Connect
Articles
Community Engagement - Victoria Webster, Grayling
INSIGHT ARTICLE
Victoria Webster is a senior consultant, CSR and NFP, Grayling
Many CSR professionals will be familiar with the four pillars of corporate responsibility. For those of you that need a brief refresher, Community, Workplace, Environment and Marketplace provide a strong basis for corporate responsibility strategies.
In the first of a four part series, this thought leadership paper will examine how ‘community' can be an invaluable tool in engaging consumers and employees with your business.
Reading a recent article in the Guardian, psychologist Frank Lipman described exactly why we are all so stressed and exhausted in today's fast paced environment. We are, apparently, ‘spent'. As well as prescribing lots of exercise and a good night's sleep, Lipman believes the greatest influence on his patients' wellbeing comes from what he calls "intangibles": community, friends, family, love, meaning.
There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that individuals harbour feelings of isolation in our culture, and that the sense of community and access to a network of relationships has all but disappeared in recent decades.
Yet, after widespread migration into towns and cities and individuals enjoying the luxury of living anonymously, there has developed a growing desire for a greater sense of community. Crow and Allan (1994) highlight that ‘”community” plays a crucial symbolic role in generating people's sense of belonging, and this is becoming more apparent, as this article outlines. Businesses are often recognised as an essential part of the community, generating economic and social vibrancy in the surrounding area. A company can build on this goodwill by using its grassroots knowledge of the issues facing those living in the locality to deliver an effective community-focused CSR strategy.
There are many different options open to a business that wants to engage in communitybased CSR initiatives. These can range from anything as simple as sponsoring local sports teams, advising on organisational strategy to non-governmental organisations or engaging staff in a fundraising campaign for a particular charity.
Here, I will briefly examine several examples of businesses engaging consumer and employees.
ENGAGING CONSUMERS
By their nature, community-based projects are generally the most visible aspects of a company's CSR activities. These projects depend on direct interaction between the company and the community.
When deciding on the strategy for community-based CSR strategy, the key is to design a project which reflects the company's philosophy, fulfils a need within the community and matches the available resources of the firm with the objective of the overall project. Some examples of businesses doing this are highlighted further down in this article.
Firstly, let's consider the internet, and how technological advances have changed the shape of our communities.
With the introduction of web 2.0, many people believe that this newfound need for community began its life in the online world. McMillan & Chavis (1986) define Sense of Community as “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members' needs will be met through their commitment to be together.” This definition is just as applicable to the online world as the offline world.
One of the most proficient online communities is Freecycle, which allows people to advertise items they no longer need to a specific region. The principle of the scheme means that no money is exchanged for any items and theoretically, fewer items end up in landfill. This is a perfect example of how communities that are created online, can be brought into the real world.
As Freecycle demonstrates, one of the major shifts in encouraging a greater sense of community has been the ever present threat of climate change. As long as we're doing something good for the world, we're happy to interact with other people. Coca-Cola recently ran a campaign, Talent from Trash, where local communities were encouraged to recycle through their football clubs and Tesco stores. For each can recycled, money was donated to the local club to be spent on youth engagement. People were motivated to recycle because they knew they would get something in return for the benefit of their community - funds for their local football club.
Big businesses like Coke are more frequently capitalising on these committed emerging communities. Mastercard recently announced their latest community based project, “The Big Lunch”. Partnering with Tim Smit of the Eden Project, the initiative aims to bring together whole neighbourhoods to sit down and have lunch on 19th July whilst dispelling negative feelings left behind by the credit crunch.
Yet, ultimately, one wonders the extent to which these initiatives are designed to benefit business - will Mastercard advertise their credit cards during The Big Lunch to help relieve us of our financial woes?
ENGAGING EMPLOYEES
Volunteering is also a key part of engaging businesses with individuals. Business in the Community (BiTC) recently ran a national employee volunteering event, Give and Gain Day. Volunteers made a positive social difference by sharing their time and skills, and breaking down barriers to learning and employment.
Volunteering, it seems, as well as positively impacting society, positively impacts individuals. Look at BT as an example. BT boasts 3,000 BT Volunteers that specifically help in schools, and hundreds of BT's 100,000 employees man the phones during every telethon from Children in Need to all of the Disasters and Emergency Committee's Appeals.
Employee fundraising is also a key tactic used to promote a sense of community in the workplace - something else that BT is very good at as an employer through their Charity Programmes team.
Surveys conducted by BT amongst their employees have found that the ability to fundraise and volunteer with the company has improved employee's sense of wellbeing, proving the worth of engaging employees in a community based way.
As referenced earlier, community based CSR activities vary widely and businesses that aren't able to engage employees through volunteering can offer something else to the community such as sponsoring a local sports team.
However, some critics may argue that whilst donating money to local charities or sports teams is a good thing, this doesn't really demonstrate real commitment to the community. What will ultimately make a difference to local communities is the donation of time. Through sharing knowledge and expertise with local charities, sports teams, NGOs and other relevant bodies, these groups can widen their skill set and ultimately become more effective organisations.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is evident that community is becoming increasingly important to ‘average joe'. In line with this consumer interest, companies are now regularly incorporating ‘community' into their company policies - something which is attractive to a company's workforce and their consumers alike.
In relation to engaging consumers in the community, what's essential to consider is the value of this engagement and the real reason behind it.
Publicly visible initiatives that seek to engage consumers can easily be seen as promotional, as exemplified by Mastercard. Thus, the challenge potentially faced by business is in convincing consumers of their authenticity.
With regard to engaging employees, BT very nicely highlights the value of community engagement in the workplace, with volunteering and fundraising resulting in an increase in employee satisfaction. With effective evaluation, it is easy to understand what does and doesn't resonate with your employees and modify your initiatives appropriately.
July 2009
