What’s the Secret to Launching a Financially Successful, Socially Responsible Startup?
As people become conscious of environmental and social issues, more entrepreneurs are setting up socially responsible startups.
Contrary to old-fashioned wisdom, these are often very profitable, as a clear sense of purpose generally increases profitability.
So how do you set up a socially responsible business?
Know Your Mission
Start by knowing what the purpose of your business is. Create a socially responsible mission that sets out to achieve things that matter to you. This is what your socially responsible startup will be built around.
It’s crucial that your mission is something you genuinely care about.
Authenticity helps to sell both a business and its mission, and nothing is more off-putting than a company that’s spouting platitudes rather than caring about what the words represent.
A mission statement isn’t just about what you’re going to do – it’s also about what you won’t do.
Minimising harm is an essential part of social responsibility, and not accepting harmful practices such as polluting, and poor wages are vital steps.
Turn your mission into a clear statement, as this will provide a sense of vision that motivates your work and engages stakeholders.
Everyday Action
Social responsibility shouldn’t just be bolted onto the side of the business – it should be integral to the way it works.
As far as possible, relate your work on social responsibility to your core business and everyday practices.
One way to do this is to use your core strengths to do good.
For example, if you’re a software company, then important parts of your agenda might include giving developers time to code for charities and rejecting “crunch” working practices.
Part of the everyday work of socially responsible startups should be considering how they affect their stakeholders, both in their business chains and in their local community.
Watch out for conduct to avoid and ways that you can help those already connected to you.
Goals and Guidelines
Based on your social mission, set clear goals that are realistic for you to achieve.
If you overstretch yourself by trying to do everything at once or setting over-ambitious targets, then you’ll undermine your social responsibility work by making it seem that good works can’t be done.
Set guidelines for employees on how they can support social responsibility in their work. Make these an integral part of work and of evaluating performance.
Get the Right People
Socially responsible startups thrive on talented, passionate staff.
Fortunately, they also attract them, as many people are keen for their work to mean more than a paycheque.
Use your social mission to attract employees who will care.
Make sure that their skills and attitudes are appropriate for achieving your social goals – you don’t want jobsworths.
After all, you’re building something special.
Once those people are in place, make social responsibility part of their management.
Include it in working goals and make sure it shapes how they’re managed. You need to practice what you preach.
Communicate
Communication is critical to any successful project, and for a socially responsible business, this means a two-way conversation about ethics and responsibility.
Find out what motivates your staff and focus on connecting that to your social responsibility agenda.
If you’ve recruited the right people, then these should already be reasonably well aligned.
Let people know about your mission and how you’re pursuing it, both inside and outside the business.
This is going to be one of your big selling points, so there’s no benefit to hiding your light under a bushel.
Don’t just talk about this when it’s going well.
Being transparent about setbacks shows that you’re acting with integrity.
It can encourage others by showing that, even when things don’t work perfectly, you’ve kept on trying to do the right thing.
Continuity
The best social and environmental work comes not from individual actions but from achieving continual progress, maintaining and building upon what’s already been done.
When choosing who to work with, both in day-to-day business and in charitable work, commit to building long-lasting relationships.
For charitable work, this will add to the satisfaction and motivation of your staff, as they see the results over the years.
Keep records of what you’ve done and monitor progress.
This is good for checking if your guidelines are working so you can adjust them if not. It also helps with communicating and celebrating your achievements.
Work with Others
Remember, good work doesn’t happen in isolation.
Working with socially irresponsible businesses could do harm that outweighs your good, so establish an ethical supply chain.
Investigate your suppliers and set out standards you expect from them in the form of a code of conduct.
This is an excellent way to encourage others to behave responsibly.
In this and other work towards social responsibility, it’s often worth collaborating with other businesses. Sharing information will save you from duplicating work and let you achieve more together.
By planning out your mission, thinking through the practicalities, and working with others, you can achieve a great deal of good while still running a profitable startup.
Paul Connolly
Paul Connolly has been a journalist for more than 20 years, as a reporter and editor for Argus Media, Reuters, The Times, Associated Newspapers and The Guardian. He has covered Islamic Finance for Reuters in the 1990s. Paul has since helped launch three newspapers, as well as reported from Tokyo, Los Angeles and Stockholm.
