Moving On - Check Us Out

To all interested readers and subscribers - in order to align our messages and to make navigation easier we have changed our blog profile and now have combined it within our standard web pages. Check us out at http://theacaciagroup.ca/ideas/ . All archived blogs will be there and we will be posting more frequently on the interface between CSR, Leadership and Community Engagement.

Discovering my Leadership Blind Spots in Guatemala

Submitted by Penny Lane

Tomorrow morning I will be landing very early at the airport in Guatemala City.  This is my first time to Guatemala and I am eagerly anticipating the opportunity to explore this beautiful country.  My time there will also be an opportunity to explore my own internal leadership territory.  Despite having spent many years being a leader and learning about leadership, at this point in my life I am even more aware that the quality of my leadership is directly related to my awareness of what behaviors and biases I personally bring to my leadership.

  At times I bring many strengths.  I have been intentional in learning to listen, to ask questions, to be curious, to look for the common ground, to reflect on my on intent in regards to the work at hand and to clarify what the intent of the group or organization is.  And yet I know that I have my blind spots - the assumptions about the world and how things work, my cultural mindset and values and my unintentional influences on those around me.  Lately I have been reflecting on my tendency to want to give advice and my ability to articulate what I am seeing in the systems and networks around me that  might lead to creative solutions.  While I am in Guatemala these are the aspects of my internal landscape that I want to explore and learn the skills that I want to incorporate into my way of being as a leader.

I am travelling to Guatemala with my colleague and friend Christine Bonney.  Over this next week we will be applying the road map for The Acacia Group's Socially Responsible Leadership experiences.  We will be coaching each other as we apply leadership theory and intentionally begin to practice new and emergent skills and ways of being.  We will be travelling to Nebaj with our community partners Social Entrepreneur Corp (SEC) and participating in community work - helping at the Centro Explorativo as well as helping local entrepreneurs bring their goods to markets in the surrounding communities.  Walking into a new environment is a powerful opportunity to think and reflect upon what I see, how I interpret it, and how I choose to respond and interact in a positive and generative way.  This is what I want to be able to bring back to my way of leading in my life - the practice of reflection, the choices I make in interpreting what I experience, and the behaviors that I want to express.

On a contextual note, I have noticed recently that the Extractive Sector (i.e., mining sector) in Canada is coming under increasing scrutiny for their lack of CSR practices.  Amnesty International and other organizations are drawing attention to the negative impact Canadian Companies are having in their off shore development - particularly in developing countries.  Guatemala is one of the countries where Canadian companies are being called to account for their lack of attention to social justice and human rights, and environmental damage.  Perhaps one day executives from the Extractive Sector will experience this type of leadership development experience and bring back to their organizations the awareness and skills to lead in a way that addresses all three priorities - people - planet - profit.

The Acacia Group’s purpose and passion is transformative and unique leadership development for organizations and individuals seeking to live out their global citizenship. To do this we blend knowledge from Corporate Social Responsibility, Community Development and Leadership Development and Learning to emerge new opportunities for leadership excellence for our clients

Forward Focused Thinking and CSR

I was struck by a recent article by Aman Singh that referenced the multi-modal skill set that today’s CSR manager must have. They must be focused on diversity, HR, communications, stakeholder engagement and to an extent, reputation management. The ability to manage a complex and shifting agenda often creates such large and varied challenges that the manager has to shift into firefighter mode, dousing the flames of a crisis before they get too big. This broad approach focuses on “after-the-fact” interventions rather than future oriented, planful and systemic thinking required by corporate leaders.

A study conducted by Ashbridge Business School in the UK and reported to the European Academy of Business in Society, indicates several interesting factors that can assist an organization be truly responsible. First, the study lays out the need for the need for integration of social and environmental issues in to the day-to-day decision making processes. While corporate culture can play a role in this, the study goes further and outlines five competencies or “reflexive abilities” of leaders which they believe can be taught and developed.

1. Systemic thinking
2. Embracing diversity and managing risk
3. Balancing global and local perspectives
4. Meaningful dialogue and developing a new language
5. Emotional awareness

An excerpt from the reports states that competencies “…describe the more fundamental features of an individual’s character and personality. Giving people the opportunity to question, explore and make meaning of the values and assumptions that inform their decision-making process requires a carefully structured process of analysis and reflection”

A second recommendation suggests that such learning has to be taken out of the classroom and should be the product of experiential learning, exposing people to a new experience and then allowing them the opportunity to reflect and adjust their behavior and thinking.

