David Coethica’s Blog

Photo Credit: Warren Smith / PA Wire

Following on from the recent post on 5 Reasons Against CSR from Smaller Businesses I thought it would make sense to explore the main examples of great initiatives that countless smaller businesses actively deliver without knowing it’s part of a bigger better business picture. 

As a consultant I have the ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’ mantra ringing in my ears day and night. If I’m completely honest I don’t completely accept that, especially for smaller businesses. Sometimes you know it’s working and can spend excessive resource measuring and administering. Yes, there will come a time when measurement is essential but with grassroots entrepreneurs over management can kill stone dead any energy or innovation. 

Anyway, here’s the 5 most common ‘unknown’ CSR activities within SMEs: 

Sponsoring a children’s sport club 

Especially in my home city of Liverpool football is almost a religion to some and junior football is literally everywhere. Usually small businesses connected via family members or friends of the children are responsible for sponsoring team kits and equipment. I use the term ’sponsor’ with some licence. In many cases it is a donation rather than getting anywhere near a return on investment expectation, but sponsorship is what it should be called. 

Providing flexible hours for employees to manage care issues 

Even if it’s allowing an employee to come in fifteen minutes late or leave early to collect a child from school that’s still flexible working. Whilst SMEs are unaware of the complete range of flexible working options available, most will informally offer one or two variations to look after their employees. 

Recycling / Energy saving 

Environmental issues are pushing the CSR agenda forward and there can’t be many small businesses remaining that are either forced through legislation or a desire to reduce costs. There are countless support mechanisms to assist SMEs in with ever improving services but nearly everybody know recycles paper or is trying to save fuel / energy. 

Using local suppliers 

Encouraging businesses to use local suppliers campaigns have been around for ever. In the UK the Federation of Small Business (FSB) are pro-actively promoting their ‘Keep Trade Local’ manifesto. You could almost replace ‘Keep it Local’ with a the grander sounding ’sustainable procurement’ as the two are much closer than fee charging supply chain consultants would have you believe; reduced road miles, supporting local economies, improved supplier relationships. 

Charity Fundraising Events 

Do you know a business that hasn’t help raise money for a good cause? Cash donations, fundraising balls, themed work days, Santa Dash, sponsored sit in a bath of custard / head shave. Most SMEs approach good causes as an act of pure philanthropy offering cash or in-kind support without expectation of return and there’s nothing too wrong with that at all. 

An extended list could also easily include employee training, supporting local schools, employing local people, etc. etc, but you should be getting the picture by now. 

These five highlighted areas are wonderful examples of instinctive CSR / good business / philanthropy that demonstrates the local understanding and willingness by owner / managers to allow business resources to be diverted away from core business objectives because they feel it’s the right thing to do.  

Smaller business are a furnace of raw, energetic, well meaning and often creative CSR activity that often goes overlooked. Imagine for a moment the possibilities with just a little more coordination, strategic thought, active communication and improved specialist support. We could see  numerous small initiatives multiplied across the millions of SMEs internationally to provide a world changing combined overall impact – viva la small business CSR! 

I thought I’d take some time to share the most frequent responses I hear from smaller business for not exploring Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

My accountant hates me. Rather than spend my time finding businesses already keen to enhance their CSR journey, I often go looking for trouble from the not-so-enlightened end of the small to medium sized business market. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m competitive, refuse to accept poor excuses or just a righteous so and so on a mission, but I am a big believer on targeting the worst cases in any scenario and trying to turn them around, as these can often produce the best case studies you could ever wish for.

So in no particular order…

Reason No. 1 – ‘It’s called CORPORATE Social Responsibility’

So what? Forget about the name! CSR is a concept that aims to improve business performance by maxmising the returns from better management of social and environmental impacts. The term CSR is THE biggest barrier I face  (so I seldom use it).  There is obviously a difference between how a huge corporate beast like Intel and a single employee new start-up business addresses CSR but in essence it’s exactly the same. Just take out the jargon and stir with an entrepreneurial spoon and voila!

Reason No. 2 – ‘I’ve never heard of it.’

