What is a responsible business?

Being a responsible business is a thread that runs across all business practices and through the veins of all organisations. It’s a style of leadership, its the flavour of management, a personality, a culture, a brand and a set of processes that are adhered to religiously.

So what are some examples of responsible business practices?

✅ They do no harm to our environment: take only what they need from Earth's resources and proactively improve existing processes.

Every year Earth’s annual allowance of natural resources are used up at an increasing rate. Now, in 2022 the Earth Overshoot Day is 1st August. Meaning that for the remainder of this year, any slow growing (oak, tuna fish) or non-regenerative resources (oil, gas) are disappearing. And each year, the human population grows, demanding more and more from nature, and putting more pressure on the finite balance of our ecosystem. 

✅ They have identified local stakeholders and community organisations to support. They ensure their successes are shared, equitably.

It’s all very well starting a business, growing it to a profitable status and employing a number of people. But that situation puts a small amount of people in a position of increased privilege. Responsible businesses will look beyond this and will seek to employ disadvantaged people, support community organisations and lift-up their community to support equitable redistribution of profits. Thinking locally like this ensures that there is less polarisation in communities and creates economic opportunities that are beyond the community.  

✅ They handle conflicts quickly by listening, seeking to understand and communicating with all parties.

Conflicts are inevitable because people are unique. How quickly and effectively these conflicts are dealt with is what makes a business responsible. Businesses who ignore or delay management of conflict are often blinkered to the fact that people are inherently complex and emotional beings. One person’s banter is another person’s trauma. Seeking to understand the situation from all sides is the first step to resolution, communicating with all parties involved and seeking to develop a mutually beneficial result is often sought, but not always possible.

✅ Their internal procedures, systems and processes are consistently improved, checked and double checked.

Things change - it’s the one inevitable. The way you do things in your business is not set in stone and the ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ mentality is fundamentally flawed: what if the feedback hasn’t been received? I don’t believe in perfection, but I do believe that things can be improved for ease of use, reduction of time and checked against industry standards. 

✅ They look after people. Not just their own people, but all stakeholders. They fully understand that it's the people that make a business successful.

Without people there wouldn’t be a business. Taking time to connect with stakeholders leads to a better understanding of needs - and it’ll be different for all beings. What one person needs, another person hasn’t even considered. Compromises will need to be sought in many areas but unless conversations are had, things can often go unheard and unsaid, leading to resentments and assumptions that could be damaging in the long run. 

✅ They steer clear of manipulative marketing tactics.

How many times have you seen a flash sale witha count down clock, only to return a week later and it’s still there? Using these dirty tactics is poor practice and can be damaging to brand reputation. 

✅ They are driven by doing good, not just making more and more profit.

Gone are the days where profit is the only driving force for a business. Profitability isn’t a never ending trajectory and creates polarisations between communities. Mission-led organisations are leading the way in this respect by using their business model as a vehicle for affecting positive change. But all businesses can use their influence for good, if done the right way. 

✅ They pay their workforce fairly and on time. They pay for sick days. They pay for holiday time off.

Paying people fairly means creating a more equitable workforce and therefore a more competitive economy. 

✅ They allow time for rest, holidays and mental health days. They understand the limits of human energy and don't exploit it.

In UK Victorian Workhouses people worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week and the rate of illness, injury and death was high. In the early 20th Century this was reduced to a standardised 5 days per week and only in 1998 was a 40 hour work week encouraged by law. Now in 2022, workflows are increasing due to the pace of the internet, moden machinery, ability to commute allowing us to work faster, more efficiently and this making our brains and bodies adapt at a faster pace to the world around us - leaving us feeling stressed, anxious and under enormous amounts of pressure. 

✅ They make time for one to one meetings with individuals. Get to know their people. Meet them where they are. They don't force them into a corporate/professional mould.

“Take time for tea”. This is a saying my old boss used to use. How often do you sit down with your workers in a non-work capacity?  As a business gets larger with more employees this is a more difficult thing to undertake, but leaders at every level must be accountable for the wellbeing of their employees. Everyone is an individual and has different requirements, history, family life, experiences, talents etc. By making time to know these things about one another, teams are more effective to adapt to situations, as and when they arise.  

✅ They find ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover resources.

Circular Economy principles can be adopted by all businesses. Imagine a world where all, including the smallest of businesses, are recycling their scrap paper, encouraging walking/cycling to work, minimising water use etc etc. It’s the volume of small actions that lead to greater impact. This all starts with watching, learning and listening to how and what people are doing/using. 

✅ They understand that mistakes happen. They learn from inevitable failures rather than chastising it.

People fuck up. We *all* make mistakes. And they’re powerful lessons to learn from. A culture that is fearful of mistakes will encourage people to cover up inevitable mistakes, not take risks and play it small. By embracing mistakes, and learning from them, changes can be made to mitigate future problems in a healthy and proactive way. 

✅ They communicate transparently with their people and in good time to minimise shocks.

I once had a boss turn round on a Wednesday morning to tell the staff to pack up and be gone by lunchtime. He’d made a ‘difficult decision’ to close this business leaving the staff, and their young families, immediately redundant. He’d not listened to the advice from the senior management team to lay off a few people to save the rest, and instead was hopeful that a magical unicorn client would land in his lap. This news was devastating. Mostly because it was preventable - if he’d said to the staff in the weeks leading up to to the event that these we’re the options he was gambling with, it’d come off as less of a blow. Sharing is caring, people. 

✅ Their leaders have boundaries. They don't lead with toxic hustle culture, they don't promote perfectionism at all costs.

Perfectionism is a myth. It’s born from fear of rejection. Being the ‘best’ at anything is near impossible, wo why try to be the best at everything - it’s illogical. 8-0% is good enough, always.

✅ They invest in learning. Through R&D (product/service) and L&D (people).

As Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, once said ‘train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to’. People want to grow and learn - without this they stagnate and look to leave. Training is critical for emotional, personal, technical and career development - yes, you can learn a lot through first hand experience but the introduction of new ideas is stimulation for creativity. 

✅ They plan ahead and explain the plans to teams. Teams are given agency to find their own way there.

Leaders, especially start-up founders, are ideas-people and get to the point of starting their business by being reactionary, fast-paced, quick decision markers and willing to take a risk. But this is a very different style of leadership to those who are scaling a business - doing any of the aforementioned with a team that are building systems, products and services is detrimental and causes derailing, distrust and low motivation for the important tasks at hand. 

To learn more about how to implement any of these responsible business practices into your business, email me at cath@ipsaconsulting.co.uk