What does it mean to lead a company’s social mission? Â Social mission is how I describe all of the elements that contribute to a business being socially and financially effective. It’s more than CSR because it’s ingrained into the organization’s business model in the best cases, and leaves a shine on all company functions and decisions.
That’s the goal, but what does the job look like? Â Beyond being strategic, passionate and resourceful, what’s expected of you, the social missionary? Â I’ve been looking at different job titles and responsibilities lately to better understand how companies view social responsibility and what skills and characteristics are sought after across industries. Â Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship lists nine responsibilities of the social missionary (whom they call a corporate citizenship leader):
- Become the company’s expert on social issues, and the changing expectations of external stakeholders
- Build strong relationships with key external stakeholders (community groups, NGOs, policy makers, media, etc.)
- Identify risks and opportunities for the business based on stakeholder expectations and designing proactive mitigation and response strategies
- Design and implementing the company’s social mission strategy
- Build consensus among senior leadership across the company to adopt new social responsibility policies and programs
- Build trusting internal relationships and becoming the central point of contact and resident expert on decisions regarding social and environmental issues and impact on company stakeholders
- Embed socially responsible practices into all operations across organizational boundaries
- Measure and communicating social mission initiatives and activities related to the company’s goals and performance
- Scale social programs nationally and (often) globally
They’ve identified the challenges of helping a company develop or expand its social mission as:
- Limited resources and a small support staff
- Convincing leadership of the business value of adopting social mission strategies and practice
- Lack of direct authority over other business leaders and managers who must be influenced
- Managing tensions inherent in the iterative process of integrating citizenship practice into an existing operating model (involves overcoming internal resistance and resolving turf battles)
- Staying tuned into the broad spectrum of information and issues relating to corporate citizenship/social mission
- Identifying appropriate metrics and obtaining measures from multiple individuals and departments in the organization to measure the business and societal impact of program initiatives
- Finding ways to communicate your social mission honestly and effectively both inside and outside the company
- Finding win-win solutions that will benefit the business financially as well as meet social needs
- Understanding stakeholder expectations and managing relationships
- Adapting to regional and cultural differences
Right, so lots to do and lots of obstacles to weave around while seeing your vision through. In addition to the qualities I see as critical (strategic thinking, passion for the mission and resourcefulness), the study identifies eight leadership competencies of effective social missionaries:
Personal Maturity: An ability to achieve satisfaction by empowering others rather than through personal recognition.
Optimistic Commitment: She draws on optimism and strong personal belief in the potential of a socially driven businesses to overcome social and business challenges.
Peripheral Vision: An interest in the world and social and business issues that enables one to see new opportunities and risks.
Visionary Thinking: He thinks strategically and creatively, connecting the dots to find new ways to enhance the social mission.
Systems Perspective: She uses an understanding of how elements of a system relate and interact to frame risks and opportunities.
Collaborative Networker: He uses empathy and interpersonal understanding to build mutually beneficial relationships and connect and engage diverse groups of people.
Change Driver: She combines vision with the persistence and drive to mobilize people around a higher purpose.
Strategic Influence: He leverages organizational awareness to influence others to commit to the company’s social mission.
What do you think? Â I’m midway between thinking these are jargon-y qualities that won’t even survive the commute, to thinking there’s some truth in these surveyed commonalities. Â I know what Ben Franklin would do. He’d systematically practice one principle every day until it became natural behavior. Â Then he’d add another, and practice them together until he was a near-effortless embodiment of all eight competencies. Â And I’m pretty sure I know what Seth Godin would do too. Â He’d shred the list and encourage fresh and independent thinking. Â I fall somewhere in between instinct and independence and studied success. Â What about you? Do you find these types of studies and lists helpful or suffocating?
Possibly related posts:
I'm Olivia Khalili. I created Cause Capitalism to show you how to grow your business by incorporating a social mission. 