Most smaller business haven’t heard of CSR, even if many are already practicing individual initiatives without knowing they have a grandiose name. Awareness of the opportunities that CSR can offer a small business are seldom promoted such as differentiation, reduced costs, improved productivity, access to markets etc. Business support agencies have much to answer for.

Reason No. 3 – ‘We already do all that.’

I wish this were true. This is the one where I usually have to bite my tongue and say with gritted teeth ’Ok. Very good, but how well are you doing it?’ I’ve not yet come across a small or medium sized business that isn’t doing something, whether they are managing their waste, reducing energy usage, motivating their employees, supporting charities or checking supply chains. The problem is that there just isn’t the awareness or support for excellence in these areas, with the majority of CSR related initiatives inefficiently managed, many not even considered at all and few are just plain dangerous to the business.

Reason No. 4 – ‘We’re not a charity (or a social enterprise).’

It isn’t just philanthropy. This again highlights the bad press CSR has had, with many negative perceptions focusing on donating money to good causes with little strategic consideration to financial, social or environmental returns on investment. I enjoy playing devil’s advocate and reminding people that there is no law that says a private limited company has to make a profit. I know of many charities that are more commercially successful than businesses, and many businesses that are more philanthropic than many badly run charities. The legal structure of an organisation is a vehicle to achieve a goal and should not stand in the way of well managed social and environmental engagement.

Reason No. 5 – ‘We’ve got no time for CSR. We’re just trying to survive.’

I really do understand how small businesses feel, after all Coethica is my small business and I support numerous others. The daily list of tasks to keep a company afloat is relentless. CSR should be used to help the business survive and prosper, it shouldn’t be an ‘either / or’ situation. Take a breath and investigate the short and medium term opportunities to reduce costs, access new markets, improve product specification etc. and make the time to take a longer look when your planning. If you think you’ve got no time for CSR, you don’t understand the concept – call me and I’ll help you understand.

In today’s society we are at times over-exposed to extreme images and events through the media, now difficult to avoid, every day depicting neglect, violence, greed, disaster and impending doom. Too many people have become desensitized by this saturation of global plight and quickly insulate themselves with a shot of inane reality television to wash away any pangs of responsibility.

Let’s not forget the nightmare images we are seeing on television or through the internet are very real, not a tv drama and if anything are only a censored indication of the thousands of horrific stories evolving daily. Although distant in miles we should be united through our humanity.

Many of us in the blogosphere are fortunate to live in comfortable and secure circumstances. It is all too easy to take laptops, mobile phones and our other luxuries for granted, never mind clean water, medical attention, our families and our homes. Take one minute, close your eyes and imagine your home in ruins, your family missing and precious little practical help offering any respite at all.

Now do something about it.

There are many agencies already on the ground that need your help immediately. In reality all most of us can do is make a financial donation to a reputable cause, to begin to alleviate the suffering that the surviving people of Haiti are being forced to endure.

Many businesses are taking the initiative by offering direct financial support, products in-kind and making it easier for individuals to provide their assistance. If you own, manage or work for a business that wants to help (some may nned a nudge, don’t be scared, ask the boss, he can only say no, then ask him again, and again…), visit the UN Emergency Response for Business website for advice on the most effective way to offer your support. The Huffington Post has this great list of some of the bigger corporate responses so far if you need inspiration. Here’s the story from the Financial Times on the ‘Rush of corporate aid to Haiti’.

If you’re an individual, every donation helps, no matter how small, but please ensure you are choosing a reputable agency, as unfortunately there will be those out there looking to take advantage of the highly emotionally vulnerable. Stick with an organisation you know. Here’s a short list of good causes and what they do, that I’d vouch for to make sure your donation gets to where it’s needed most:

• UNICEF  -  is deploying clean water and sanitation supplies, therapeutic foods, medical supplies and temporary shelter to Jacmel and Port-au-Prince. UNICEF will also be focusing on children who have become separated from their families to protect them from harm or exploitation.
• CARE – plans to start food distributions using stocks of high-protein biscuits from CARE warehouses in Haiti. CARE has 133 staff who are on the ground coordinating with U.N. agencies and other aid organizations to gather more detailed information about the damage and will rapidly scale up response based on those assessments.
• YELE HAITI - a grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment, supported by Timberland and Wyclef Jean.
• DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS - provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. DWB/MSF reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols
• SAVE THE CHILDREN – providing vulnerable children with health, education, protection and food security programs.

