Why enabling a culture of impact is key to promoting meaningful ESG commitment
Learn from corporations who are advancing ESG efforts through fostering a changemaker mindset
by Caroline Blight with contributing editor Romina Carrillo
For the past few years Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) has been a hot topic, with companies adding new dedicated departments to decide strategies and training. But many are finding that this is not providing the impact it should - and in worst case scenarios, it’s become just another burden for employees.
This is often because ESG policies are seen as an add-on to an existing organization, without changing underlying, long-standing skills, mindsets and behaviours within those organizations. A company creates a true culture of impact when ESG is viewed as a tool for transformative change.
“If you really want to create a sustainable culture of impact, you need to work on three dimensions in parallel,” says Arnaud Mourot, VP at Ashoka and Global Head of Changemaker Companies¹. “They are: empowering employees at large to become drivers of social impact, encouraging change across the corporate ecosystem, and exploring innovative ways to engage with social entrepreneurs and non-conventional partners. It's not just one or the other, you need to be able to articulate all three,” he explained at the 2023 edition of the Making More Health Together² global event, hosted by Boehringer Ingelheim.
Empowered employees learn new skills to drive social and environmental impact
A changemaker takes creative action to solve a social or environmental problem. When companies embrace a ‘changemaker’ mindset across every department and at every level, this diffuses the responsibility and contribution to ESG efforts. It also helps positive impact truly become part of company culture. In the corporate setting, driving a changemaker mindset allows employees in all roles and at any level to understand and contribute to driving positive impact objectives — objectives that also help fulfill ESG criteria.
Boehringer Ingelheim and Ashoka have been partnering for 12 years on a range of initiatives that allow employees to contribute their ideas for social and environmental change in the health space. In “Executive in Residence,” an Ashoka Signature programme, a Boehringer Ingelheim leader collaborates with a social entrepreneur for a specific period. This is a fully immersive experience: Boehringer Ingelheim employees step out of their current role to spend their time in the offices and local context of the matched social entrepreneur.
The impact of this experiential approach is wide-ranging and can spark a chain of change events which extends beyond the executives’ department when they return. “Sometimes in a corporation with 50,000 people, you’re in a bubble. When employees break out of that bubble and are immersed in a new experience-, they bring intrapreneurial skills back to their daily jobs. Working together with social entrepreneurs is a key driver to making social impact,” says Tanja Vermeer, Senior Global People Growth Manager at Boehringer Ingelheim.
Agility is one of the key skills employees often develop, along with the confidence to break silos and feel part of the solution. Vermeer recognizes that agility and intrapreneurial thinking are key takeaways from working with social entrepreneurs — who by nature are very innovative and resilient.
After this experience, Boehringer Ingelheim employees bring back a collaborative spirit and become ambassadors for change. “What we then see happening, either virtually or in real life, are ongoing collaborations between social entrepreneurs and Boehringer Ingelheim leaders. Once a relationship starts, it almost always continues. They keep on collaborating, telling stories and inspiring others,” Vermeer states.
Engaging with non-conventional partners enables new working dynamics, both internally and externally
Collaborating with social entrepreneurs also drives new working dynamics and innovative business streams. Shervin Rafsandjani, from Microsoft’s National Transformation Partnerships, explains the two-way benefit when companies engage with social entrepreneurs:
“There are social entrepreneurs who require support from Microsoft to actually bring their solutions to the market. At the same time, we learn from them because it’s not only about being social and being positive in ESG — it’s also a business opportunity for both parties.”
Microsoft has launched the Tech for Social Impact and Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact programmes, amongst others, gathering cohorts of social entrepreneurs and determining what support they require and how to accelerate their growth.
“It really is bi-directional coaching,” Rafsandjani adds. “We can share the corporate world, but it’s also about letting the Microsoft leaders understand the world outside of this corporate bubble. It helps us change the way we look at the market overall, how we look at business opportunities and is leading to more non-standard partnerships where we are building relationships. And it’s especially interesting when it’s not a two-way partnership, but an ‘X’ way partnership, when there’s a whole bunch of other partners; from smaller tech companies, to social entrepreneurs, to positive impact entrepreneurs, all working together.”
How can these programs be impactful for all parties involved? Rafsandjani believes the success of these collaborations depends on all parties being on the same page from the outset.
“I think the most important thing is identifying shared values — without those you can’t really progress.”
