The Convenience of CSR

A good friend of mine once said about being an employer…” We don’t support people only when it is convenient for us to do so”.  I have used this statement repeatedly in numerous contexts since it was introduced to me many years ago. And, I hope I have practiced it.

Responsibility and Relationship

In my mind it goes to the center of the connection between the concepts of relationship and responsibility. Let’s separate these two for a moment. Within the context of corporate social responsibility I have heard responsibility described as the moral commitment to do what is expected.  This is fine starting place and many companies would do well just to meet this standard. My concern is that this kind of standard is less a ceiling for high achievement but rather a floor of minimal expectations – essentially compliance to societal norms or industrial regulations.  If however, we add the concept of relationship, that is, something that matters, does this start to elevate the behavior associated with responsibility to something that is of a higher measure?

A blog by Aman Singh questions the role of CSR officers within large corporations.  She argues that while the role is still being established the immaturity of it means that officers from elsewhere within the organization are being shoehorned into the positions because of their talent shown elsewhere, not because of some understanding  or even passion for CSR objectives and outcomes.  This approach is in danger of supporting an activity because “it is convenient to do so”.

Aman goes on to state “In a knee jerk reaction, we are instituting them (the uninformed CSR officer) as our green spokespersons but not demanding that they embed sustainability in the company’s long term strategy and all operations. Until regulation and stakeholders support us, achieving corporate social responsibility remains an elusive goal, titles notwithstanding.”

So…what if we found a way to bring in the second element in the connection?...the relationship? What if we found a way to not only discover the long term strategic touchpoints between traditional corporate strategy and long term CSR, but we did so by actually embedding the emerging leaders within CSR programs and services(relationships that matter) and then used those actual activities as levers for understanding themselves, their roles and responsibilities within their company, the communities in which they do business and ultimately leadership itself.

From a corporate perspective would this be inconvenient?  Probably, yet it would demonstrate a  pivotal shift from CSR as an adjunctive program to one of true strategic differentiation and long term commitment

Employee Engagement and Corporate Social Responsibility

The following is an excerpt from this weekend's Globe and Mail (October 31, 2009, The business section, page B18).
...More than half of Canadians would be willing to accept a pay cut or a lesser job title in order to work for an organization with a sound corporate reputation a poll by staffing company Kelly Services has found. A company’s ethical behavior was cited as an important factor in deciding where to work by 97% of the 7,000 surveyed (!), with 53% saying they would take a pay cut to work for an employer with a reputation for caring about employees and the community. And 91% per cent said they would consider an employer’s efforts to reduce global warming when choosing a career. The percentages were nearly identical in all age groups. The findings indicate that “employees take pride not only in what they do while at work but in what they do while at work, but in what their organization stands for and how it is perceived by the entire community”, says Kelly vice-president and Canadian managing director Karin French.
It appears to be increasingly critical for an organization to examine it's business practices and the alignment with corporate social responsibility in order to be attractive to employees. Success in this area, we believe, is linked to the development of the organizations leaders.
What is your experience - does your organization retain you because of their corporate social responsiblity?

Personal - Organizational Dissonance

Regardless of our role in an organization, I suspect that just about everyone has experienced times when in their own personal life journey they are confronted with the realization that they don’t like who they have `to be’ in order to be successful in their current organization.
This week I found myself in a number of conversations in which there was a recurring theme - the individuals were asking `how do I find an organization that is aligned with my values, where I can engage in work that is meaningful to me and is personally satisfying, and where I can make a difference?’ In each case the individual was well educated and highly skilled in their chosen profession. They wanted to do more than practice their skills, they wanted to make a difference and were frustrated by the systems in which they found themselves working. They were experiencing organizational - personal dissonance.
I have been in that place of dissonance and for me the ultimate outcome was that I left the organization – preferring to give up the security of organizational life for consulting and contract work where I could work with people I enjoyed, doing work that I was passionate about, and doing work in a way that was aligned with my values.
Organizations today cannot afford to lose employees who want to bring more than just their technical competencies to the workplace. People will join an organization that allows them to use their technical skills, but they will leave organizations that do not allow them to engage their areas of passionate interest – including their emotional, relational, and spiritual passions. How many organizations do you know that view their people as `talent to be managed’ or as `discrete skill sets’ to be plugged into an organizational need rather than as whole and integrated individual with hopes, dreams and needs for making a difference.
In my conversations this week I heard expressed both passion and frustration. There was an understanding of the need for their organization to make money and to balance their budgets – but there was a sense that their organizations were falling short of their responsibility to make positive contributions to their communities and the clients that they served – and that making money and balancing budgets did not have to be at odds with the social responsibility of the organization to people and communities.
I don’t believe that there is a perfect organization out there – all organizations are challenged to balance the often competing agendas required to be a sustainable organization. That many organizations have remained focused on the financial bottom line to the neglect of engaging the creativity and passions of their employees’ is a reality. However as organizations seek to hold a competitive niche in the marketplace and retain highly skilled staff, engaging staff and fostering creative and innovative thinking is the organizational leadership challenge of the day. Creating a workplace that values the passions of staff will require leadership that appreciates diversity in perspectives, can be inclusive of all that individuals bring to the workplace (and not just their technical skills), can leverage differences to foster creative solutions to organizational and societal problems, and thus improve organizational effectiveness.
As leaders, how are we challenging and developing our own leadership to lead from a place of valuing diversity, leveraging differences, and practicing inclusivity. Do I as a leader not also have a responsibility to examine my leadership paradigm and decide whether or not I need to shift my view of leadership as being centered in positional authority, hierarchy, and control and move towards one that values interconnectedness, creativity, and wholeness? Can I choose to lead so that my organization becomes the organization that I want to be a part of?
At The Acacia Group we believe passionately that a new leadership model and paradigm is needed and that the shift requires a transformation of leaders before an organizational transformation can occur. We have developed and offer socially responsible leadership residencies through which individuals have opportunities for transformative learning – preparing them to live and lead as socially responsible leaders in their community and their organizations.Check out our website for upcoming residences at www.theacaciagroup.ca , sign up for our blogs at http://theacaciagroup.blogspot.com/ and join us as we twitter at http://twitter.com/theacaciagroup