By Craig Bida

(From the CSRwire Talkback Blog Series)

Ask any CEO: It’s a corporate social responsibility (CSR) jungle out there.

C-suite leaders know just how hard it is not only to compete for attention in a marketplace full of purpose-driven branding but also to meet amped-up expectations of delivering significant societal and environmental impact.

Oh, and all that while simultaneously delivering breakthrough business results.

At the same time, it’s becoming increasingly clear that success or failure in CSR today has a lot to do with how well companies engage and enable their people. Without broad commitment by employees, widespread embrace of CSR as a source of innovation and advantage, and disciplined execution organization-wide, a company’s aspirations to become a responsible citizen will often remain just that.

Overcoming Traditions

When it comes to delivering meaningful results then, many companies are unfortunately stalling out.

They’re struggling to overcome compliance-driven CSR structures that track participation in giving campaigns, tally and re-tally employee volunteer hours, engineer forced-fun participation at company-wide events, and drive non-disruptive, cost-savings focused sustainability efforts.

Let’s be real: Although well intentioned, much of this activity doesn’t drive significant impact, deliver meaningful innovation or dramatically increase employee satisfaction.

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