Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Power of Doing Good Beyond the Business

I have been working with wonderful nonprofit organizations recently, and I am impressed by all the good they are achieving. These groups work tirelessly to help important causes as they expand their reach and funding.

Fortunately, more and more companies are recognizing the benefits of supporting such groups. It is now part of being an upstanding corporate citizen and often bolsters their business as well. "The greater our support, the better our business becomes,? a corporate executive told me. ?We now champion hundreds of causes as part of our corporate strategy"

Today, even with shrinking budgets, there's a lot that a business can do to engage employees in good causes and create a win for everyone involved. Here are five tips for getting started:

= Promote volunteerism

Employees contribute significantly more to a cause when they are directly involved. Volunteerism can energize participation in company programs and certainly trumps a CEO letter "encouraging support"

= Tap employee passions

Everyone feels passionate about something. A cause might hit home in a very personal sense. Ask employees what they really care about, and look for meaningful ways to engage them in their "fire-in-the-belly" causes.

= Initiate dialogue

The best ideas frequently come from employees themselves -- not from the board rooms. Open a dialogue with employees before selecting or starting a campaign. First, ask them to contribute their ideas. You can ask for their time and money later.

= Play to people?s strengths

Go beyond leveraging employees? strengths on the job: put their talent and skills to work outside their company role. Help people apply their sweet spots to a cause -- and earn the paycheck of the heart.

= Accentuate the positive

It is easy to fixate on the challenges and problems in the business and, these days, in the economy. Resist the temptation to ?go negative? and help people focus on the positive -- the opportunities that lie within the problems -- and funnel their energy for doing good.