It doesn’t really matter which agency you choose, but it does matter that you don’t pretend that real people in Haiti aren’t just another TV show.

Global web giant Google informed the world it had lost its patience with the Chinese government (without actually naming them) via Google Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond and his blog yesterday afternoon.

In an unprecedented stand against cyber attacks and censorship stating:

‘primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists’,

Google now threatens to walk away entirely from one of the biggest markets on the planet. Ok, they haven’t actually pulled out yet, but the blog statement alone will create shock waves in diplomatic relations with China for some time, and damage their own share price (it fell 1.9% almost immediately after the news hit).

The ethical dilemma Google now face is should they pull out of China at all? Do they really mean it or is it a bargaining position? Should Google stay on negotiated improved terms of transparency and reduced censorship, if possible at all, or should they retreat and focus on generating shareholder value in less treacherous territories? This story is going to be one hell of a rollercoaster. Google simply has to retain some presence in China to be that stick in the ground for others to adhere similar commercial and moral values to for any real lasting change to be effective. As for what that presence will eventually be, who knows?

The Chinese, on a diplomatic high after achieving the goal of ambushing Copenhagen will not like this one little bit, especially being informed by a lowly blog post! I can almost hear the fury from here.

You can’t and shouldn’t measure a company on any single action, but how many other companies are allegedly prepared to walk away from a huge chunk of revenue on a point of principle? That list is short, and for now, I’m impressed.

Google could help offset their financial losses by pressing for a live webcam during the forthcoming negotiations to demonstrate transparency? I’d pay to watch (as long as there were subtitles) and I’m sure millions of others would too!

SAP’s James Farrar also provides a good initial summary response via his ZD Net blog on sustainability and asks another very important question, will other search engine companies such as Yahoo and Bing follow suit ? Now there’s a test of embedded values. Could China be the setting for a values war? I’m off to start writing the book!

Whatever happens, I wholeheartedly applaud those at Google for taking a stand.

LATEST UPDATE:

Here’s @JulienGoy’s excellent summary of the story on day 1 on his Posterous page.

“Hollywood has the Oscars. Broadway has the Tonys. Now Twitter has the…Shorty Awards”  – The New York Times

The Shorty Awards honour the best people and organizations on Twitter. These unique awards are for the Twitter community, by the Twitter community. Online voting is public and democratic, culminating in an awards ceremony that recognizes the winners in 27 official categories as well as those in brand new crowd-sourced ones.

About the Process

The second annual Shorty Awards nomination process has begun! In January 2010, the community is invited to nominate Twitter users for excellence over the past year. The awards recognize each content creator’s entire body of work, not just an individual tweet. Nominations are made by sending a tweet, whether it’s through this site or on Twitter.

In February, the nominees will be narrowed down to five finalists in each category. Winners will be determined by a combination of popular vote and by the members of the new Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences.

Ok, lets cut straight to the chase. I want people to vote for CSR. I’m not going to complain if you want to vote for me, but this is a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of great work and great people across Twitterland that have added real energy to the CSR agenda.

My favourite CSR Twitter people during 2009 worth considering for your vote are as follows:

@davidcoethica – smaller businesses & sport expert and all round CSR believer

@elainecohen – insightful & humourous csr reporting expert and chunky monkey fanatic!

@fabianpattberg – great news, opinion and online forum

@realizedworth – Chris Jarvis – top CSR and corporate volunteering  expert

@timberland_jeff – Jeff Swartz (Timberland CEO) - inspirational business leader who exemplifies what CSR can (& should) look like & accessible via Twitter!

Now click on the box below and vote for them all and any others you deem worthy of a Shorty and then get your friends to do the same!

I spotted one of my favourite examples of CSR in smaller business included in a pretty good You Tube video.

