The best of both worlds
Arguably, the single most important thing you can do as a leader is to hire the right people.
The demands of a rapidly changing environment make it more important than ever to attract, and develop, the agile mindset and adaptable qualities needed to take successfully businesses into the future. Attracting the best and the brightest, providing a development pathway for future leaders and ongoing learning for current ones is not getting any easier. And how do leaders themselves find opportunities to step outside their comfort zone and challenge their own practices and preconceptions?
One of the acknowledged benefits of a corporate responsibility (CR) strategy is a greater ability to attract talent and retain staff. The task of developing the learning and development pathway is usually the remit of the HR department. Too often, there is limited interplay between a company’s learning and development initiatives and its social responsibility strategy – in my experience, there are tremendous potential synergies here.
Business is being challenged to pair profit with purpose and demonstrate a positive impact in the wider world. And it is that concept of ‘impact’ that backs up my central proposition that aligning CR and HR strategies makes good business sense. The best illustration I can give is using the evolution of Pilotlight, the charity and social enterprise I lead, as a case in point...
By Gillian Murray, CEO