All aboard: engaging your people in your social impact journey
In case you had any lingering doubts that doing good is good for business, let’s take a moment to put those doubts to rest, says Amanda Lowe of Dentons.
Corporate social responsibility has long been a cornerstone of corporate PR and branding strategies, and it goes a long way in building trust and credibility with clients. But today, being a responsible business is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a must.
The business case for social responsibility
With the rise of ESG around the world, companies not only need to demonstrate that they themselves operate ethically and sustainably, but they also need to ensure their suppliers do the same. Professional services firms that don’t take ESG seriously face potentially disastrous consequences: from being dropped by clients, to being unable to secure financing or insurance.
Regulators, the media and the public are now demanding evidence that firms are following ESG principles across their operations. They expect businesses to make a positive impact on the community and to treat their employees and other stakeholders with integrity. They have grown wise to greenwashing and are ready to call it out in the press or social media… or even in the courts.
Being a responsible business is also critical for your firm’s ability to attract and retain talent. Employees today are seeking deeper meaning in their work. Allowing them to contribute to pro bono projects, volunteering or charitable giving can help provide that sense of purpose.
So you want to make a positive impact…now what?
While the business case for contributing to the community is clear, engaging colleagues in your positive impact program is not always easy. Lawyers and consultants are notoriously busy and have to balance multiple competing priorities. More often than not, they are assessed according to billable hours and new business origination. Asking them to take on community work or internal social impact initiatives on top of their heavy workload can be a tough ask.
While I don’t claim to have all the answers (and am always open to hearing new ideas), here are a few ideas to get you started on your journey:
1. Make it a (real) part of your strategy
If your firm is serious about making a positive impact, then you need to include your social and sustainability goals as an integral part of your business strategy. It is not enough to include some lofty language about contributing to the community… your strategy needs teeth.
First of all, you need to set the right tone from the top. Your CEO and leadership team need to be visible role models and champions for your social impact initiatives in both their formal communications and daily interactions with staff.
You also need to set measurable targets, hold people accountable for achieving those targets, and monitor and report on progress. And of course, you need to devote sufficient resources and budget to implement those goals. All too often, the responsibility for implementation gets dumped in the lap of an existing employee, who is asked to “double hat”, resulting in limited success. Investing in an experienced professional to coordinate the initiative full time can make a big difference. To give an example, a few years ago, our firm hired a pro bono director, who was well-respected among both law firms and NGOs. Under his leadership, our pro bono hours have more than tripled and our firm has won numerous awards for our pro bono projects.
“Professional services firms that don’t take ESG seriously face potentially disastrous consequences: from being dropped by clients, to being unable to secure financing or insurance.”
2. “What gets rewarded gets done”
Once your strategy is in place, you need to align reward structures to support that strategy, and clearly communicate those to your people. Given that people working in professional services are often evaluated according to billable hours, you may consider allowing a certain number of hours worked on social impact projects to be counted the same as billable hours for clients. You may also wish to set a requirement for some level of social impact contribution as a pre-requisite for promotion.
Reward can also be less formal. You may consider giving out spot bonuses or offering public thanks and acknowledgement for individuals’ contributions to social and sustainability goals.
3. Co-create your strategy and priorities
As with all elements of your firm strategy, people tend to be more engaged and committed if they have had a chance to co-create it. There are various methods you can use to allow people to contribute ideas and give feedback, such as surveys, ideation platforms, focus groups, town hall meetings, or open house discussions with leadership.
To give an example, when launching our firm’s charitable foundation, we invited our people to put forward NGOs and charities for the foundation to support. Numerous people responded – often recommending organizations for which they were volunteering and felt a close personal connection. Many of these people have since become passionate ambassadors of our foundation!
4. Share success stories
The great thing about positive impact projects is that they make for compelling and inspirational stories. Whether you are defending human rights, protecting the environment, or supporting people in need, these stories can give your people a genuine sense of pride, contribute to your firm’s sense of purpose, and inspire others to get involved. The stories should emphasize not only the work you are doing, but more importantly, how it is benefitting people and the community – and the more personal the better!
You can post such stories to your intranet or newsletter. You can film short video interviews – featuring your own people along with the NGOs they’re supporting – which you can use on internal channels, and on your website and social media. You can invite people who have contributed to positive impact projects to make a presentation at staff meetings.
Nowadays, it is likely that your firm will need to prepare an annual ESG report. Adding short case studies of your positive impact initiatives will go a long way to adding substance to your report.
Finally, there are numerous awards that recognize corporate social responsibility, ESG, pro bono, inclusion and diversity and philanthropy. Submitting for (and winning!) such awards can help gain external recognition and boost your brand, while also giving your people a sense of accomplishment.
5. Make it fun
Let’s face it, we all spend a large part of our lives at work, so why not inject a bit of fun into our day? Linking your social impact initiatives to fun activities will always make them more attractive. This might include doing a team volunteering day, holding a silent auction at a staff party, or holding a LGBT+ Pride party, to give just a few examples.
We recently held a healthy challenge across Europe, whereby participants received a fitness bracelet and app, and competed in teams to see who would accumulate the most steps over a nine-week period. We linked the total number of steps taken to different levels of donations that our firm would make to our charitable foundation. Not only did we succeed in raising €50,000 for charity, but due to the common sense of purpose, we also achieved record participation in the challenge.
Challenging but worthwhile
Engaging people in your firm’s social impact program might not be easy, but it can be incredibly rewarding. For me personally, supporting our charitable foundation or writing about our pro bono work feels like a breath of fresh air. Here’s hoping such activities give you the same boost of energy and inspiration to face the journey ahead.