Finally, through cultural diversity and respect it is essential that the participant rid themselves (as best they can) of their cultural bias of their Anglo-American lens and the associated notions of “I have the solution” and replace this with an openness to understanding not only different ways of functioning but expanding their view of how businesses can be operated.

These competencies are a departure from the traditional content heavy emphasis of most MBA programs as they focus on process, discovery, and insight; and focus instead on the creation of leadership leading to transformative change. Managing the list of portfolios previously outlined is a big ask, so why don’t we focus on the creation of leaders who can convey the fundamental competencies outlined above, and who have character and personality that aligns with their mission?

Do organizations increasingly care less about what you know and more about problems are solved and information processed?

Are these the right competencies?

Which schools or programs are promoting this kind of thinking? – Let us know.

The Acacia Group provides services to organizations who are serious about growing their CSR and who recognize that leadership development is the lever to their success. For more information contact info@theacaciagroup.ca , call 1-877-313-8822 or join us at the end of November on our next international residency in Guatemala.

Passion, Purpose, and Profit....

Many of you, who have happened upon this blog, will have seen Daniel Pink’s YouTube video on motivation . It is cleverly rendered and designed to appeal to those of us who predominantly think with the right side of our brain. After reading a little more of Pink, I learned that there’s no neurobiological evidence of the right/left brain concept but, as he would say, “it’s a catchy metaphor.” What’s even catchier is his contention that employees work for much more than money and that understanding this motivation is the way to work in a complex world.
Dan Pink’s fundamental thesis is that incentives, particularly monetary, only work for rudimentary tasks. The kind of tasks that are routinely outsourced. The incentive works to focus the energy of the individual on the completion of a task that requires little cognitive energy and almost no creativity. When it comes to tasks that require complexity of thought and innovation narrowing the field with an incentive actually weakens performance. This focus on a single goal often prohibits seeing a much richer, more creative, response. In a world where we are frequently looking for multiple right answers and where the goalposts are continuously changing a focus on the one right answer may seriously stunt our growth. Today’s business environments require much more than simple behavior modification principles to engage people. Yet, most human resource departments are set up to “compensate” performance not to enliven and inspire people.


What’s even more compelling in Pink’s view is the notion that motivation and purpose must be strongly linked to attract and engage talented high performing employees. The desire to contribute is a powerful motivator for most people. It therefore makes great sense for businesses to truly contemplate the ways in which they can contribute to a purpose higher than the bottom-line. What’s your organization’s purpose? Your raison d’être? If you have a hard time conceptualizing this perhaps your purpose and motivation are untethered. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods suggests that, “Virtually all of our societal organizations seem to have either forgotten or have never really known why they exist and what their higher purposes are. Instead, they have often elevated narrow individual and institutional self-interest into the only purposes that they recognize as valid.”
At Whole foods their “green and healthy” purpose is central to their business. They need to make profit in order to fulfill their mission. It’s making money to serve the greater mission of doing good and being good in the world. When people buy Whole Foods, they’re buying into something that is more significant than simply food.

The connecting of purpose and passion with profit is not new. Small and large organizations alike are beginning to realize that talented people have choices and unless an organization is offering something more than a competitive salary few truly original thinkers will be attracted. Connecting with your purpose as an organization can, quite honestly, be gut wrenching work. It requires a deep level of introspection, a dedication to ruthlessly understanding environmental and social impacts, and a commitment to creating value for all shareholders up and down the value chain. Great missions are not made in a weekend retreat. They are the product of deep thought and inquiry. This process of inquiry is, in itself, an amazing tool for engagement. Who are your employees? Why do they want to work for you? What’s gets them out of bed on Monday morning? What purpose do they seek to serve by working for you? You may be surprised and inspired by their answers…

The Acacia Group’s purpose and passion is transformative and unique leadership development for organizations and individuals seeking to live out their global citizenship. To do this we blend knowledge from Corporate Social Responsibility, Community Development and Leadership Development and Learning to emerge new opportunities for leadership excellence for our clients.

