CSR practitioners are to be offered a new training programme that
concentrates on improving their ability to communicate with and
influence people.
Ashridge business school’s Centre for Business and Society (Acbas) has
devised the Integrating Corporate Responsibility programme after
studying the training needs of 49 CSR practitioners in the UK. The
research, which was carried out with the Corporate Responsibility
Group, found that most respondents felt their greatest need was to
learn how to push CSR through their organization – and that this meant
they wanted training on ‘influencing and communication skills’ rather
than instruction on activities such as stakeholder dialogue and
reporting.
Chris Gribben, associate director of Acbas, said that the programme
would explore a new direction in corporate responsibility training.
‘The over-riding message we got was that while CSR practitioners are
broadly confident they have the CSR-specific skills and knowledge to
undertake the requirements of their role, they appear less confident in
meeting the challenge of integrating corporate responsibility across
the business,’ he said.
‘Historically it has been enough for CSR practitioners to know
how to carry out stakeholder engagement or form external partnerships,
but what is increasingly necessary is an understanding of how business
operates, the roles of different departments, and having the skills to
engage with and influence people. That’s missing from current training
provision.’
The three-day Ashridge programme, due to begin in December, will
include sessions on understanding business strategy and culture, as
well as psychometric assessments of participants’ influencing skills
and communication styles.
The Ashridge/CRG study, based on interviews and a questionnaire,
found that almost half of respondents had been working in CSR for more
than four years, so felt they understood the basics. However, about
two-thirds had come to their roles from a community affairs or
corporate communications background and therefore ‘very few’ had direct
experience in mainstream functions such as purchasing or finance.
