THE BUSINESS OF DOING GOOD

UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO YOUR REPUTATION

By Tracy Pawelski, PPO&S Senior Communications Counsel

Learn three straightforward steps to taking a more proactive approach to corporate social responsibility, integrating it into your business model, and using it as a powerful differentiator between you and your competitors.

Your agency’s reputation is its most valuable asset. Contributing to that trusted reputation is the role corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays in how your clients, employees, and communities feel about the emotional appeal of your brand. Clients know that you are in the business of insurance, but they increasingly want to know that your business shares their values. Given the option, employees will choose to work for employers they feel good about, ones that conduct themselves in ethical, people-focused ways. Communities are more apt to give a warm welcome to businesses that that strive to make a positive impact on the world, especially at the neighborhood level.

Corporate social responsibility continues to evolve, but typically falls into the following types of activities:

▲ Charitable giving of monetary donations or in-kind services

▲ Employee engagement, board leadership, and support for volunteerism

▲ Sustainable stewardship of resources

▲ Operational programs and HR policies that address social or environmental challenges

▲ Thought leadership on issues important to key stakeholders

Unfortunately, many businesses approach CSR in a reactive way or as an afterthought instead of as a strategic way of doing business. This article offers three straightforward steps to help you take a more proactive approach to CSR, integrating it into your business model, and using it as a powerful differentiator between you and your competitors.

1. Align your CSR priorities with where you believe you can make the biggest difference

Every cause is a good cause, but not every cause is your cause. Many businesses are random and reactive in their approach to CSR and community engagement. If you aspire to maximize the impact of your CSR efforts, it’s important to consider how to leverage the business of insurance with the business of giving back.

A good way to start thinking about how to maximize your CSR impact is to begin with what you know. As providers of property & casualty insurance, you may decide that your business is in a strategic position to help clients rebuild their lives following natural disasters. Weather events in your geographic footprint might become a focus for your charitable efforts. You might put an employee on the board of a local or national nonprofit that provides disaster relief to the families you serve. Those actions begin to establish your leadership position on an issue or cause.

2. Set measurable goals and an action plan to reach them

Like any business initiative, it’s important to set measurable goals and the action steps you will take to reach them. The practice of CSR is no different. CSR commitments by their very nature can be very big and brave and, therefore, hard to measure if not balanced by concrete measures of performance. By establishing doable metrics, you will be able to measure your progress and celebrate incremental success toward accomplishing the larger goal.

Don’t forget to regularly reassess your CSR strategic goals to ensure that they are as relevant today as they were when you first developed them. The world is changing rapidly around us, particularly in light of COVID, changing our priorities and expectations along with it.

3. Tell your CSR story and inspire others to join you

Finally, don’t be sheepish about communicating your CSR progress with key constituencies. After all, if you don’t tell them what’s important to your business and what steps you have taken to improve the world around you, how will they know?

Consider publishing an annual report that wraps up your CSR accomplishments or using your social media channels to encourage your stakeholders to join in your efforts. Well-designed CSR efforts are an engagement bonanza, an opportunity to rally your stakeholders and create collaboration on issues bigger than ourselves.

It’s time to start thinking more strategically about how CSR contributes to your good reputation.

Tracy Pawelski is senior communications counsel at PPO&S, an integrated marketing and communications firm based in Pennsylvania. She specializes in strategic and crisis communications and reputation management. Questions? Reach out to Tracy directly at tpawelski@pposinc.com.

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