Culture Change 101 - Take a deep breath

Culture 101


I have recently been following a Globe and Mail series entitled, “Preparing for a cultural sea change? Take a deep breath”. (August 17, 2010).

It is the story of a young corporate president, Will Andrew, from Trimark Sportswear Group who believes that, “Our culture could, in fact, be a competitive advantage in our industry.” Mr. Andrew is partnering with the Globe and Mail as Trimark sets out on the path of cultural change...Andrew to blog his successes and failures, the Globe to cover it for all of Canada’s benefit. His beginning activities have been to institute a company newsletter and to redesign the office space to be more inclusive. As I read the first instalment and watched the video I could see the enthusiasm, the can do attitude, the belief in leadership, and frankly, I wondered if that will be enough.

My more than two decades in the business of changing culture tells me that there is more to it than simple structural fixes. Viewing culture as a means to an end, in this case to greater economic viability, often leads to a premature analysis of this deeply complex phenomenon, and most frequently, to the conclusion that culture is good or bad. When, in fact, it just is. Organizational culture is comprised of deeply ingrained patterns of behaviour, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values and has elements that can be deemed both good and bad. It all depends on your perspective and what you’re trying to change.

Mr Andrew believes that cultural change begins at the top...“I believe that culture starts at the top, and therefore I need to communicate as much as possible about what I am doing, thinking and implementing – and why. Culture change moves slowly, but I think we can make notable improvements by early in 2011.”

Implicit in this statement is the notion that organizational culture is something that can be created in a planning retreat and “rolled out” to an organization. There is a significant difference between organizational vision and culture although a deep connection exists between them. To be truly integrated an organization’s vision must be assimilated into the culture. This typically doesn’t happen by “driving organizational change” from the top or by quarterly reviewing key result areas. Most frequently it happens when executives speak and model aspirations that have meaning for the people of the organization. Understanding an organization’s culture is important, even critical to business success, but what is more important is what an organization stands for and believes in. An organizational vision that exists solely to improve the bottom line and shareholder profit is unlikely to rouse great passion in the hearts of most employees.

A more profitable initiative might be to ask, why do we exist as a business? What is the greater good that is achieved by our work? How do we serve the communities in which we live and work? The answer to such questions provides the greater context for employees. It is the overarching meta narrative that people care about. So what’s your business’ story? Who do you serve? What gets you up and out to work every morning? I’m willing to bet it’s not the pay cheque...that’s not enough. It’s much more likely to be the story that you tell yourself about why your work has meaning.

Culture change rarely occurs close to the top...an immutable law in organizations is that the further you move up the food chain the less likely it is that you’ll hear truth. If you are a leader in your organizations - try three simple questions. What do you want me to keep doing? What do you want me to start doing? What do you want me to stop doing? A leader who is truly interested in culture and people, a leader who has inspired enough trust to get truth, will hear everything they need to know about their culture in the answers. Culture changes when leaders show up, ask questions and make meaningful change based on the responses they hear. Changing culture is not to be tampered with lightly, it is wide and deep. It is as unique as the human personality and is as fundamentally unknowable. It is not a “tool” to “drive” business. It is, as Aristotle eloquently suggests, much greater than the sum of its parts.

The Acacia Group’s mission is to offer transformative and unique leadership development for organizations and individuals seeking to live out their global citizenship. To do this we blend knowledge from Corporate Social Responsibility, Community Development and Leadership Development and Learning to emerge new opportunities for excellence for our clients.

Posted by Christine Bonney, Managing Partner, The Acacia Group

Smart Business - “Baskets of Solutions” and the Millennium Development Goals

This blog is the second in a series that captures a conversation I had with Greg Van Kirk, Ashoka-Lemolson Fellow and author of “The Microconsignment Model – Bridging the “Last Mile” of Access to Products and Services for the Rural Poor. You are encouraged to click the previous hyperlink to get a sense of the profound difference Greg makes in his work. As a teaser, consider the following excerpt that begins to portray the value of the MicroConsignment model.