He adds that even if your business has a culture of listening, it’s important to acknowledge this is a different kind of relationship. “As a corporation, there is a tendency to build a foundation and say, ‘Look! Here’s your foundation!’ and expect your social entrepreneur to fit inside your model. But there are different views and opinions. It is important to find common ground with honesty; to be able to say, ‘This is what I can do for you. And this is what I can’t do for you — let’s talk about that first’.”
The impact of collaborating with social entrepreneurs is enormous. A new context for employees drives changes in mindset and behaviour, which eventually evolves organizational culture. “When you are in a company our size, ESG has to be baked into everything, it needs to be everywhere,” says Rafsandjani. “Only then can you drive the culture so that people at all levels in the in the company demand and hold their management and employees accountable for staying within the framework of ESG.”
Bringing together stakeholders across industry eco-systemsLenovo started its sustainability journey two decades ago but realised that to commit to future change, a shift outside the company itself was also needed.
“It has been very important to transition from a supply chain approach to a value chain approach and make sure that we are onboarding our entire ecosystem,” explains Lenovo Global Sustainability Director-International Markets, Virginie Le Barbu. This was especially significant when Lenovo was considering how to reduce their Scope 3 emissions, or indirect emissions that occur in the upstream and downstream activities of an organisation. As part of her role, Le Barbu is focusing on Lenovo’s downstream ecosystem engagement on sustainability.
“When building the blueprint for the Lenovo 360 Circle, we decided that having a community-based approach was the best way to accelerate progress on sustainability and promote good corporate citizenship within our channel ecosystem,” says Le Barbu.
Working with United Nations Global Compact and Ashoka is already having an impact that is resonating through not just Lenovo, but within the industry at large.
“Through our Lenovo 360 global channel framework, we have new partners coming in, who are not necessarily doing a lot of business with Lenovo but heard about the Lenovo 360 Circle community, and want to join, which is great. We have identified new business opportunities, especially linked to circular economy, which are key for our own transformation and the change in focus is truly fostering innovation,” she states.
On a global scale, Le Barbu has discovered how flexible their initiatives need to be to have the desired impact. “The way we have approached the partners is to say ‘This is what we are aiming to do — does it ring a bell for you? Do you think we should go in another direction?’ To give space, to listen and make sure we’re integrating the feedback in our strategy. I think we have created a safe platform within Lenovo 360 Circle where we can really have this dialogue.”
Preparing for a new way of doing business
Fostering a corporate environment in which every employee is a driver of social impact requires a shift in mindsets around how to do business.
This shift is one which many companies have yet to consider, but it has benefits for all, says Ashoka’s Mourot. “It’s critical we’re able to move beyond the direct competition aspect because in the long run everyone agrees that nobody will thrive if the environment is dying — and when I say the environment, I mean the environment at large.”
Creating a culture of impact involves bringing companies together, exchanging ideas and ideals with social entrepreneurs and adopting a changemaker mindset where everyone — not a single department — is contributing to meaningful ESG.
“Every soul gathers for a purpose, every soul gathers for an impact,” is an ethos core to Malte Pielhau, Director at HR transformation company EY, holds dear. This ethos can be applied to corporate culture: “We need to think about how we can empower, incentivise and recognise our employees social impact, to support employees who want to spend their time in social impact projects and remove boundaries,” Pielhau says.
For every company, this will look different, and the journey will hit different stumbling blocks and need individual approaches. “We need to create the space for learning journeys. There is no one magic recipe that every single company could apply,” says Mourot. “Transparency, managing expectations, honesty, reliability and patience with the process are all core to building a sustainable and long-lasting culture of impact.”
And while this approach might break all the usual conventions of traditional business practice, the results will always be worth daring to think outside the corporate box.
[1]: Changemaker Companies — incepted by Ashoka, the largest network of social entrepreneurs worldwide — leverages the insights gained on the patterns of social innovation to accelerate the rise of an inclusive and regenerative economy, helping companies create business cultures where everyone is a changemaker. A culture where creating positive societal impact through business is the new norm. Learn more: https://changemakercompanies.org/
[2]: Making More Health Together is a global event that brings together like-minded partners from around the globe to facilitate building connections and collaborations, creating the opportunity to inspire dynamic and innovative partnerships for sustainable social impact.
Organized by Ashoka Changemaker Companies, the session “Building a Culture of Impact within Companies: From External Reporting to Systemic Transformation”, deeps dive into the transformational journey companies need to take to build a culture that values environmental and social impact, as it does profit. The speakers were: Arnaud Mourot (Ashoka), Tanja Vermeer (Boehringer Ingelheim), Shervin Rafsandjani (Microsoft), Malte Pielhau (EY) and Virginie Le Barbu (Lenovo).
