When Responsibility is EXPECTED!

Many companies are making efforts to be environmental stewards and generally responsible through their business decisions.  However, can they afford to do anything less?  I've spoken to a few large companies CSR representatives and recently they have explained that helping the community isn't something they do as an extra to boost their reputation.  These days if anything not helping would deteriorate their reputations.  Communities now EXPECT these big companies to help schools, volunteer, donate and the list goes on.  Although I believe that businesses should do as much as they can to help the community (so long as it doesn't take away from their product) - I am interested in why communities are looking to big business to solve their problems.

We belong to a society that demands constant growth and can't tolerate slow down or decline - thus when problems do arise the first solution is to fix the problem immediately without really finding out what the problem was to begin with.  There are no gradual solutions anymore, people don't put back the puzzle piece by piece - many look to buy a whole new puzzle.  In my opinion this is why people look to businesses to help the community.  It is because companies are the only ones with such big numbers, so much money, so much capacity that they can solve these problems in one go - with no reflection on the problem.  They can alleviate the issues without doing much but writing out a large check. However, is that really what we need as a community?

Developing a stronger more resilient community to fight your own problems.

Instead of demanding that one large player gives up a lot to solve a problem "or else" why not bond together as a community and build ourselves again from the ground up?  This type of structure is much stronger because all the links together makes it harder for something to take the community down again.  A quickly and cheaply built building would come tumbling down after an earthquake.  The new community which is more tied together and closer through problem solving would act as the steel bracing within the building keeping it sturdy in the face of disaster.

Again, I am not saying these companies shouldn't help out - I just think communities need to find a way to balance out their demands.  Most small problems can be worked out internally if you really work hard.  However, you would want these companies to help out when you need incomprehensible amount of support such as a natural disaster.  If we stop demanding something for nothing and threatening to stop being customers due to simple problems - bigger businesses would be more willing to help when something truly important comes up.

Nothing should be EXPECTED if you don't expect it from yourself.  If you don't expect yourself to help when every little thing comes up why do you expect it of a business?  Responsibility is something that we should all WANT to do because its the right thing.

Responsibly Overcoming the Language Barrier

"我告诉你。。。我什么都听不懂!"

Although this phrase seems foreign to us, it is actually quite common... it's one of misunderstanding.  We face language barriers everyday.  Maybe not with Mandarin Chinese to English, but from different languages or even to simply different accents or vocabulary your diverse work force is struggling through miscommunication after miscommunication.  According to the study "The Impact of Language Barriers on Trust Formation in Multinational Teams", by Helene Tenzer, Markus Pudelko, and Anne-Wil Harzing explains that even simple errors and misinterpretations can lead members of the team and company to believe a certain employee is incompetent.  Clearly, this shows how important we perceive language to be - something that can prove if you have knowledge in another unrelated area.  However, this is just a perception, not the truth - you could be completely illiterate and yet be a great at another unrelated skill.

Society has placed upon us the need for language, and the corporate world has stressed its importance even more.  If you are unable to present yourself in a professional well spoken manner you are perceived to be sloppy or too casual which when generalized is applied to your entire career instead of just your language abilities.

I started to realize this on a personal level that my colleagues perceived me as having less ability in my job due to my language barrier.  Instead of just presuming I could efficiently do my job correctly even though I had difficulty expressing myself in their native language they believed due to my incompetence in their language I must be incompetent in other areas such as my job duties (however unrelated).  In relation to corporate social responsibility this lead me to believe that if a company intentionally employs people who are diverse and have different language levels there should be some methods to implement to assure that all employees are able to work as a team instead of being separated by the wall of language.

I would like to provide some of my suggestions of what companies could do to be socially responsible when it comes down to their employees and their language.

Language Lessons

• This doesn't necessarily mean buying Rosetta Stone for everyone in your company that doesn't speak the language fluently, nor does it mean that you need to hire an expensive personal tutor either.  Simple lessons are helpful enough to someone working hard and trying their best to communicate with the company language.  A simple gesture of creating something like a photo dictionary of key words or a general explanation of the company lingo will help quickly improve the communication through the language barrier.

Hire Multilingual's

• Although it may be difficult to find employees who speak more than one language, if your aim is to be diverse - this is one way to alleviate tension between coworkers.  People who speak only one language have a difficult time relating to how difficult it is to learn a language fluently with all of the nuances of grammar and specific vocabulary.  This could possibly create problems when there are misunderstandings due to language as they might expect the  colleague to be more advanced in the language or might also wrongly assume that they don't understand the job if they aren't able to express themselves clearly in the language.  Multilingual would  not only understand the difficulty of learning a language but they would be able to help the non-native speaker to feel more comfortable and reassure them.
• If hiring multilingual's is too difficult, another option would be to create an incentive to learning a second language so that everyone can experience what it is like to not be able to fully communicate.  Moreover, adding a second language to the companies repertoire of skills benefits the business as well as the employees cognitive well-being.

