Citizenship, together with workplace and governance drivers, accounts for almost 40% of influence on a company's reputation. However many companies fail to maximise the influence that these activities have on their reputations, primarily because they do not effectively communicate the good they are doing. Indeed, many organisations mistakenly view CSI as a standalone function, rather than integrating it throughout their operations in a manner that can improve their reputations.
Key speakers were Kaelo Engage strategic director Sara Butchart, Justin Cain, GM of the Reputation Institute, Telkom Foundation head Sarah Mthintso, Saras Naidoo from the Gauteng Premier's Office and Greater Capital's Mmamohau Tswaedi, who presented practical ways that companies can translate community-focused values into reputation enhancing activities.
Butchart said that as consumers increasingly choose whether to do business with companies, based on how those organisations relate to their communities, CSI has become a key driver of reputation. Accordingly, "unless companies make known to their stakeholders what they're doing, the positive effect of their good deeds will be rather muted," she said.
Yet only around 3% of CSI budgets - R186m out of a total R6.2bn spent on CSI in 2011 - is spent on communications. Butchart called for a shift creating credible platforms for communities to talk about the good that is being done for them. She also noted the need for leaders to become more socially conscious or risk undoing the good that CSI activities do.
"Organisations benefit most from high profile leaders who're willing to 'walk the talk', instead of merely signing cheques. Doing good needs to come from the heart, else people simply won't buy it." Leaders visiting communities and having face-to-face discussions with beneficiaries can help improve communications in a more powerful way than any media release reporting a project's successes could have.
Cain pointed out that it makes business sense that companies should leverage the power of CSI by integrating it into their business objectives, throughout the drivers that influence reputation.
Recommendations for integration included the following: