their support,” says Felicia, who is African American and mom to Caleb, 12, and Camille, 10.

That was seven years ago. today, thanks to her own achievements and Cody’s backing, Felicia, 45, is Macy’s senior vice president for risk management and financial services. “I don’t know if I would have moved up as fast without that executive-level seal of approval,” she says. Macy’s, one of this year’s working mother Best Companies for Multicultural Women, not only values organizational diversity, it makes execs accountable for fostering multicultural talent.

So does another Best Company: in a speech last year, Indra Nooyi, the Indian-born chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, one of only three Fortune 500 companies headed by a minority woman, explained why diversity and inclusion matter. In addition to attracting the best talent, she noted, a diverse leadership “keeps the company grounded in the real multicultural, multigenerational world we live in. And that, in turn, helps us make sensible marketplace decisions...close to the people who consume our products.” If, as Nooyi suggests, having leadership that reflects U.S. demographics is a competitive advantage, how do companies achieve it—or even get close?

Traditionally, the answer has resided in targeted recruiting, supported by affinity groups and specialized networking events. Certainly, these efforts are worthwhile—in fact, all of this year’s Best Companies offer a host of such programs—but considering how little the needle has moved for multicultural women so far, they just aren’t enough.

“Diversity and inclusion programs cannot stand alone,” argues Katherine Giscombe, vice president of diverse women and inclusion research at Catalyst, a New York City–based nonprofit working to build inclusive workplaces. “We’ve done a lot of studies and really haven’t seen a lot of change in the effectiveness of diversity programs.”

So what really helps to increase the number of multicultural women executives? Giscombe and other experts say the answer is clear: accountability.

Show Me the Money
Senior-level executives need performance-based reasons to hire, mentor and promote diverse candidates, experts say. Otherwise, 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.

Many of this year’s Best Companies already marry affinity groups with manager action plans: 91 percent appraise manager performance on diversity issues, while 40 percent tie manager compensation to the numbers of multicultural women who advance.

And it’s not just the middle managers that are measured at these Best Companies. “Diversity is part of the annual review for [Chairman, President and CEO] Terry Lundgren and all his eleven direct reports,” says Corliss Fong, vice president of diversity strategy at Macy’s. “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.”

Walmart first began tying compensation to diversity goals in 2004, when then-CEO 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 annually who is of a different gender, race or background.

Want to push even further? Consider establishing quotas, suggests Marie Wilson, founder of the White House Project, a New York City–based women’s leadership organization. “People hate the idea of quotas because there’s this thought that the women or minorities promoted are not qualified,” says Wilson.

“But the truth is, quotas do work. I’ve watched it work in Australia and Norway, and the overall concept is you’re holding people accountable for promoting women, and quotas hold you accountable.” In 2008, Norway made gender quotas mandatory for publicly listed companies and imposed penalties on those that did not have at least 40 percent of their board seats filled by women. The result? Today, women hold 44 percent of the seats on Norwegian corporate boards, while in the United States, only 15 percent of those sitting on boards are women.

Crossing Cultures
Wilson stresses, however, that setting quotas doesn’t mean making hiring and promotion decisions based on a checklist. Instead, it’s a two-way street: Managers must cultivate high-potential minority women, and women must forge relationships across racial and cultural lines.

For example, “if you are an Asian woman, you should find a white man, because he’ll give you insight into how white men perceive you—the way you speak, carry yourself, present information,” advises Aranda at the consortium. “I’m not saying you should avoid people who look like you; you should find them, too. In fact, you should have multiple mentors. But it’s important to find someone who’ll talk straight to you, someone who cares about your future.”

As she’s risen through the ranks at Macy’s, Felicia Williams has relied on both her mentor, Cody, who has retired, and her current boss to deliver honest critiques—to “professionally give the truth and deliver news that is not always pleasant,” she says. “Often, as a woman of color you aren’t told key information—for example, that you fidget when you present, or that colored pantyhose are a fashion don’t. This can undermine your professional perception and development, and you need someone you’ve built a trusted relationship with to tell you that.”

At PepsiCo, the Women of Color Multicultural Alliance has spearheaded the Power Pairs program to foster trusted relationships between managers and direct reports. Power Pairs matches women of color with managers, typically white males, so that they can discuss goals, expectations, thinking styles and other topics. The program also runs networking events and an annual leadership development conference. Thanks to this initiative, the number of women of color at the senior manager, director and VP levels has increased to 6.8 percent from 4 percent in 2002.

Lead by example
Accountability leads to action, creating a virtuous cycle that signals to young talent that hard work will be rewarded. Salena Scardina, a latina mom of two, initially thought her time at McDonald’s would be brief. She took a temp position to keep her foot in the corporate world while taking care of her infant son.

But as Salena looked around, she saw minority women in positions of power at the oakbrook, IL, restaurant operator, something she had not seen before. That—along with a family-friendly atmosphere that included flexible schedules—motivated her to turn her temp position into a career.

Fifteen years and a stack of promotions later, the 41-year-old mom of Albert, 15, and Katie, 7, is director of U.S. customer satisfaction, overseeing call-center operations and sharing feedback with an internal team, suppliers and franchisees. She is now one of 49 women senior leaders, 16 of them women of color.

“I didn’t expect to find such an amazing company that I’d want to be a part of,” says Salena. “The company believes in individual development. Each year you put together an objective for where you want to go, and they help you to get there. They’re big on relationships. It’s like we’re all working on one big project together.”