Until recently, Carolina Amesquita, the principal at La Escuela Ramona Jil primary school in Chimeltenango, Guatemala lamented daily the her students were drinking contaminated water directly from the tap, often contracting gastrointestinal illnesses that kept them out of school. Others in the community were suffering too. Juana Ramirez, an expert weaver in the village of San Mateo, could no longer see well enough to sort her threads by color. Her productivity had plummeted, further stressing her already struggling family. While preparing meals over an open-pit fire in her home, as Guatemalan women had done for generations, Alva Rios was inhaling harmful smoke for hours each day. Julia Garcia was spending more and more of her family income on electricity bills, while Benito Ramirez had no electricity in his home and at night had to study by candlelight.

These and similar problems confronting thousands of rural Guatemalans have now been solved through the hard work of two Guatemalan women. Yoly Acajabon and Clara Luz de Montezuma, local homemakers in their mid-40’s, started their own enterprises in 2004 with no entrepreneurial experience of start-up capital. Working within the MicroConsignment Model (MCM), these extraordinary women are providing low –income villagers with essential products and services that help improve their health, nutrition and economic situations – and they are earning incomes for their own families while they doing so.

La Escuela Ramona now owns a water-purification device. Juan Ramirez got a free eye-exam and bought low-cost reading glasses. Alva Rios now cooks on fuel-efficient stove with a chimney. Julia Garcia has installed energy-efficient light bulbs in her home, and Benito Ramirez owns a solar panel and LED light that brightens and entire room.

By providing access to needed but previously unavailable products, Yoly and Clara are “bridging the last mile” in the supply chain of products needed by the rural poor in an appropriate and sustainable way. In the beginning they simply sold reading glasses, but over time their “basket of solutions” has become a growing enterprise…….

With support from university students, recent graduates and a permanent field staff, Social Entrepreneur Corps ( SEC) provides training in business skills, access to products and seed funding. To date they have provided training to over 200 women entrepreneurs and broker organizations such as community libraries who can also then provide business support and skills to the ranks of entrepreneurs.

DH - Greg, you have indicated that you don’t see yourself as a volunteer program per se, but as a development program.

GVK – That’s right. We see our role as creating something that is sustainable, that creates a scenario whereby if Social Entrepreneur Corps were to disappear overnight that the program could still run. Skills and resources are created that we contribute to but we don’t own them. They would still survive. It is just smart business to create sustainable infrastructure – to create strong development work.

DH – I know we are all guarding against the creation of dependency and a neo-colonial approach to development, how do you avoid this?

GVK - We work best when we all work together – we bring strengths and weaknesses, and we are constantly curious about our role and we interact with beneficiaries. Ultimately we will leave when we don’t add value anymore. We want to create self-sustainability, we are constantly looking at driving costs out of the equation, but having said that we need to do everything from development to departure at the right pace, a timing agenda creates an urgency and – velocity of our interaction should introduced as a factor. We build trust – this takes time, but creates a sense of cooperation and achievement. If we insist on a transactional relationship only, then there will be no trust and true sustainability becomes elusive if not impossible.

The final section of the interview will run next week and Greg will discuss how young learners experience the program as interns, and what the future holds for him and this model.

As the subtitle of this blog indicates, there is a real connection to Greg’s work, the work of Yoly and Clara and the Millennium Development Goals. This week and next the G8 and G20 will meet in Ontario, Canada to discuss their way in the world and featured on the agenda are the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). While leaders and bureaucrats pontificate and navel gaze about actions to support already agreed upon commitments, now and again in September in New York, Greg, his team of interns and Yoly and Clara using their “basket of solutions” are already taking a bite out the MDG. Moving to eliminate poverty, creating a better, cleaner and sustainable environment, achieving primary universal education, and promoting gender equality and empowering women are tangible products of the work being done in Guatemala. One can assume that success in these goals will also impact the remaining goals through true systemic shifts. It is curious to note that this is not being done via aid or hand outs but rather smart and effective business leadership built upon the back bone of trust, leading to sustainability.

The Acacia Group is proud to be working with Greg and Social Entrepreneur Corps in Nebaj, and is offering an opportunity for individuals or groups to participate in, observe and learn from SEC and the citizens of Nebaj. This experience is combined with personal and group leadership development coaching before, during and after the trip for up to three months. Interest is building, so book soon at www.theacaciagroup.ca or join us on one of our upcoming webinars to get more information.

