There is no doubt that more and more business owners are looking at the impact that they are having on the wider world around them, which is having a major influence in terms of setting out a corporate social responsibility strategy, as well as looking at how they can be more sustainable. Taking this into account, there are all sorts of different means that you have at your disposal to take both of these factors firmly on board. So, here is something that you can be doing in terms of both responsibility and sustainability that can have a serious impact on what you are doing.
Have Clear Goals in Mind
Of course, just because you are running a business, this does not mean that you are going to be able to simply fix all of the ills of the world. However, you can have a series of goals in mind that you are working towards hitting. The important thing about them is that they will be both realistic and achievable. Otherwise, you can easily get into a situation where they are too pie in the sky to be taken seriously. The clearer the goals that you have set out, the more likely it is that you are going to be able to hit them.
Support a Good Cause
One of the clearest paths you have in front of you to run a more responsible business is ensuring that you are supporting a good cause at all times. You certainly need to pick one that will be clearly aligned with your brand values and everything you are trying to achieve as a company, which means that you should consider the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). If you pick one that you are passionate about, this also means that it is more likely that you will be working hard for it. Not only this, but you are also likely to be attracting customers that you care about, as well as members of staff who also share the vision of what it is that you are trying to achieve.
Set Out a Green Policy
Moving onto the sustainability aspect of the blog, there is no doubt that you need to be looking at the different ways in which the business that you are running can be greener. This certainly means that you should be setting out the type of green policy that really impacts the community around you. Think about your current attitude to waste and the materials you are using in all of your products. You might adopt a hybrid working policy, cycle-to-work scheme, or carpooling system to lessen the carbon footprint your employees’ commutes contribute to global warming. Ultimately, you need to be able to boast about your green credentials in a clear and obvious way rather than simply greenwashing everything and expecting that you will be able to gloss over any problems out there. Not only this, but your green policy should be a document that is in constant motion as you respond to the changing challenges that are impacting our globe and all of the people that live on it.
Look at the Partner Businesses You Are Working Alongside
As well as taking a closer look at your own company, you need to look at the businesses you are working with. After all, if you are doing everything that you can to ensure that your business is as responsible and sustainable as it can be, but the companies that you are working alongside are not nearly so passionate, this can present an obvious problem that you certainly need to be doing something about. It could well be the case that after you have finished conducting your review, you need to start changing your suppliers and choosing some that are much better.
Look at Your Business Reputation and Culture
It is all well and good setting out what you will be doing in terms of running a more sustainable business, but has this fed through to your overall business reputation? Ultimately, you need to look closely at any outside criticism that you may well be receiving to see whether or not it is legitimate in any way. If your business reputation is suffering for a good reason, you need to look at addressing it properly to ensure that problems are not arising as a result of this. You also need to think about the wider culture that you have at your company and whether your employees have also bought into what you are doing, and if there are some improvements that can be made on this particular front.
There you have just some of the ways in which you can up your business’s overall sense of responsibility towards the planet. First of all, you need to look at conducting a review to see what is going on at the moment, as well as any potential improvements that you could look to be making in the future to make your company eco-friendly. Not only this, but this should be a constant working document as you cannot hope to get to a situation straight away that is not moving at all times. It would be best if you also looked at partnering with good causes or charities that you could well be working alongside to achieve your sustainability goals. Not all of them will be suitable for what you are doing and trying to achieve, and there is no doubt that you should pick one that ticks all of the right boxes. It might take some lengthy research to find the right fit for you. Beyond this, you need to take a closer look at your business reputation and wider culture to see if there is anything that can be done to make it even better than what it is at the moment. After all, the very best business owners are the ones that are doing everything that they can to bring in those constant improvements that can really make a difference.
