How do you know where you’re going?

I can’t believe how many organizations run without a plan. How do you know you’re getting somewhere? How do you decide what initiatives to undertake? How do you allocate budgets or people efforts?

I realize that many consultants or organizations make strategic planning a painful and useless process but I truly believe in having everyone wear the same t-shirt, be able to tie their work into the greater mandate and understand what success means.

No plans for us

There seems to be 3 reasons folks don’t have a useful plan:

• Big bureaucratic organizations do planning as an isolated task instead of a tool to support real work. They’ve lost the spirit of the strategic planning.
• In entrepreneurial organizations the plan, which changes often, remains locked in the head of the boss.
• Organizations don’t know the concepts, benefits and techniques of strategic planning.

The classic model works with some extras

I am a believer in the classic model of mission, vision, goals and objectives.

Then I take it further, adding tactics, so that the real work we do can be laddered up to the objectives. You can see the meaning and understand management decisions since there’s a path from work tasks to more broadly defined objectives.

And I add success metrics from the bottom to the top, again laddering lower level task measures up to the higher level measures that show attainment of goals and objectives.

Add realism and commitment

Now I may sound like “one of those consultants” but I am far too practical and pragmatic to make this a useless process. I have a fast, yet inclusive, and decisive process that I use to get this “stuff on paper.” And I live these plans…post them up…make decisions based on the charts and measure my progress.

This model worked well for my clients when I was a paid consultant. Now that I’m a strategic volunteer, it’s working amazingly well in the non-profit space.

I don’t know why anyone would spend an hour of effort without knowing where they’re going!

Achieving Social Impact Through Business

I was at a panel discussion at Rotman (UofT) this week focused on how to combine a professional career with a “desire to achieve societal impact.”

The room was packed, at full capacity, and it seemed filled with more corporate and non-profit folks than actual students. The panelist names were big and it’s not surprising that folks want to hear what the top organizations are doing.

• Kaz Flinn, VP – Corporate Social Responsibility, Scotiabank (Kaz has a government relations background)
• John Smiciklas, Senior Manager – Corporate Responsibility, Research in Motion (John was a manager in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Sustainability practice)
• Andrew Heintzman, CEO, InvestEco (Andrew is a former publisher)
  
• Gerald Butts, CEO, World Wildlife Fund Canada (Gerald was Principal Secretary in the Office of the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty)

After the end of the hour, I was thinking the answer was – not as much as they could be. The banks, of course, are well underway with CSR and make that information publically available. RIM, on the other hand, is just starting and may be more reflective of the average company in Canada – their clients are now demanding it so they’re starting to pay attention.

The big focus: Sustainable and ethical supply chains

The panelists were united on the direction of CSR and the current hot focus of sustainable and ethical supply chains. Corporations are now making this strategic, non-profits like WWF are being asked to consult on these issues, and there’s agreement that this is a growth area with room for a lot more experts and expertise.

My fav phrase of the evening, “You get the behaviour you compensate on” so if CSR is important, it needs to be part of your evaluation and compensation structure.

This session was sponsored by Rotman Net Impact, a chapter of the international organization Net Impact, promoting leadership in corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, nonprofit management, international development, and environmental sustainability.

Doing good at work

I wish I had done more social investing when I was in business. It’s easier as you have a large ecosystem to leverage as I did when running my business. I did do some social good – giving young folks a chance, donating to all client causes, donating services and doing some creative giving through exchanges. But had I taken the time, I think we could have done more and woven some of that thinking into our team building initiatives.

I was inspired recently by Oxford University Press, who on moving their offices, cleared out the warehouse with proceeds going to World Literacy. What a great win-win-win – good for Oxford as they got rid of the unneeded books, good for World Lit as they got some funding and good for the environment as those books didn’t end up needing processing.

If you belong to a large organization, there’s probably a lot of charitable work going on. Often, I bet you feel overwhelmed by the continuous asking.  It’s a delicate balance of giving, asking, and integrating social responsibility into a business while maintaining the focus on the bottom line. But when I see the wastage in business I remember that phrase, “one person’s trash is another’s treasure.”

Those that do corporate social responsibility well are not as well known as they should be. I think the models are there, and in light of a newly recharged focus on doing good, whether that’s green, sustainability or social investing, opportunities exist to share and explore.

Which brings me to this special session at the Rotman School at University of Toronto.

Rotman Net Impact Session on “Achieving Social Impact Through Business”
Monday, January 25, 2010
5:30 sharp to 6:30pm panel discussion and Q&A; 6:30 to 7:30pm networking cocktail reception
4 EXPERT PANELISTS:
Kaz Flinn, Vice President – Corporate Social Responsibility, Scotiabank
John Smiciklas,  Manager – Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Research in Motion
Andrew Heintzman, CEO,  InvestEco
Gerald Butts, CEO,  World Wildlife Fund Canada
SYNOPSIS: panelists will share how they have wed professional careers with a desire to achieve societal impact

I’m looking forward to hearing their stories. If you’re in the Toronto area late January (and weather permits) come join me in exploring what I’m sure will be  a combination of corporate and individual commitment to doing good at work.