Social responsibility has never been more relevant and vital to a company or individuals than it is now!
As businesses have dissolved or merged as a result of the global economic crisis, there has been a spark in entrepreneurship that has emerged – business entrepreneurship as well as social entrepreneurship. A legion of People and businesses have become more introspective in seeking ways to be more effective, value driven, and outcome focussed. Contrary to the belief that people become increasingly frugal in their spending, their own experiential learning in a recessionary climate is likely to spark motives to help another – perhaps similar to a state of empathy and a case of feeling the ‘pain’ of another.
Being in a place of ‘victimhood’ in the recession, whether it be through redundancy from a job or losing a home because of the difficulties in repaying a mortgage, as awful as it is, can be a personal choice in terms of how someone chooses to experience it. Naturally, this would be with exceptions where personal circumstances might not make this possible, for the time being at least.
But taking responsibility is also a choice available to us. Being more responsible for ourselves, our loved ones, our employees, our customers, our environment, our community.
People, who, as phoenix through the ashes, emerge with increased determination and perseverance, whether to just make ends meet or to develop an unprecedented and enterprising approach to success, demonstrate a sense of personal responsibility and ownership.
Equally, businesses that have experienced a loss in revenue and profits would also have lost employees and customers. And in doing so they would probably have also lost their suppliers, who in turn would lose business, creating a domino effect.
Those that have chosen to take the responsibility route and have managed the process successfully are likely to be organisations that have strong leadership presence, an iron-willed determination, visionary and value driven, and they are also likely to achieve sustainable growth through leaner operational strategies.
So, how does this relate to social responsibility? Those organisations that have experienced a magnitude event, such as the recession, are likely to be more internally focussed on operational process and management, and more outwardly focussed in terms of engaging better with clients, customers, partners, suppliers – and the community. How it executes this depends on how much emotional literacy, not just business acumen, plays a role in the leadership.
Successful businesses that have implemented Corporate Social Responsibility strategies have known the value that it brings to their bottom line, as much as to the social community or cause it seeks to benefit.
Even individuals, who have felt the brute force of the recession at a personal level, are likely to appreciate or understand the challenges faced by disadvantaged communities. Negative events experienced collectively in a community often drive its members to engage and work together for mutual benefit.
So, isn’t this an opportune time to create a win-win scenario for ALL of us?
