In order to gain competitive advantage and long term growth, CEOs are acting on three corporate responsibility trends. The trends include the impact of ratings and rankings on their business, risk management practices for brand and reputation management, and best practices for sustainable supply chains.
Allie Williams is Executive Director of the Corporate Responsibility Association (CRA), a not for profit focused on helping companies define and manage these trends by educating and engaging leaders at all levels to use corporate responsibility in service of good business—to reduce risk, improve operational efficiency, save money, attract talent, and encourage innovation.
In what way is your organization taking steps to help companies act in a more responsible manner with regard to conducting business?
Our vision is to promote the practice of sustainability and responsible organizational behavior. It’s good for society and drives organizational results. This helps us achieve our mission of promoting the practice and profession of corporate responsibility in service of good business.
Our call to action is this: Understanding whether corporations are being transparent and disclosing to shareholders, communities, and employees their practices and processes relating to corporate responsibility.
What trends and challenges is the Corporate Responsibility Association tracking?
There are so many to choose!
There are three main trends we are following. We track how companies are being ranked by the various ratings and rankings research firms. We focus on how companies can protect their brand and reputation from missteps, mistakes, and social media pressures. And we work with members to determine best practices for building and maintaining sustainable, responsible supply chains.
We address each of these trends with thought leadership councils, whose members can learn from each other, share best practices, and get updates from third party providers.
Can you discuss each of the committees in more detail and discuss their purpose?
The Ratings and Rankings Thought Leadership Council (TLC) was formed to address the issue of third parties which rank companies on proprietary algorithms, criteria, and methodologies in order to come up with a rating.
Companies want a better understanding of the process behind the scores. They also want to understand how much weight these score have and how the scores impact their business.
For the last six months we have been working our way through a list of 15 research firms to review. We have invited these firms to present at our monthly meetings. It’s been fantastic to get a basic overview of each methodology and data-collection process.
We collect the information and discuss best practices, along with constructive feedback to the ranking firms. The goal is to help each other engage and learn the ratings and rankings philosophy. Ratings and rankings are an important part of the sustainability field.
The Brand and Reputation Management council serves as a platform to share knowledge and best practices for modeling dynamic brands and award winning reputations. This TLC strives to assist leaders in transforming and enriching their organization, along with keeping brands and logos as strong as possible. Often, we see companies with strong brands who hit a bumpy patch in the road, for example something like a cyber-security issue or a regulation gap happens, and they become subject to negative press.
This group also focuses on making sure the team knows who needs to be at the table to handle these types of situations, whether it be the CEO, corporate communications, or the brand management team. Best practices are shared so that others might avoid the same problem in the future.
We are excited about the next steps for the Brand and Reputation Management TLC because they’re working on learning more about risk management and how risk relates to a company’s ability to respond to CR practices.
Recently, we formed the Responsible Supply Chain Thought Leadership Council. This is a group of loyal corporate responsibility professionals who are incorporating sustainable supply chain management and responsible consumption practices into their businesses. The TLC is focused on looking at how companies and their supply chains safeguard the businesses and the communities in which they reside. Transparency and compliance are among the highest priorities.
We believe that responsible supply chains is such a big issue, we are making it one of the themes of CR Magazine’s COMMIT! Forum this fall.
What type of engagement have you observed with C-level executives with respect to corporate responsibility?
One trend that has been growing exponentially is the engagement at the CEO level. Senior management is participating in corporate responsibility initiatives like never before. CEOs are reaching out and making more efforts to engage in the world outside the company to determine overall impact and opportunities. They realize that by understanding the company’s external engagement, they could develop a competitive advantage.
Having observed this trend, we decided it would be a great time to put together a roundtable of CEOs from across several industries and corporations and get them talking about best practices and to share initiatives that their companies are undertaking. The premise is responsible companies doing business with other responsible companies. This means companies seek not only to be compliant; they also strive to raise their standards of business higher to meet the expectations of consumers, shareholders, and the market.
How is this level of CEO engagement different from years past?
Never before has the association had so many CEOs involved in corporate responsibility initiatives. Of course, they are all concerned with the traditional metrics of bottom-line shareholder value. Many CEOs are refocusing on the value the company can add to society versus the old ways of thinking about what it can extract.
We see this as companies are digging deeper into the business and looking for potential risks in the areas of human rights, ethical sourcing, and sustainable supply chains.
Philanthropy has also become an important part of strategy and planning. They want to engage and have an impact in communities where they live, work, and serve. Critical importance is being placed on where and how a company manufactures products, employs people, or provides services and products. It’s an exciting time to work in this field, as we are seeing corporate cultures change from the top down.
Can you talk about the development of the CRA’s Advisory Board and the impact board members have on new programs?
We believe that in order to add relevance to the work we do, we need to have strong leaders out in industry representing us. It’s important that the association have credibility as a not for profit that cares about what companies are doing.
We revamped our advisory board over the years and have included representation from MGM, Duke Energy, Campbell Soup Company, ConAgra, CVS, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Brown Flynn and Pirelli Tires to name but a few. Each of the board members are committed to helping us move corporate responsibility forward. The engagement and activity of the board is steadfast and they are forthcoming and present great ideas. I seek their counsel and advice regularly, and we often develop and implement many of their ideas.
How would you advise people to advance as a CSR professional?
There are three basic steps, Network, Learn, and Advance.
It’s important to get involved with peers and share best practices. Talk about the projects and practices that work, along with what didn’t work. Work with a team to develop the ideas into action plans and help companies become better at business.
It comes down to basics. Find a mentor. Become more proficient in corporate responsibility practices. Help your company save money. Recruit a talented, sustainable workforce. Minimize expenses for the programs you work on while bringing better products to market. Contribute to the innovation and CR practice in your company. Network, Learn and Advance.
Bio:
Kelly Eisenhardt is Co-Founder and Managing Director at BlueCircle Advisors, an environmental compliance and sustainability consulting and training firm based in Massachusetts (www.bluecircleadvisors.com.) In her role at BlueCircle Advisors, she is responsible for providing business intelligence, strategy and implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk programs. Her experience aligns well with her client’s needs for technology, compliance, and sustainability expertise by helping companies create and manage their corporate environmental and social responsibility programs.
To contact Kelly Eisenhardt, send emails to kelly.eisenhardt@bluecircleadvisors.com or follow her on Twitter @KelEisenhardt. For more information about BlueCircle Advisors and the company’s products and services, please visit www.bluecircleadvisors.com, on Facebook at BlueCircle Advisors, on Twitter @OurBlueCircle, and on the LinkedIn group at the BlueCircle Advisors group.