How to Drive Change Within Your Company

Don't ask people what they can do for you, ask what you can do for them.

This blog was originally published on the Net Impact Blog as part of its Voices series, featuring Net Impact leaders around the world who are making a difference on their campuses and in their careers.

At the 2014 Net Impact Conference, students and professionals from a variety of organizations (and at very different stages of their careers) gathered together. What united us all was and is a strong desire for change: a passion for making our organizations, lives, and the world better. This uniting factor is also one of the biggest challenges when it comes to breaking boundaries.

Affecting change within an organization is an art, not a science; there is no one way to shift attitudes, change behaviors, or reverse bad practices. However, during Friday’s session "Leader of the Pack: What's the Future of CSR Leadership?” the panel shared their experiences of breaking boundaries in their organizations. and there was one insight that seemed to resonate above all others:

Ask people what you can do to help them.

It sounds simple but, in our excitement and sometimes impatience, it is easily forgotten. As Leo Tolstoy put it, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

When Tim Mohin joined AMD as Director Corporate Responsibility, he intentionally took time to understand and respond to the passions and pain points of different people across the organization. This approach got a positive response and, to this day, he continues to actively listen and work out how key Corporate Responsibility strategies and activities can support and enhance his colleagues’ priorities.

His fellow panelist, Dave Stangis, Vice President, Public Affairs and Corporate Responsibility Campbell Soup Company, agreed with this advice and encouraged all of us to get curious and take the time to meet with as many people across our organizations as possible. He added that knowledge is also crucial and coached us all to keep learning and evolving our ideas because when the people you need to work with to affect change become more engaged, you need to be prepared.

As a consultant in the CSR/sustainability world, I have always been able to add more value through listening, adapting, and being flexible rather than approaching an assignment with fixed ideas or opinions. The session with Tim Mohin and Dave Stangis confirmed this approach, as well as the importance of building relationships and gaining trust. At the end of the day, you can have a robust business case and brilliant ideas, but they will never fly if you do not have the right relationships to advance them.

Isn't it a bit idealistic?

A new video popped up on my Twitter feed last week. It’s quite a cute film made by the University of St Gallen, which sets out what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is all about. If you’re new to the concept of CSR, then it’s definitely worth a watch as it sets out the key points in a way that’s easy to digest.

When people ask me about what I do - after I've fielded the usual question ‘so you work for a charity?’ - I often get the following comment: ‘that’s great, but isn't it a bit idealistic?’ And the answer, to a certain extent, is yes. What unites people in this field is that they are aspirational and passionate about changing the world for the better; they dare to dream. However, this is coupled with strong sense of realism. The ecomaginations and Plan As of this world are still far and few between and those of us close to the action know better than anyone how much work there is still to do. It’s a positive thing - as the video shows, we know where we want to go; we're just figuring out the best way to get there.

Just in case you don’t have time to watch the film, here is a summary of the key points. The language is a bit clunky but you’ll get the general idea:

• CSR is based on the question of good business for a good society, today and tomorrow
• CSR is not charity. It is about the way a company earns its profits, not how it spends them
• It takes employees of integrity plus appropriate organizational structures to realize CSR. It is a matter of individual and institutional ethics
• Politics continue to play an important role but in a globalized world the effects of regulation can be limited, thus…
• Companies play an increasingly important role
• Soft laws are new governance mechanisms based on a company’s self commitments
• CSR has arrived in business practice and it’s necessary to support these developments professionally but also to provide critical perspectives with respect to them

Happy Watching!

What a diverse bunch!

It's always interesting to meet others who work in the Sustainability/Corporate Responsibility sector because it represents people with such a diverse range of skills and experience. Within sustainability consultancy firms or in-house sustainability teams, you'll find people with backgrounds in PR, Marketing, Advertising, Research, Management Consultancy, Fundraising, Journalism - there's no set path.

Two of the panel members from the Boston Net Impact Careers Summit last Friday provide a nice example of this. Kathrin Winkler, VP Corporate Sustainability and Chief Sustainability Officer at EMC Corporation, previously worked as Senior Director of Product Management for the company. As part of her role in product management, Kathrin was already thinking about energy efficiency and waste reduction and this led to her teaming up with like-minded colleagues to think about a broader program of measures to improve the sustainability of the organisation. With time, these measures were turned into a business plan, which got buy-in from the C-Suite and led to the introduction of a more strategic approach to sustainability and the creation of Kathrin's position.

In contrast, Christine Riley, Director Corporate Responsibility and The Dunkin' Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation at Dunkin' Brands Inc. (phew that's a long job title) was an external hire. She started out in the not-for-profit sector doing corporate fundraising, which led to consultancy experience at Boston-based PR, Marketing and CSR agency Cone Communications, and then to her current position, heading up sustainability at Dunkin' Brands.

Despite their different skills and experience, the key skill they have in common is their ability to build relationships and leverage these connections to successfully achieve a project goal. Kathrin's knowledge of the company, its operations, and crucially, it's people has been invaluable when trying to instigate change across the organisation. Christine's experience of managing relationships as a fundraiser and as a consultant has enabled her to seek out and exploit the relevant knowledge and expertise within the business to make things happen. For both of them, whilst they lead the change and need the skills to do this, it is the business that has to deliver it.

Kathrin and Christine's experience matches findings from research carried out by Vox Global, the Weinreb Group and Net Impact Berkeley, which was published in the 2012 report Making The Pitch: Selling Sustainability From Inside Corporate America. A survey of sustainability leaders working at Fortune 100 companies showed that, whilst prior to taking the job, sustainability leaders felt that subject-matter expertise was going to be the key to being successful, once in the job, they all agreed that "interpersonal skills - rather than subject matter expertise - is the most important attribute a sustainability professional must have to be successful".

Overall, I think this is encouraging - it shows that sustainability roles are no longer 'specialist' positions on the periphery. Sustainability leaders are senior executives with diverse experience and a range of skills. What is most important is that they have an influential voice, excellent people and relationship building skills and that they are able to use these talents to maximize their company's potential to be a force for good.