Two Stories, Three Questions - Getting Clarity on CSR and Social Justice

Two stories came to my attention this week that have caused me to pause and consider the nature of organizations and the potential influence they hold in the world – for good or for harm. They in turn generated three questions

1. When entering into a business venture in a developing country, is it not a fundamental responsibility of the corporation to determine and then avoid risk to environment and people if the business is created there?

2. What is the depth, intensity and duration of CSR activities as they relate to social, environmental and political processes in any country within the corporate value chain? Is there integrity or is it window dressing?

3. How do we get the message across that for CSR to work it must be embedded into all aspects of the corporate decision making process and strategy?

The first story arrived via a media campaign from an organization requesting support for a writing campaign in support of the Women of Atenco – Mexico. The background to the request is well covered on internet sites including Amnesty USA . The facts appear to be that in 2006 violence between protesters and police resulted in the death of a child, and with this tragedy local peasant organization in San Salvador Atenco Mexico gathered to show their support for the community. The Mexican authorities responded with force and of arrested hundreds including at least 45 women. Of the 45 women arrested, 26 subsequently reported being physically and sexually assaulted by Mexican police while they were being held. One officer has been convicted (of a minor offence) and none of the other officials who perpetrated the abuse have been adequately held responsible even though the Supreme Court of Mexico issued a statement in 2009 that human rights abuses did take place. Amnesty International USA is inviting the public to join them in a letter writing campaign to ask the Special Prosecutor on Violence Against Women for a full and impartial investigation of those involved in the rape, sexual violence, torture, and ill treatment of the female detainees and that the perpetrators be brought to justice. – What is the CSR link? Based on a variety of accounts, the impetus for the initial protest, where the child died, was a dispute related to plans to build a Wal-Mart at the site historically used by flower vendors.

The second story was a documentary titled `The Coca-Cola Case’. The event that sparked the documentary was the murder of unionized workers at a Coca Cola licensed bottling plant in Columbia. In the film, the journey by a small group of lawyers representing the workers at the plant who attempted to bring a case against Coca Cola is chronicled. While the film has received mixed reviews, the facts of the case include the death of and death-threats against workers at the plant who have joined the union, and the reputation of Colombia as a country that is facing a human rights crisis – particularly against trade unionists. The current state of Colombia’s human rights violations is well documented on sites such as Amnesty USA and The Henning Center (a University of California, Berkeley project of the Center for Labor Research and Education).

The questions that these two stories raise for me are basic.

1. When entering into a business venture in a developing country, is it not a fundamental responsibility of the corporation to determine the risk to environment and people if the business is created there?

This question is asked with a puzzled expression and a bit of naiveté – surely it cannot be deemed right to establish a business at the cost of human life or the violation of human rights? Organizations have access to information on the state of human rights and environmental practices in every country in the world. Basic project management processes highlight the need for a risk assessment – in these cases – was the mitigation strategy merely a detached exec stating “Make the problem go away”?

2. What are the depth, intensity and duration of CSR activities as they relate to social, environmental and political processes in any country within the corporate value chain? Is there integrity or is it window dressing?

The second question relates to the state of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in large multinational corporations. How real is the embracing of CSR? Both Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola have recently launched significant CSR programs and this is a positive step. It may well be that in typical organizational form, changes are happening slowly and a snapshot in time does not do justice to the changes that are underway. Changes take time and a longitudinal view may provide a better perspective on the state of CSR. However both companies seem to be silent on the events in Mexico and Colombia respectively. As large corporations, they have the influence to declare and abide by a value ethic that upholds human rights and environmental protection as paramount in the business decision making processes.

3. How do we get the message across that for CSR to work it must be embedded into all aspects of the corporate decision making process and strategy?

This final question comes from a place of curiosity regarding an organization’s internal decision making process and the ability of humans (and I include myself in this) to disconnect my decisions from the harmful impacts that may result. What will it to take to create an impetus for organizations to examine their decision making – at all organizational levels? I acknowledge that it is very difficult to anticipate all the intended and unintended consequences of an organization’s decisions. Surely there are some outcomes that must be avoided at all costs and about which a clear statement can be made. Over the past decades however, a tremendous amount of skill and knowledge that has been developing around processes for facilitating better decision – making – let’s take advantage of them in the spirit of doing right and avoiding harm.

