If you polled 100 companies with thriving corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and asked them to name the key factors contributing to their success, leadership would likely be on every list. That was the case in my research with 10 companies and their leaders this past year. In many cases the CEO or company founder was the original inspiration behind the organization’s CSR program. In other cases they played a reinforcer role consistently demonstrating the company’s commitment to achieving business success and social impact. These leaders represent companies of various industries, sizes and perspectives yet have these roles in common.
In Part I of this series, we saw specific examples of the impact leaders have on starting a program. Now we’ll hear their CSR stories (#csrtalks) about the important role other influencers, drivers – and unfortunately challengers – play in the scope of a CSR program and the steps they took to achieve success.
CSR SUPERHEROES
It would be easy to make the CEO or founder the superhero for launching a CSR program, but each leader I spoke with was quick to note that they are not in it alone. I often heard the expressions “top down, bottom up,” or getting engagement from “all sides,” which seemed like good context for discussing the concept of influencers and drivers.
Shift employees from stakeholders to ambassadors. These companies found many innovative ways to engage employees, including sharing the company mission and CSR pillars in the onboarding process, highlighting successes at quarterly meetings, and receiving input at lunch & learns.
Be inclusive. By engaging representatives from all areas of the organization, these companies were able to expand their reach and influence. One company even engaged representatives from the community to make sure their perspectives were also considered. Exactly half of the companies interviewed have advisory committees of some sort, and those that involved leadership saw the best results. “When leadership participates, it sends a strong message. We know it is important,” stated one interviewee.
Turn challengers into champions. Not every company started out on their CSR journey with a warm and welcoming reception from employees. One company faced considerable obstacles with employees who did not consider themselves to be “tree huggers.” Many employees were not personally invested in the company’s increasing focus on environmental programs, nor did they see how such efforts truly impacted the company’s bottom line. In response, this leader formed an advisory committee including liaisons from every company function – legal, supply chain, HR and communications. Committee members played a vital role in building the program and bringing consensus by delivering ideas from their teams, and reciprocating with clearly articulated program benefits and impacts in return. Additionally, this company put sustainability goals in their annual business objectives. As a result, employees began to see how caring about the environment did in fact apply to them. It became about achieving annual objectives, something in which everyone has a personal stake.
In addition to the more obvious role that leadership and staff ambassadors play, these additional influencer groups emerged:
- Customers/Clients: A CSR program positively influenced new and existing relationships. Many companies noted an increase in social responsibility as criteria within requests for proposals.
- Partners: Similar to the influence of customers or clients, partners often make decisions based on mission alignment. One company offered an affinity marketing program for partners. Together, they embarked on marketing programs designed to enhance brand loyalty among their target customersand have a collective impact on the community.
- HR & PR Departments: Human resource or public relations leaders see the potential return on investment relative to employee recruiting/retention and public opinion and play a key role in starting or evolving a CSR program.
GETTING THERE: THE WHYS & HOWS
Being a part of something bigger, making a lasting impression, giving back to communities that contributed to their growth, creating a social license to operate, and having a positive impact on local and global communities are some of the many wonderful reasons for why companies got started with CSR. Very few noted a more commercial motivation. One company, however, acknowledged the obvious need to connect the two in saying, “Happy people provide great service which increases profit.” Simply put, but true. Even for those companies not overtly stating so, we know the bottom line is always a concern. It’s what they do with the bottom line that makes them impressive.
So what about the “how”?
If you simply want the basics, I suggested five steps for thinking strategically about community investment in this recent blog post. However, these leaders shared dozens of other steps for being more strategic and engaging. Draw from these tips to build a CSR program that fits your organization, mission and culture.
Be Strategic
- Identify your most important key internal and external audiences.
- Engage those key audiences in meaningful dialogue. Find out what is important to them. How might you be able to fill a gap?
- Align your objectives and resources.
- Identify or narrow your focus to directly support the company’s mission and purpose.
- Put concerted money into community relations efforts. Place it in the budget and track it.
- Don’t throw money at problems or make random donations. Instead, make strategic investments.
- Align with nonprofits to develop the program. What do you do well? What do they need? What do they offer in the form of a partnership?
- Have community partners complete a worksheet that demonstrates how investing in them fulfills social responsibility objectives. How is their work aligned with your pillars? How will they measure impact? Put their responses into a narrative and present to a steering committee for review and approval.
- Form a community advisory board (employee + community) to review requests.
- For corporations, create investment guidelines for forms of giving such as nonprofit partnerships, volunteerism, sponsorship and product donations. For organizations with a company foundation, establish a formal grant process that requires submissions to align with the CSR program’s focus areas.
- Look for one signature project to cross over all markets and have greater collective impact. If that isn’t possible, provide a framework for community investment allowing global or regional offices to be responsive to geographic needs.
- Communicate. And I don’t mean marketing. Listen, share, and respond. Demonstrate commitment.
- Roll out the CSR program, priorities and engagement opportunities in a company-wide meeting or communication. Educate, excite and provide perspective to your stakeholders.
- Hire a community relations director. If your company or program isn’t large enough to warrant a dedicated resource, then make sure there is a clear lead.
Be Engaging
- Develop programs that require participation by departments and other stakeholders.
- Spread out outreach efforts throughout the year to keep momentum.
- Remember to engage field staff or offices outside headquarters. Survey each office for preferences and include field staff in employee committees.
- Start a community action committee where associates coordinate volunteer efforts. Replicate in other markets.
- Be mindful not to restrict employees from giving. Create a corporate framework in which you allow and encourage community investments based on personal passion and interests.
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