Allow the Employee to Teach Their Language

• Sometimes a word or an idea just doesn't exist in another language.  It might be very frustrating to someone who doesn't speak the company language perfectly to express themselves when they are missing key vocabulary.  One way to avoid this unnecessary frustration is allow specific moments for the non-native speaker to teach their language as well so that the whole office can benefit and be more international.  This creates comfort for the employee as well as increases other employees interest into learning other cultures and being more accepting in general.

Avoid "Professional" Flowery Language and Speak Clearly

• Nothing stops language learning more than over-complicated unnecessarily flowery vocabulary.  Speaking clearly and explaining ideas thoroughly alleviates much of this problem.  Speaking clearly doesn't just entail enunciating your words, but it also includes avoiding complicated vocabulary and not using idioms to express ideas.
• If an employee doesn't understand a specific word, try to explain what the word means.  For example if they don't understand the word "robber" instead explain more clearly that it is someone who steals/ takes something that doesn't belong to them.  Not only will this reinforce the new word but it allows the time for the employee to understand better what you are talking about.

Use Gestures and Body Language 

• Body language experts have come to a consensus that about 50-80% of our communication is through gestures and expressions.  This is perfect for those who are managing or working with someone who has difficulty expressing themselves clearly through the company language; it helps both parties.  It helps you because you will be able to communicate more clearly if you use specific facial expressions or gestures to explain what you want or communicate a general message.  Also it helps the employee because in case they have said something they might not have meant you will be able to tell by their facial expression and non-verbal communication  that they meant something different and you can clarify to avoid miscommunication which could lead to more serious issues.

Be Patient With Non-native Speakers

• Patience is the key when dealing with communication problems, on both sides.  The learner needs patience when receiving feed back as well you when you are trying to teach the proper way to communicate in the company.  The language learning process is a trying one, full of mistakes and blunders.  If one can be patient through this it will give the language learner all the more confidence to try and communicate without having to fear the repercussions for making a simple mistake. This will not only speed up the language learning process but it will also build a relationship based off of trust.  It will allow you to see through the language barrier and realize that the employee doesn't lack skills - they might even do the job the best.  With patience you can see the problem for what it is - a language difference, nothing more.

With all of this taken into consideration, I hope that companies can act in a more caring and understanding way to those who are struggling to express themselves.  Your mother tongue is always going to be the most comfortable, however companies shouldn't put more discomfort and pressure than there already is on learning a language.  There is always more that can be learned and more that can be done to ensure that the corporate culture is satisfactory for all who are employed.

Persuading Others to Go Green

Ever tried to tell someone how easy it is to recycle just to be brushed off, or in some instances be called a hippie?  These days people take it as if you are trying to spread a political message when you are trying to teach people how to be green and eco-friendly.  I am writing this post not to convince people to shove "going green" down peoples throats, but instead help people understand why we all should be green.

One of the arguments business owners use to explain why they continue to pollute is because many are convinced that there is no such thing as global warming and that it's simply a natural phenomenon not at all impacted by human behavior.  To them this nullifies the idea that humans are able to make a sizable impact on the earth through their pollutants and eco-friendly ways equally.  Even if this is your view, I completely respect your ability to decide for yourself what you agree with or disagree with.  However, you don't need to be convinced of global warming to go green just as people don't need to be convinced they are fat to get healthy. Just in case that you are wrong, or just by realizing that we have technologies that allow you to do the same job without polluting wouldn't you want to do that instead?  Isn't it nicer to breathe fresh air instead of smog, not just for future generations but for yourself as well?

Another one of the common arguments for not making a change is that one action by one person isn't going to save the world.  While that is true, this argument is invalid since there are already many people making the efforts needed to reduce the pressure on the environment.  Each and every other helping hand will start to make a bigger and bigger impact upon our polluting ways.  If they are able to get their entire company involved this means that not only are they themselves reducing their carbon footprint but they are reducing their consumers carbon footprints as well.  Our actions don't just follow a straight line to their consequence, everything is interlinked and by making one change many other elements are affected as well.  Thus if you take a mug instead of a disposable cup for your coffee every day not only are you saving many pieces of plastic from being thrown out, you are also slowing down the demand for their production, saving an animals life, reducing the need to drill oil, creating jobs for mug vendors, and so much more.

Going green is easy if you take small steps.  Many people believe that its expensive and you need to buy heavy duty equipment such as solar panels to even make a dent.  Although those products do help, you are doing just as much good by recycling, purchasing bio products, and spreading awareness.  Businesses are afraid that high numbers on their sustainability reports are going to make them look bad in comparison to other businesses and thus they completely give up on going green.  Instead I suggest making small cheap changes until you are ready to make the larger changes to get better numbers.  This should not be considered a competition - being good to mother nature is good no matter how much or how little you do as long as you are trying to make a difference.