As companies orient themselves to behave as large economies versus as true members of a community it can be easy for them to appear reckless in their desire to grow, and at times tread on fundamental human rights. I, however, continue to choose optimism – that people will find the courage within their roles in life to examine their own values and to choose to do good. That the trend towards true CSR engagement is not just an illusion, but evidence that big corporations are starting to get clear on their responsibilities.

In an earlier blog the question was asked if there was any research about employees making choices based on their values when those values are opposed to the values of their organizations. What is your experience in this type of situation?

In light of the magnitude of the task at hand, sometimes a simple action can make a difference. Please click here if you wish to take action on behalf of the Women of Atenco.

This post was written by Penny Lane, Managing Director of the Acacia Group, responsible for Community Development and International Relations

The Acacia Group’s mission is to offer transformative and unique leadership development for organizations seeking to live out their global citizenship. To do this we blend knowledge from Corporate Social Responsibility, Community Development and Leadership Development and Learning to create new opportunities for excellence for our clients. For more information, visit www.theacaciagroup.ca

Life On The Margins - Creation of a Learning Edge

The last couple of weeks I have encountered different writings and experiences that have heightened my awareness of the concept of marginality. As often happens, once something has captured my attention I begin to see examples in day to day life. So I have been thinking about paradigms related to marginality. Some of these paradigms include;

· marginality and power

· marginality and change

· marginality and community

· marginality and leadership

· marginality and learning.

Let’s start with marginality and learning. Within the practice of leadership coaching, reference is often made to the importance of working with the learning edge of the client. Often the primary focus of the coaching is to help the client identify their learning edge, help them explore the areas of learning that they want to work on and help support them in the learning and application process so that their learning becomes embedded into their internal ways of being and doing. What does `the learning edge’ mean? To me it is that place in my thinking and choice making that is being challenged by my context and environment. It is the `place’ where what I have known and what I have done just doesn’t seem to be working as well for me and I know that I need to explore new knowledge and understanding in order to continue to be effective or to be more effective. The margin or learning edge for me seems to be the place where I am open to new ways of seeing and being.

From the perspective of leadership, marginality would seem to be an oxymoron. We tend to think of leaders as people who are at the centre of things – certainly within organizational structures we rarely place positions of leadership at the bottom or the edges of the organization. And yet what can we make of the growing trend towards CEO’s going undercover in order to see their organization from a different perspective? There is a new or alternative perspective to be gained when a leader situates him/her self differently in relationship to the organization that can help them see a situation, problem or issue in a different way. Surely then new solutions can begin to emerge.

Marginality and community is perhaps a more common context for thinking about and understanding marginality. Every community carries a mental model of `the normal citizen’. Outside of the mental model of normal however, `other’ people are seen as being on the margins – the homeless, the poor, the transients, the mentally ill, the ethnic minority. In some communities there is an openness and desire to embrace and include people on the margins while in others there are entrenched systemic barriers between the established norm and the newcomers or minorities. An example of this would be the different outcomes we can see between Canada’s approach to multiculturalism and France’s segregation approach. Another example might be the move in the 1980’s towards integrating children with special needs into the mainstream school system. Today it is hard to remember that segregation based on health (physical and mental) was once the norm. The practice of inclusivity can remove barriers that we hold in our mind and open us up to possibilities that were once unimaginable.

Marginality and change? - interactions with the margin can only result in change and this is fractal i.e. for individuals and for large systems. I have recently been reading Naomi Klein’s collection of essays called `Fences and Windows – Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Movement’. Back in 1999 when protests were being held at the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle, the folks in power were surprised to see the protesters and apparently unsure of how to handle things. It would seem that this was a re-start of a movement in which the centers of economic and political decision making were forced to encounter the people who were feeling marginalized in the decision making processes that were affecting their lives and the lives of people around them. (NOTE – this is not the first time in history!) In the 10 or more years since Seattle, those people who were on and representing the margins have had significant impact on the decision makers – and from this movement corporate social responsibility has been leveraged. The lesson would seem to be that the margin is where new priorities gain momentum and the place from which the impetus for system change comes. The center or the `establishment’ is rarely internally motivated enough to disrupt the status quo.

