Businesses these days can no longer ignore their social responsibility. More consumers are into brands with a purpose. They want brands to do more than just provide the things they need and can meet their expectations. They also want businesses to be more conscious of how they operate and what their impact is on the society and the environment. They want more businesses that can help make the world a better place.
Socially responsible brands are able to attract top talents and quality customers while retaining their best employees and loyal clients. These brands find success in most of their endeavors, not just in breaking profit forecasts. The role they play in the community makes them a desirable entity in today’s fast-driven world.
Due to the undeniable benefits of embracing social consciousness, many have started with their own transition. But then, simply embracing your corporate social responsibility is not enough. The following are three common mistakes businesses make when trying to be more socially responsible.
Setting up Unrealistic Goals and Vague Social Missions
It is not enough that you want your brand to a socially conscious business. There is a need to incorporate your new goals into your existing mission and vision. It is also critical that you establish a clear set of goals that are realistic.
Many businesses already failed in making their efforts come true because they fail to create a solid plan of action. They also started their efforts without updating their mission and vision. If you want a successful transformation, invest in realistic goals and missions.
Keep your goals and missions simple, clear, and achievable. There is no need to jump to expensive investments and completely different practices if your business doesn’t have enough resources to do this. When it comes to drafting your long and short-term goals, you can keep the following things in mind.
- Educate yourselves with issues you want to solve
- Address an immediate issue present in your local community
- Use existing resources and alternative solutions
- Create measurable, time-bound, and specific mission
Still Trying to Do Everything on Your Own
The last thing a socially conscious business wants is to try to do everything on its own when there are other solutions available. For one, trying to do everything with your limited resources will only exhaust you and your workforce. In reality, you can save lots of resources with proper delegation and outsourcing.
One good way to turn your business into a more socially responsible brand is to embrace sustainable sourcing. This involves outsourcing the products and services of local brands who already started practicing their own social responsibilities.
Outsourcing is already a great way to reduce your costs while getting things done on time. This is not limited to the usual services many other companies are already outsourcing. This can also refer to special tasks like rendering legal documents, delivery of project proposals, and other pertinent documents to the right receiver.
Hiring a process server will enable your business to focus on the more important tasks while allowing the pros to serve legal documents to the right individuals. You might be suing a former executive, client, or customer due to certain circumstances. Outsourcing process services allow you to focus on your business knowing the experts made sure the defendant is well-informed of their case.
Outsourcing tasks and using the right businesses will benefit your brand in numerous ways. You get to reduce the need to exert effort, lower your costs, and even save money from having to purchase other resources. You get to enjoy brand continuity, improve risk management, and even help local and sustainable brands grow their business.
Failure to Inform, Train, and Involve Your Staff
Social change should come from within. Everyone in your business should be on board when making such a big change. Your employees should be informed, trained well, and are actively involved in conversations concerning the new mission and goals.
It is not enough that you tell your employees about your reason for making the switch. It also helps that you enumerate the benefits of your brand’s transformation. This will motivate them to embrace the change, want to also make a difference, and stay active in taking responsibility for whatever efforts they are about to pursue.
Training your staff will make it easier for them to accept the new changes in your company policy, mission, and goals. They will learn the best practices they need to adapt and what habits they ought to forget. Encouraging them to be involved and asking for their own suggestions will make them more likely to participate in your new business endeavors.
Embracing your corporate social responsibility may be tricky at first. But with the joint efforts of you and your team, nothing is impossible. It helps to be aware of the mistakes other businesses made when embracing their social consciousness. This way, you will know what to do and what to avoid making your transition into a more successful one.
