Bangalore: The well known management consultant Peter Drucker is known to have said "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." This is never truer than when it applies to corporate social responsibility (CSR), a pressing reality today. We live in an age where it is becoming difficult to ignore the ill-effects of mankind's footprint on our planet. Ignorance can no longer be pleaded and individuals and organizations are alike responsible with many taking this responsibility seriously.

But what is CSR? With multiple definitions and interpretations floating, businesses are at a loss as to where to begin. Corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability, or any other term that businesses use, refer not just to community development, but also to how a business behaves in the workplace, marketplace, the community and the environment. Essentially it means that a business entity is a part of a larger eco-system and must undertake to carry out its activities in a manner that constantly regenerates the eco-system.

When we talk of corporate social responsibility, we are talking of a corporate's responsibility and not that of individual employees. It is true that a business can and should instill a sense of active citizenship amongst its employees, however, its CSR efforts will be judged on the basis of what it does as a business and not just on the basis of what its employees do. CSR has to be mainstreamed and for it to be an embedded function, it has to be a top down mandate.

Large companies are taking CSR and sustainability practices in their stride and aligning it to core business goals. But what about small and medium enterprises? The constant refrain one hears from them is that CSR requires resources and time that they just do not have. Many say, "Our heart is in the right place, but for us survival is key and we have limited resources." And who is to blame them? In their efforts to survive downturns, shrinking markets, changing client behaviour, do they really have the mind space left for social development work?

The answer to that question is, yes. As a well known blogger on CSR, David Connor, says, "Think of CSR as an ethos that helps you make decisions rather than a range of do-gooder initiatives and you've already learnt a valuable lesson." So what does this mean in practical terms? The following are a few things you can do as a leader to make your company more responsible today and reap the benefits in the coming period.

Here are 7 ways a CEO could get her company's CSR initiatives rolling-

1. Define your values
Start with the basics Define your Company's DNA, i.e. values and code of conduct. From stalwarts such as the Tata Group to emerging companies such as Mindtree, all believe that having values that express your company's attitude to society and country is the stepping stone. These get reflected into codes of conduct and from there it is but a short step to aligning your business goals to social ones.

2. Identify innovative opportunities that can use your core competence address critical community need on a long term basis
As your company grows, though, it makes sense to start thinking of issues that need a longer term involvement. But in order to address them you need to ask yourself, "What are we good at? What values do we stand for? And importantly, where are the greatest unmet or emergent needs in the community that we can address?" Brainstorming the answers to these questions will help you come up with innovative opportunities that powerfully bring together your core competencies with a critical community need.

3. Think out of the box- it not all about money!
An important point to note is that CSR does not necessarily translate into donating hard cash to non-profits. Understand the needs of the community around you and identify ways in which you can meet those needs with resources from within your company. Here's where you Think out of the box! For example you could provide your office / training space for trainings to non-profits over weekends. It is a good use of space and the beneficiaries get to see the inside of a corporate office.

4. Find potential within your staff
Many young people are volunteering these days and if you asked around you would be sure to discover some within your team who give their time and money to non-profits. Get a group together and spend some time at an old age home reading the newspaper to the elderly or playing chess with them. Or start mentoring teenagers in the local municipal or government high schools. In the process of bonding with the young and old, employees will discover the joy of working as a team, leadership potential will be unearthed and lasting friendships made. Not to mention that research has proven that volunteering correlates increased job satisfaction and lower attrition levels!

5. Find what you can do for your staff
Look next to your housekeeping staff, security personnel or other contractual employees. What can you do for them? Providing skills training for them or their spouses and children, providing insurance cover and other such activities that you can do for little or no resource commitment.

6. Save save save
Reams have been written about how to save energy and thus saving power, money and the planet! Similar focus has been on saving and recycling paper and ink. The point of writing about it here is not so much to repeat the same as to point out that you need to take note of the efforts your company is making and document these. It looks good on your annual report and makes your employees and clients proud. Not to mention the ripple effects in linked communities.


7. Influence people not only within your organization but entire community too!
So far all that I have written has been about what you can do in your offices and your company. But have you thought about how you can influence your neighbours and peers? What are the pressing problems in your building and local community? Cleanliness, traffic jams, clogged drains, bare stretches, broken footpaths? All of these are little projects that you can influence by coming together as a group.

The common thread running through all the ideas listed above is engaging with your stakeholders. Identify who they are, what they need and how your organization can help them. The solutions lie in acting collaboratively - the power of partnerships. So go ahead and be the change!

The article is written by Sagarika Bose, Vice President- CSR Advisory & Research, NASSCOM Foundation [NF].