As organisations navigate increasingly turbulent and ambiguous times, there is a heightened awareness that the strength and depth of relationships with all stakeholder groups might just make the difference in surviving, or even thriving, in the current economic climate. 

Top teams are carefully considering what it takes to not only retain top talent, and through them a competitive edge, but what will keep employees motivated to go the extra mile when some of the more traditional reward tools, like bonuses, are no longer at their disposal.

Progressive organisations already offer a number of ways to develop, engage staff and offer staff opportunities to 'give back', alongside community stakeholders. CSR strategy teams are also chasing motivation and engagement.

Organisations already align their HR and CSR programmes - as a mutual motivator and to deliver value to employees - and communities. Is there room for even greater collaboration, for a bigger reward? I believe that civic activism might just be the springboard to providing a cumulative impact - and true Corporate Social Impact. 

Civic activism

'Civic activism' is a term used by the Department for Communities and Local Government over the last few years to describe an individual getting involved in either direct decision-making about local services or issues, or in the actual provision of these services, by taking on a role such as a local councillor, school governor or magistrate. Simply, it's about taking a leadership role while doing something you care about.

Civic leadership

Employees who are involved in their local communities at a leadership level reap the benefits, as do their employers: The individuals who are participating in civic leadership roles not only get the sense of purpose of being involved in the community, they have chosen an aspect of civic life that they enjoy - and hence are more engaged in. They also have the chance to learn new skills, build their confidence, engage with more stakeholders, develop their career  - and bring this back into their day roles too. What could be more motivating  and challenging at the same time?  

Taking voluntary to the next level

Let's contrast this with another outreach activity, for example, a project to clear land for a local playground or to paint a local school. There are undoubtedly benefits for the community and employees - and these projects undoubtedly are important and need to happen. Can organisations really leverage the benefit of these outreach programmes to challenge and develop their staff and add real, lasting and higher value to their community stakeholders? The fun and camaraderie may or may not outlast the fresh layer of paint, but what did it add to the employees' - or the organisation's - capabilities?

There are clear benefits in taking employee volunteering programmes to the next level, delivering them through joint programmes that span the work of Organisational Development,  Employee Engagement and CSR functions:

Skills exchanges

Give more staff the chance to do more than volunteer for short term physical labour activities, and instead become involved in longer term professional skills exchanges. The most rewarding and developmental of these "skills exchanges" are civic leadership roles such as Non-Executive Directorships, Trustees, Governors on the boards of public sector and not for profit sector organisations. These extra curricular leadership roles will cost the organisation little in resources and budget, but deliver great benefit and rewards internally and externally. Demonstrating your organisational commitment to being a good neighbour by loaning out your most valuable asset (your employees) builds credibility in your organisation's CSR strategy and supports your 'licence to operate' in the communities in which it operates.

Strategic leadership

By enabling employees to take on these 'outward-facing' strategic leadership roles the employee, and the organisation, benefit from 'inward-feeding' added value. Sending employees out to operate as civic leaders gives them more, and more diverse, exposure to the macro environment, offering the employee, and the organisation, invaluable "horizon scanning / trend development" information to feed back into the corporate strategy.

It is an excellent leadership development training ground for employees: honing their ability to analyse and synthesise complexity in different operating environments; stretching their facility to be agile and successfully operate across diverse teams, organisations and sectors;  and their capacity to drive change in multiple stakeholder programmes. More and more an organisation's long term success rests on the performance of their leaders - particularly their ability to lead beyond their immediate realm of authority and expertise in order to break new ground and broker and manage new relationships to deliver new avenues of business growth to the organisation. 

Talented leadership

Through investing in the development of the whole person, not just the functional employee, organisations' will engage and retain their employees for longer. Offering talented leaders the opportunity to explore and develop this aspect of their professional leadership through employer endorsed civic leadership roles will deliver on this desire. Failing to do so runs the risk of losing leaders to competitor employer organisations which will.