Even companies that aren’t ready to make the full leap to being a Certified B Corporation have some options for incrementally improving their corporate social responsibility programs.
The nonprofit B Lab, which administers the Certified B Corporation certifications, offers a few easy steps to get started:
1. Get a current benchmark and create an action plan.
Take the B Impact Assessment, which is a free, confidential and transparent tool to measure and benchmark social and environmental performance. This can be used internally to provide baseline information and spark ideas for the future. It also can be a starting point to set short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals for your company’s impact.
2. Engage key employees.
High-impact companies leverage their workforce to improve their impact over time. This not only creates a happier workforce, but it also spurs innovative ways to improve the triple bottom line.
3. Ask suppliers about their practices.
More information means more opportunities for improvement. Learning about your suppliers’ practices allows you to make better decisions and help them improve as you improve.
4. Reach out to stakeholders.
Reaching out to community members and environmental experts will help you get an outside perspective on the impacts of your business that you may not be aware of.
5. Share the results.
Sharing impact information on your website illustrates that you are going the extra mile and are dedicated to positive impact. It means your next big idea can come from anywhere.