Adnams, a brewery that produces, wait for it, a ‘carbon neutral’  beer (not tried it yet – Adnams, are you reading this?  hint). I often use them as a case study when presenting the opportunity that is CSR to small and medium sized (SME) business audiences. They even got a few big smiles during a seminar I delivered for a Turkish Chamber of Commerce a couple of weeks ago! Carbon neutrality aside, the hidden gem in this story is not green beer, it is that Tesco, the giant retailer asked Adnams if it was possible to produce a eco-friendly beer. Please dont underestimate the role reversal in this story. Literally thousands of businesses try unsuccessfully to tempt Tesco into stocking their product every year, that the retailer went to Adnams because of their reputation – one sizable vote for CSR!

Anyway, I digress, for a change. Back to the video…

Apart from the epitomy of polished corporate smugness that is Truett Tate from Lloyds Banking Group, it’s not bad at all – shame there had to be a bank in their scraping at rebuilding their reputation.

I would also wholeheartedly endorse Business in the Community’s Mayday Network for any smaller businesses out there. Get involved! It’s free and offers some great opportunities to network (the name gives it away), learn and position your company.

… and yes Coethica has signed the Copenhagen Communique - have you?

It’s a good job my fingers can type because I’m speechless at the moment.

I’ve just paid a visit to wefollow.com and discovered yours truly as the #1 most influential CSR Twitterer and here’s the proof…

I became @davidcoethica and joined Twitter to find like-minded people, share information and learn whatever I could from any source I could find. Despite starting out with highly cynical expectations, as I couldn’t understand what you could possibly achieve with 140 characters, it has been a fantastic personal and professional journey. I never felt  (and still don’t feel) comfortable pushing my own personality in front of the Coethica brand but my good friends at Agent Marketing promised me a good kicking if I didn’t.

To celebrate the new found power I’ve decided to offer three CSR wishes to all those in the Twittersphere that have put me at the top.

Leave your CSR wish as a comment below and next week I’ll pick the best three and wave my newly found wefollow magic wand and make them instantly come true.

To start the ball rolling here’s three from me:

1. All shareholders start demanding triple bottom line accounting
2. Marketing people really understand CSR
3. All CSR conferences can be attended virtually

What’s your wish?

Hello Blogworld

Apologies for the trickle of postings lately but I’ve been distracted by agreeing to write for the CSR section of the Justmeans.com editorial section and working on an upgrade for all of Coethica’s online footprint.

I’m working hard behind the scenes to ensure I can get as many posts up on both sites and should soon have come to terms with managing this substantial writing committment!

Please head over to the Justmeans.com site and check it out to meet many like minded individuals and companies.

Don’t forget to say hello whilst you’re there!

David

I personally hate the thought of giving up on anybody but the triage process used by medics in emergency situations is maybe a good analogy for how we should address CSR awareness and engagement. Why flog a dead horse? Some individuals just don’t have the emotional intelligence and never will ‘get it’, no matter how much legislation, moral debate or evidence of potential return on investment is placed before them.

I’m not the type to shy away from a challenge and been told I have a reputation for being a little tenacious, but then being completely responsible for your business (and therefore the direct impacts on your family) plays its part in honing this personality trait. I set up my business to assist the group of business that sit between the now well supported social enterprises at one end and the well serviced corporate market. Why? Because nobody else was and it needed doing!

Now here’s the problem (challenge or opportunity dependent on your perspective); already established small to medium enterprise (SMEs) managers set in their ways. My position is pretty much the same today as it was 4 years ago. We shouldn’t sit back and allow SMEs to blindly operate in the same way for their own good and everybody else’s. How do I stimulate passionate, extremely focused entrepreneurial owner managers when they believe they have no spare time and no spare cash even if they did grasp the concept of CSR? The dinosaurs are out there, everybody knows at least one and I now know a few hundred.

There is an accelerating train of thought that we should completely focus our efforts on younger entrepreneurs who have grown up surrounded by a greater awareness of global issues such as climate change and access to information. This approach would mean giving up on some more ‘traditional’ business mindsets but does the environment or society have time to wait for the youngsters to come of age?

How much can really be done with today’s owners and managers, regardless of the size of their business? My question to you is should we give up on those who obstinately refuse to accept the additional pressures being placed on commercial operations? The market itself may overtake them as competitors identify a range of competitive advantages as CSR and sustainability reinforce their positions in mainstream management thinking? Younger and stronger values driven management may replace the traditional cost / price trading mentality but this will be at best a generational timeframe. The only effective tool left in the box for enforcing change within this cohort is legislation, but there are limits to how much can and should be forced onto so called free market economies.

