Last week Corporate Responsibility Magazine published the results of their survey of best practices in the area of corporate responsibility. I’m not a huge fan of best practice [that's another story], but since I’m working with a client on designing an approach to sustainable investing project from an investor point of view, when this came across my desk I took a peek.
The survey of 650 companies around the world found, among other things, some interesting differences between what employees think is important to their CEOs and what the CEOs actually think is important within the area of corporate responsibility:
| Ranking |
The top areas in terms of their corporate responsibility to my CEO |
As CEO the top 3 areas in term of their corporate responsibility importance to me |
| 1: |
Sustainability strategy |
Corporate governance |
| 2: |
Brand Management |
Sustainability strategy |
| 3: |
Corporate Governance |
Risk management |
| 4: |
Risk management |
Employee relations |
| 5: |
Employee relations |
Brand management |
What really stands out for me is a general observation: what employees think is important to their CEOs in terms of corporate responsibility and what their CEOs actually think it is doesn’t align on any single topic area.
What are the implications of this misalignment between the employees’ perception of what the CEOs corporate responsibility priorities are and what the CEOs think they are to the institutions they work in?
And what, , if anything, could/should we as communicators do to support better alignment and understanding of the institutions corporate responsibility priorities and preoccupations?
Tags: Creating meaning, Ethics, Message control, Transparency, Trust