Power often resides at the center – the place of influence, decision making and control. The place where laws, regulations, and policies have created an infrastructure that perpetuates and holds power in place. This is not necessarily bad – systems and people need stability and we can all think of examples where instability has been incredibly destructive and horrific actions have resulted. However when power is centralized, a margin is created and for many people who live on the margins they are unable to feel connected, to feel that they can influence and to feel that they have value.

As leaders – whether in organizations or in our day to day lives there is value in increasing our awareness of the margins that exist around us. As I have tried to reflect above, the benefits of exploring the margins around us are:

· Margins create a place for greater personal learning

· Margins create a place for greater organizational learning

· Margins are a place of fresh perspective, innovation and new possibility

· Margins are a place to engage people and increase social capital

· Margins are a place to see injustice and to make conscious choices for justice

· Margins are a place from which change is coming whether we like it or not.

A friend of mine once said that sometimes we avoid having conversations because intuitively we know that we might be changed as a result and our first response is to resist being changed. Exploring the margins in our lives and in our world can be difficult – however the potential to experience new ways of seeing ourselves and the world around us opens us up to rich and diverse experiences that will make us wonder why we were so attached to the status quo in the first place.

And remember the margins are a place where all of us have spent time doodling and creating when what is going on around us is boring!

Within the world of CSR, Leadership, and Stakeholder Engagement margins are critical places to be. What margins are you avoiding in your life and which ones are you open to exploring? What parts of the status quo are you upholding because you are not exploring a margin?

This post was written by Penny Lane, Managing Partner at The Acacia Group, responsible for Community Development and International Relations

The Acacia Group’s mission is to offer transformative and unique leadership development for organizations seeking to live out their global citizenship. To do this we blend knowledge from Corporate Social Responsibility, Community Development and Leadership Development and Learning to emerge new opportunities for excellence for our clients. We help you find your margins!

Asserting Leadership, Not Authority - CSR and the Art of Balance

The first part title of this blog is borrowed from an article from the Stanford Business Review written in 2004. The article, “Leading Boldly” describes how in the early part of this decade three powerful foundations that had committed over $12 million to a city school district over the previous five years – withheld their grants due to the poor performance of the board and the “total dysfunction in the system”. This decision by the foundations led to an investigative inquiry into the district’s operations and a subsequent improvement in performance led to the foundation’s funds being reinstated in the following year.

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR continues to evolve and adapt and increasingly organizations are using CSR as a corporate differentiator in a competitive manner. Witness Coke’s “Live Positively” campaign versus Pespi’s “Refresh” Numerous discussions have occurred as to the depth of legitimacy of CSR with arguments speculating on whether or not it is merely repackaged public relations. But as corporations become more sophisticated in their efforts and in the reporting of their efforts, it seems as it is here to stay, and with this, the desire to align with established causes and NGO’s will grow also.

So the question is this; With the new level of complexity and the preponderance of programs that are being announced, is it now, or will it be acceptable in the future for corporations to not just support social programs but to influence and to withhold support to NGO’s until they get their desired outcome? Corporate involvement in social or environmental programs follows a continuum from check writing with no strings attached to full on strategic engagement (e.g. the very positive relationship of Timberland, led by Jeff Schwartz and City Year Youth Corps). Taking this to the next level and moving to the role of key stakeholder and major funder of an NGO, a corporation has the potential to shift the relationship landscape from one of strategic benevolence to that of a quasi government body.

The difference of course is that we tend to favor democratically elected officials to provide oversight and regulation to social, health, educational and environmental programs. If the rise of CSR continues and there are opportunities for corporations to engage in social engineering according to a preconceived template, are we risking too much? Could this even happen?

The decision by the various funders in the example above was criticized by some and applauded by others. These actions served as an impetus for the district and the City to clean up their activities – without corporate help. In today’s CSR climate, as the dependencies between NGO’s and corporations grow more complex and the contribution of personnel, intellectual capital and finances become increasingly intertwined – it would seem wise that standards of practice be made clear and perhaps more importantly that any alliances between NGO’s and corporations are well contemplated, and explicitly lay out in terms of engagement, expectations, and responsibilities. CSR is a very good thing as long as the governance and intent of the respective programs remains intact.

How do we ensure that social programs do not become dominated by private (corporate) interests? Are you aware of programs where an NGO has been censured for lack of adherence to a corporate standard? If so, is that a good thing?