My answer, for what it is worth, and it works, is to work with those who want to work with us rather than against us. Targeting the worst offenders to create change only works in rare cases, granted they are the best case studies you could ever wish for but buying a lottery ticket maybe a better investment of resources. If management concepts such as CSR are as effective as we tell everybody, in the absence of politics logic has a good chance.

Here are a few questions about professional football (or soccer to those in the USA) that have piqued my CSR interest recently and need answering.

• 29.9 million* people attended a professional game in the UK last season – That’s one hell of a carbon footprint. How big is it, who cares and what is being done?

• Football related media is now dominated by gambling, alcohol and fast food brands – Is it really the right image for its large impressionable younger audience?

• Financial sustainability – How has football dealt with the recession and the impact of the  influx of foreign ownership?

• Community projects – Football is quite aloof about its community programmes but is it just shallow PR or inefficient waste of money?

* Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance 2009

Let’s get one thing straight from the start, football is not by any stretch of the imagination the best training ground for great business leaders with vision. As soon as you walk into the entrance of any football facility the ‘mist’ descends. It has improved, but football is still awash with tribalism and an over abundance of testosterone effecting decisions. Football has the power to attract even the sanest people into roles that frequently churn up employees and spit them out onto the surreal merry-go-round within the industry. Ever seen a job advertised for a football club? Elvis gets spotted more.

I’ll get through each of the questions over a couple of posts throughout the season and keep one eye on any potential influence coming from the World Cup 2010 in South Africa and the London Olympics 2012.

Let’s start with the biggest picture…

Climate change and football – nope, you’ve probably never heard that combination of words before or will anytime soon. Considering the industry’s global impact and size of audience that scares and saddens me. Environmental issues only rarely make it onto the team sheet. Here are a few direct significant aspects that football collectively needs to immediately deliver improvements on:

• 29.9 million journeys to and from stadia, with many by car. Clubs don’t care how fans get there, just how they spend their cash when they do.

• Millions of pies warmed, beers chilled and match-day programmes & tickets printed, plus undersoil heating and floodlights all burning fuel.

• Millions of litres of water required for a 92 stadium pitches in addition to hundreds of acres of training and Academy facilities.

• 29.9 million people all flushing a toilet (but not at the same time – although sometimes the queues suggest otherwise).

• Thousands of tonnes of beer bottles, pie trays, soft drink cans, waste food, used tickets and merchandise wrapping mostly sent to landfill.

…and that is without considering the impact of suppliers and contractors, local authorities, Police, and hundreds of match day staff.

The biggest problem for the environment from football is that nobody is taking responsibility. The Clubs themselves should but I’ve already touched on the lack of foresight at most managerial (of administration not playing staff) levels. To avoid getting a yellow card here, I have to say that some clubs have taken their first steps, but not many at all, and not far enough. You’re lucky to unearth a basic environmental policy, so don’t bother looking for ISO 14001. Clubs only care about the traditional revenue streams not the ones with water in them.

It isn’t high on the strategy radar of the governing bodies either, and it can get quite confusing who does what (or would like to) out of the Premier League, Football Association, Professional Footballers Association, Football League and other peripheral organisations. As footballs largest single financier, SKY TV does proclaim carbon neutrality, so maybe they should give the clubs a half time roasting in the changing room. I’d pay to watch that in HD.

Business in the Community tried to influence the sporting world with their ‘Clubs That Count’ programme, which I advised on during the early stages but alas, that sadly fizzled out after only a couple of years due to a lack of interest from the clubs. I was always keen on a community / environment / ethical league competition but the rest of the clubs didn’t want to be on the bottom of any table!

Somebody needs to grab those running the game by the scruff of the neck and enforce improvement across all environmental areas. Football is mistaken to think that by doing, in real terms, a mediocre job of community engagement (which could be so much more inclusive and effective) it can offset their other responsibilities.

There is no extra-time for the enviroment, only penalties.