I am no stranger to people opposing my ways, these are just some of the arguments that I use to convince people otherwise to understand being green from my perspective.  Unfortunately there will always be certain groups of people that don't want to hear any of our "nonsense" because they have better things to do than protect the planet, they have other places to consume consume consume, they are above going green.  They are not the reason to give up, they are the reason to continue to be green because you know not only are you making up for your waste but you are making up for theirs too.  In a perfect world everyone would come together to start making changes because they realize the gravity of the situation but until we find the solution for  a perfect world keep progressing through the difficulty and be the one to stand up and do the right thing.

If you are struggling to find supporters to your green movement, or you are trying to convince your business partners to go green... don't forget if it doesn't work now sooner or later the laws will catch  up to them and that's when real change will start happening globally; when its no longer down to choice but up to necessity.

Ecofriendly Life: Beginning Baseline Measurements

The sound of crumpled up plastic brushing against the sides of the dumpster muffled out the singing birds today.  I killed the beautiful music of nature today with my weekly routine of taking out the trash.  I am living the all too familiar life of a college student too busy to care about how their choices affect the world.  It seems as if this business keeps us all trapped inside a little perfect bubble never really seeing the damaging implications of our wasteful consumerism.  As the dumpster lid slammed shut with a bang and nature returned back to normal - I vowed to myself that I will do what I can to stop disrupting its natural flow with my decisions.

Many of us have been there, living a life that we knew wasn't "green" and yet didn't really know where to start to get better.  Recycle? Take shorter showers? Replace the lightbulbs?  These are all great ideas but they all miss out on the cornerstone of the effort which is to make a difference.

How are we supposed to know how much of a difference we have made by being more environmentally friendly if we never knew how bad we were for mother earth to begin with?  This is why I decided to take my carbon footprint.

Online, there are a myriad of sites dedicated to helping you calculate your carbon foot print. I personally used the following to obtain my results:

• nature.org
• carbonfootprint.com
• footprint.wwf.org.uk
• carbonfootprint.c2es.org
• 3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/
• footprintnetwork.org

Overall, my results revealed to me exactly what I thought - I am starting off quite wasteful.  For me this is a challenge, to go from needing 3.5 Earths to maintain my lifestyle to needing less than 1.  I did notice, however, that there are discrepancies in the different tests, so from now on I will be using these 6 to track my progress as they all measure slightly different green practices.

The main thing I want to highlight about taking this baseline test is that no matter the number you should not be ashamed to publish it.  Many companies these days refuse to post their environment friendliness rating because they feel that it would be bad press.  I would like to argue the contrary - it's good press because even though you might not have the most sustainable numbers you are realizing that and are openly making a change.  This public change might even inspire others to take on the same goal of becoming more sustainable and thus as a team make the world a better place. 

Please share your numbers, I hope you enjoy seeing where you fall within the carbon footprint spectrum.  Even if you have a very high number, don't worry  - everyone needs to start somewhere.

Making CSR Personal

First, lets start off with the question what is CSR? 

Heading Down the Right Path - Responsibility

Its a word passed around in business these days that sometimes gets confused with philanthropy or sustainability.  Although these are elements of CSR, one section of the program does not define it as a whole.  CSR is the overall process ensuring that your business is running ethically and responsibly - not just focusing on one side of the coin (environment, HR practices, philanthropy).  If the general idea of CSR is mainly about responsibility, why do we leave it in the office after the day of work is done?  We pack up the papers, put it in the drawer, and as soon as we walk out it is as if all of the responsibility we try to give to our business flies out the window of our huge SUV as we start revving the engine on our way out from the parking lot.  If we are putting so much effort into our businesses CSR plan, and we understand its importance - what is stopping us from personally living responsibly?  Shouldn't we make it our personal mission to also be living ethically within our own personal brand we all call "ME".

I know that we as people are much smaller than a corporation, but we are the ones that can make the biggest change.  If you ask yourself why your company started using CSR practices its not because it makes more profits, but because that is what your customers demand.  If we go out living our personal lives using the same methodology as CSR we would have even more influence on the economy and the businesses around us - spurring more change than already is happening. One man is just as important as the many because one man can inspire the masses - and hopefully this time it is to do the right thing.

Most people consider themselves to be contributing members of society, but is there a more effective way to inspiring change? To become a more responsible citizen I suggest taking your drive to do the right thing and apply the CSR methods of tracking, goal setting, and achieving so as to create a new hybrid "personal social responsibility".  This way people themselves are able to track themselves doing the right thing and improving over time - just as any business would, allowing measurable results and efficiency in the process.

Although I try to do my best to help make a positive impact, I feel that by haphazardly doing it I am actually taking away from what I could truly achieve. That is why I am beginning the personal CSR journey today by starting with my baseline.  I will track my data for all of next week containing my sustainability info, social responsibility, and overall impact and then post a report. Then I will start making goals and striving to achieve even more than before.  I hope if you found this interesting you can join me on my personal CSR journey.

CSR doesn't just have to be for businesses - its a way of life.