Developing a suitable CSR plan for your company
CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the most important ingredients for a future company establishment and a retentive business operation. CSR has always helped in boosting the social presence of an establishment in the eyes of both its customers, clients and the other third party involved in the complete business operation.
How to Develop a Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Plan For A Business
In order to create the most effectively adopting CSR plan for any business enterprise, it is very important to developing a strategic CSR setup for its implementation. However, the world of CSR is pretty huge, but initiatives in the similar field need to be taken with a progressive approach. CSR basically revolves around the approach that helps in running a business in an environmentally friendly manner. This is why prior to beginning your CSR plan or setup, one must understand their own position.
Mentioned below are seven rules that need to be considered prior to developing an effectual CSR strategy:
Know your company’s insight
Every CSR strategy must be created revolving around the organization. It should be well aligned with the company’s goals, mission, vision, and the values. If this isn’t the case, you will never be considered authentic, and this doesn’t make the desired effect.
Create the fit
The CSR goals must be a strategic fit for the company, its products, and the services. A company offering boutique products going for rainwater harvesting is not a suitable fit.
Maintain the consistency
In order to keep your CSR strategy consistent, it must be shared with the entire organization and the outside world, too. A clear understanding of the same is definitely going to multiply the results.
Keep it Simple
A simple CSR strategy is always better. Don’t begin with a complex plan that keeps things unclear and elongated. This may block your way of reaching to the audiences.
Start your work from the intrinsic end
Always begin from inside your organization. This can be done by inviting participation from the employees and clients rather than simply forcing things on them. This not only works but, also produces better results.
Know your customers well
While developing a CSR strategy, it is always recommended to deal with your customers’ problems, first. Addressing the customers’ needs, you are already shutting others mouth who are expected to behave against your plan.
Publicize your CSR story
Don’t forget, CSR is a way to publicize your efforts of being socially responsible in congruence with the success of your company. There is no harm taking your story public and letting people know how much effort you had to put in order to create a success story. You can share the story with your employees and the even general public using a number of sources such as- company newsletters, brochures, website, online social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.).
5 Steps that Lead to a Social-Responsibility Based Action Plan
For a company being socially responsible doesn’t mean a just a public service but, it also refers to a business imperative. Corporate social responsibility helps in adding true business value to the business along with promoting the positive social change because of it. CSR today has a major impact on the bottom line of every business entity.
Following the below mentioned five steps, one can definitely move ahead in their CSR based action plan:-
Create a vision
In order to start with your CSR plan, you need to first understand who you are and what you are aiming at. This means one must be aware of the company’s vision, core beliefs, running business strategies, and the corporate model of success. Once aware of the same, you can proceed to search for the CSR programs and initiatives that best fit the enterprise’s mission statement.
Initiate a connection between what you plan and what you deliver
Once a well-evaluated socially responsibility initiative begins, one must make sure to evaluate its fit with the current products and company’s processes, as well. Don’t remain inclined to one side. Carry on both the socially responsibility programs and business promotion, simultaneously. There must be an established connection between your CSR strategic plan and the activities you deliver to carry it.
Create an impactful launch and continue intensely monitoring
Once the desired CSR program is designed, one needs to create awareness for the same and implement these initiatives in an effective manner. Intense monitoring is another indispensable part of the CSR plan. Ongoing procedures for the monitoring of the initiatives taken must be created and worked out in order to keep things working, efficiently. Use of big banners, advertising, and public slogans can create a social stir but, without the right monitoring of the program’s success, everything goes in vain. Monitoring the CSR program helps in long-term success for a business establishment.
Stay in tune with your customer’s needs and preferences
Evaluating the CSR plans and staying in tune with the customers’ needs is always a beneficial step in building a highly robust CSR strategy. Most of the people support ethical business practices, so if you are doing well to the world while supporting your business, things tend to prosper and improve your business as well.
Implement CSR for enhanced talent recruitment
Practicing effective and socially beneficial CSR programs not just promotes corporate social responsibility but, also attracts young, enthusiastic, well educated, and highly talented employees to your organization. Young talents are highly inspired by high values, initiatives, and meaningful philosophies. When an organization deals with such high-value initiatives and purposes in life people tend to automatically get attracted to it.
Thus, building a strategically sound CSR plan is the first step towards a company’s success and popularity. Following the above-mentioned criterions and process, one can definitely create an amazing CSR program that involves all the intrinsic and extrinsic elements of the organization and leads to a higher success.
