Responsible Leadership Report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Responsible Leadership Certificate Program has been an excellent course for me, which has given me a broader perspective of the Corporate Social Responsibility. Through this program, I have come to know of various organizations, which are going beyond their reach to bring a change to the society. As a young and future leader, I believe that it is our responsibility to be aware of the problems we are creating as part of our growth, take ownership and take steps to resolve them. Through the webinar courses, I became aware that there are various different ways to work towards CSR and there is not just a narrow scope of pre-defined objectives. It is not only an obligation to comply with CSR, but it has become the top most contributing factor to affect the reputation of the company. And, if aligned carefully with the companys corporate strategy, it can generate high profits to the company both by increasing revenue and containing costs.As a responsible human being and as a future leader, I am thankful that I took this course. I will take this knowledge to my company and I will have the awareness to make my companys strategy aligned with the CSR strategy.

CONFERENCE REPORTS10th Annual Responsible Leadership Summit:Date: 24th October 2014Duration: 1.5 days

The summit was a great platform, which brought together leading practitioners to talk about various issues and topics on Responsible Leadership. There were more than 25 speakers from various social organizations who shared their wonderful experience and their motivations at the summit. The theme concentrated around sustainability and social impact.

The various sessions by Johann Koss, Founder of Right To Play and Olympian, Geoff Cape, Founder of Evergreen, where they talked about how they made an impact on society, were extremely inspirational. The panel discussion brought together three different people, Susie Pan, Entrepreneur; Anil Patel, GrantBook, and Dave Wilkin, Ten Thousand Coffees, contributing in three different ways towards social causes.

The session on an artic expedition with Geoff Green, Founder of Students on Ice, which is a platform for polar education for students, showed how you could relate social benefit with your own passion. The knowledge building sessions with live cases on social finance, social innovation, community leadership and the future of sustainability were my favorite, which added to the practical experience of the delegates. And the conclusion could not have been better than Mikael Meir, founder of Mikael Meir Inc., sharing his personal story of greed and personal transformation which left me with a thought How much did he lose to gain so little? I realized that it is important that you not only are ethical but you should also be fully aware of each step you take and its ramifications before you agree to do anything.

Webinars:World-changing customers: Winning the Sustainability Game with Customer EngagementDuration: 1 hour

This webinar talked about ways to achieve sustainability in business. It highlighted the fact that customer engagement is the most efficient way to do so. The webinar further discussed ways and tactics to mobilize customers to adapt sustainability, strategies to build customer loyalty and strengthen business and contribute to more sustainable business at the same time

It is important that companies not only reduce their own footprint but also engage their customers to do so. This can be done by building an understanding of customer patterns and by developing & tailoring instruments & strategy to influence customer demand which should further be tied to the companys brand strategy & value propositions.

There are two main categories of driving forces, which have made companies to think about such problems. The first category of mega forces is the kind of issues that are going to affect the companies such as population and middle class growth, and water, resource, food and energy scarcity. The other category is of customer behaviour. The millennial think that companies must lead the change and thats why this is untapped market through which companies can appeal to such customers.

There are two frameworks for influencing behaviour: behaviour change model or social change framework and unilever model. Both emphasize that the behaviour to be adapted should be easy, desirable and rewarding.

In the next section the presenter talks about how to make sustainable development so desirable, that it becomes normal. The idea behind is that not everyone needs to understand or care. The consumers only need to take action. The basic principle to understand here is that people are both rational and emotional. There are basically three categories of people.Green will be interested in climate issues, world problems etc., brick will know everything about local community, tradition and gold who will be externally motivated. Since gold are the major category, so most companies target them and convey their message in such a way so that this category is influenced. E.g. Jeans is more yours, if you wash it less is how Levis campaigned its product.Lastly, training the employees and customers will be highly beneficial as well. Improving sustainability will soon become a part of business strategy and not just marketing add-on.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Choosing the right strategy

This webinar talks about what is Corporate Social Responsibility and how does it affect reputation of the company. The statistics show willingness to invest in a company is driven 60% by the reputation of the company and 40% by its products. 73% of global consumers are willing to recommend companies that are perceived to be delivering on their CSR programs.The companies participate in CSR due to various reasons: Economic responsibility Legal responsibility Ethical responsibility Philanthropic responsibilityThere are various ways to contribute towards CSR. Companies should be aware of all these ways. The strategy should make sure that down through the supply chain it does not contribute in human rights violation in anyway and comply with UN global compact. Apart from reputation CSR also helps companies in operational improvements and compliance benefits. Best practices should be followed and key performance indicators should be measured. And lastly the impact should be communicated and the results audited.

VOLUNTEER PROJECT REPORTAWIC Community and Social Services is a not for profit, community based settlement agency, offering a broad range of programs and services for newcomers to Canada and to the South Asian community at large. It has provided its services to the community for 39 years. The major services provided by the community are: settlement services, senior support programs, health and wellness programs and womens support services. There has been a leadership change recently at the organization reflecting greater diversity in terms of skills, perspectives, culture and community; because of which the organization is re-assessing its strategic plan. After discussing with their staff, volunteers and board I have proposed the following suggestions:

The vision statement is not clearly stating their 20-year goal. It merely replicates the mission. Keeping the vision clear will help the staff to keep working in that direction and measure progress. Establish committees/ facilitator teams to effectively oversee the policies, programs, and organizational operations including review of achievement of strategic goals, financial status, and executive director performance. The facilitators were majorly volunteers. There was only one permanent facilitator in the staff. This will make it difficult for the organization to make any progress, since volunteers will not stay permanently, which makes it difficult to compare the results. Replenish the facilitator teams and create quarterly training programs for them. This will make sure that they stay updated with the latest developments and at the same time stay motivated towards their work. Design and develop new programs in collaboration with the new immigrants and partner organizations and community groups to make sure that the issues addressed contribute in the development of the neighbouring community. Create joint programs with partner organizations and communities to motivate the staff and to share learning within the organizations. Reach out to universities and other institutions to market the organization. Design metrics to measure the performance and outcome of the programs quarterly or half-yearly and to measure the progress towards the goals. Promote program innovation and cross team collaboration to better support newcomers in overcoming barriers and participating fully in all aspects of Canadian life. Establish a quarterly newsletter talking about the programs, initiatives and achievements. Reach out to university students, willing to volunteer for the newsletter.

All these recommendations can be put into practice within this year and this will help the organization in its growth and bringing the quality level to its best.