CSR 2.0 - A New Model for CSR and Sustainability

From "Doing" Social Responsibility to "Being" Social Responsible

In the last blog posting I mentioned that I would introduce an expanded model for CSR and Sustainability, which was developed at the Conscious Business Institute. We have found that this model helps shift CSR or Sustainability initiatives in organization from a process - something companies "do" - to something that is engrained into a company's fabric - something that is lived by every person inside an organization.

We have noticed in our work with clients that it is important to consider 4 segments of sustainability in a business: Environmental Sustainability, Social Sustainability, Organizational Sustainability and Personal Sustainability. Contrary to common practice, however, I believe that these 4 segments cannot be approached in a linear fashion, or independently of each other. They are highly interdependent and, as shown in the diagram, each area of sustainability is only as solid and effective as each of the areas in the inner concentric circles (click here to see enlarged diagram).

Especially in the current economic environment, most organizations place top priority on Organizational Sustainability (blue). This includes traditional metrics such as cash-flow, revenues, order entry, or access to talent. Quite simply: without revenues or profits, the company cannot sustain itself.

Only recently, Environmental Sustainability (green) has made its way into board rooms. A new focus is placed on sustainability of production & logistics, raw materials & supply chain, as well as buildings & operations. This is where most of the typical sustainability efforts in companies are focused, today. But as the concentric circles in the diagram depict, Environmental Sustainability will only last as long as Organizational Sustainability is guaranteed. As revenues of profits are jeopardized, a ripple effect from threatened organizational sustainability harms any sustainability effort on outside circles, namely Social and Environmental Sustainability. As a friend at IBM's Global Change Management Practice recently stated to me: "There are a lot of good programs for sustainability and leadership in the companies we see, but when revenues or order entry decreases, nobody cares about those programs, anymore."

Social Sustainability (yellow) is what is often practiced in CSR programs: Its intent is to create sustainable and empowering relationships with customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and the social community of an organization. I'll keep it at this for Social Sustainability, because I want to get to the key point of this new model: Personal Sustainability.

Personal Sustainability (red) is commonly neglected in organizations. We get our paycheck, see that we don't work ourselves to death, but that's about it. There is little focus placed on contribution, balance, well-being, or on combining personal & financial growth - the things that nurture and sustain us as human beings. As outlined in the diagram, Personal Sustainability is at the center of the circle. It's at the core of a truly sustainable organization, because as soon as Personal Sustainability is jeopardized, people usually don't care about the company, their social or the natural environment, anymore. I summarized this with a bold statement in a recent speech at the Global Summit for Sustainability, stating that "people don't care about the environment - they only care when all their needs are met" (click here to see the short speech).

To make the point: to engrain CSR and Sustainability initiatives into a company's fabric, I believe it is essential to make Personal Sustainability a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. If Personal Sustainability is not attended to, Operational Sustainability, Social Sustainability and Environmental Sustainability can collapse in a heartbeat when crises hit - and we can expect crises to hit. CSR doesn't start with a program or a process; it starts with every one of us.

In the next blog I will go into more detail what Personal Sustainability really means. Contrary to what we might think, Personal Sustainability doesn't have much to do with money. The quest for money - the belief that "more is better" - has got us in this economic mess. We need to answer the questions what Personal Sustainability really means? How can it be created inside an organization, and what keeps us away from it in our day-to-day lives? Stay tuned.

Some of you asked questions after the last blog. Here's my shot at an answer.

Question: The shift from 'doing' to 'being' is an interesting one, and I'm curious about how you manifest that, and what that means on the ground. Do you think it is possible to avoid conflicts about 'what's right' and 'what's wrong'?

Answer: These are important questions. Please stay tuned on the shift from "doing" to "being". I will address that in the course of the coming blogs. As to the second question: I don't think we can avoid these conflicts as long as we continue operating with the same mind-set. Conflicts about "what's right" and "what's wrong" are usually not about right or wrong. They are about strengthening our position versus someone else's. They are about identity and ego, and about placing ourselves into a more dominant position. Personally, I like to exchange "right" and "wrong" with "it works" or "it doesn't work". As long as we think that actions or things might be "right" or "wrong" there will be resistance and conflict, because there's judgment. If we think "it works" or "it doesn't work", focusing on the problem instead of the emotional confrontation, reduces the potential for conflict.

Question: Can you tell me more about "new approaches that help build companies with a Wow-Factor"?

Answer: Again, please stay tuned. We will some of the approaches in the course of this blog. Until then, you are welcome to click here to read a couple of articles, and to click here to listen to some brief audios. We will also publish a white paper in a couple of weeks that outline what's needed to create the "Wow-Factor".