Buy in for CSR will always begin from home. Unless the management of the corporation is convinced with its ideas of corporate citizenship, it will not be able to influence its employees to believe in its ideology. Hence it is highly imperative to collaborate with all stakeholders and promote engagement so that the very purpose of CSR is not defeated.
Most of the times, leaders have to fight the challenge of getting together people on board whose thinking and actions are in line with company’s vision, mission and values. Hence they try to ensure that the company’s vision for a compelling and inspiring future is shared by all employees and it’s not just their vision which is a much difficult task requiring lot of energy, investment and effort. Also, the reasons for buy-in for stakeholders should be rational for a compelling and inspiring future instead of being emotional gestures.
For buy-in to be successful, stakeholders have to be engaged by being open to many perspectives which threaten leaders to lose control over areas in which they have expertise. This may lead to uncertainty in outcome, hence it becomes imperative to believe in the concept first and then build up support for the cause. A CSR buy-in would involve engagement of both the brain and the heart, hence the whole process requires structured and systematic thinking along with debate on values attached with the string. Emotional connection would facilitate in identifying the meaning associated with shared purpose which goes beyond just making money.
The benefits of the CSR initiative should be discussed with clarity among stakeholders for effective buy-in as to why the project is so important forachieving organization’s aims as well as stakeholder’s objectives and what would be the possible implications if the plan fails. It is important to understand the historical nature of stakeholders so as to know which things would work and which would not. This would assist in facilitating buy-in so that stakeholders would remain onboard with the program’s ideas for a longer period, thus supporting the initiative over its life time.
Effective Buy-in for stakeholders could be achieved by using the following checklist of communication:
• Vision of the project including its objectives, goal and proposed benefits
• Purpose explaining the WHY of the CSR initiative which gives meaning to the effort
• Values for motivating the stakeholders throughout the process
• Involving stakeholders frequently and continuously
• Setting expectations in the beginning as per proposed plans
• Identifying ley stakeholders but also taking everyone along at the same time
• Be ready for addressing compromises for facilitating consensus
• Giving importance to stakeholder by relating the objectives of the initiative to their needs
• Speaking the language of the stakeholders for simplifying the thoughts without arrogance and prejudices
• Be proactive, fore-see the challenges and gear up for action!
Healthy, transparent and unbiased communication should be encouraged among all stakeholders and the purpose of CSR initiatives should be clearly translated to them through reports on evaluations, planning and implementation. Translation of vision, communication and linking, feedback and learning along with business planning will assist in strategic implementation of CSR. Sometimes, the proposer of the plan may be very well versed with the concepts, but it is also important to clearly make the other party also understand one’s thought process i.e. ‘I know what I mean’ but ‘do you know what I mean?’
Regular meetings and updates along with monitoring of the status would help in keeping the communication channels open and facilitate ownership of stakeholders in the CSR process. Buy-in is strengthened by relationship management with all stakeholders who want to be heard, consulted and advised. Strong leadership is highly important in convincing the stakeholders about the CSR initiatives. It may not be possible that consensus is achieved at all instances, but it is the spirit of returning to the society without depleting the organization’s balance sheet which should be agreed upon by all. Importance should be given to form the decision making team on CSR matters having representation from all streams, domains and departments so that unbiased view-points can be addressed. Individual ego clashes should be avoided so that the system does not collapse for a greater good.
Stakeholders should be convinced using successful examples as discussed in the material. One must be patient in dealing with the buy-in process of taking all the stakeholders along as everybody would want to see their community thrive but what is important is how to make the stakeholders realize that it is only through their efforts, that community would actually be able to prosper.
One must agree that consumers buy a product not because ‘what’ the product does, but because of the ‘why’ factor behind the company which produced the product. Hence if the corporation is convinced that it will be adding value to all the stakeholders through its endeavors and also create impact on its bottom line, then the consumer will believe in the organization’s belief.