Recently in Social Responsibility Category

This morning, with the rest of the early risers at PMI® Global Congress 2009--North America,  I had the opportunity to attend the Monday Morning Breakfast Panel on sustainability. Moderated by PMI president and CEO Gregory Balestrero, the panel included:

Ellen Jackowski: Lead of HP Environmental Sustainability Corporate Governance process and the Environmental Sales Enablement initiatives
Anne Larilahti: Head of the Environmentally Sustainable Business program at Nokia Siemens Networks
Sandra E. Taylor: Vice president of Starbucks' corporate social responsibility (CSR) endeavors from 2003-2008 and now president and CEO of Sustainable Business International LLC

Here are some of the highlights:

•    Ms. Taylor said that more and more organizations are starting to understand the business case for CSR--it can be profitable, good for attracting and retaining employees, and more attractive to consumers interested in sustainability. CSR strengthens the supply chain, reduces operating costs and can lead to better brand reputation.

•    Ms. Larilahti said that Nokia has not had to stop any of its sustainability projects because of the economy. The company's projects have to meet organizational goals, including lowering costs, differentiating Nokia from the competition, building the brand and delivering cost savings to the customer.

•    Ms. Jackowski believes we are about to face a bigger environmental crisis than our current predicament because we don't have the tools to turn back. But at some point  we will start treating the planet as a stakeholder in our projects.

•    Five years from now, social responsibility will be an integral part of the business, not just an add-on, Ms. Taylor noted.

All three of the panelists challenged attendees to consider their organization's daily business operations. How do you actively prioritize your organization's sustainability practices?

While it might sound simple, a little operational change can reduce your company's environmental impact--and contribute to its bottom line.  

For example, both Nokia and HP hold as many meetings as possible virtually. And HP has recently challenged its offices to lower energy use. The prize? The winning office is rewarded with an ice cream party.

"It sounds small, but ice cream is a huge motivator," Ms. Jackowski said.

Let's face it, McDonald's doesn't exactly scream sustainability. Yet the fast food chain has shown a fierce determination to demonstrate its green cred that goes back to way before it became so cool. In the late '80s and early '90s, McDonald's focused on reducing its packaging--eliminating 300 million pounds of the stuff. Granted, there was plenty of packaging to get rid of, but still ...
    Since then, the company has tackled sustainability projects on multiple levels, everything from collaborating with Greenpeace on a soy moratorium aimed at protecting the Amazon to rolling out an environmental scorecard for its suppliers. The company also recently opened a green version of the Golden Arches on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, USA. And now others are under construction in France, Brazil, Canada and Costa Rica.
    Of course with the global economic crisis, the big question for McDonald's and every other company out there is whether the commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects will last. Bob Langert, McDonald's vice president, says CSR can't be a standalone. On his blog, he writes: "CSR must be part of the way we think and act every single day. It is this type of mindset and way of doing business that does not waiver in the face of economic instability."
    The struggle to balance sustainability and the bottom line isn't likely to end anytime soon. Check out the February issue of PM Network for an in-depth look at how the crunch may turn out to have a "cleansing effect" on sustainability.

A good part of PMI president and CEO Gergory Balestrero's opening remarks last Sunday afternoon at global congress centered on sustainability--and how project managers and the profession can play a huge part. PMI has started to play its part by announcing a new strategic principle:
        PMI shall take actions and make decisions in a socially and environmentally responsible way.
    The sustainability effort has been brewing within PMI for a while now. Just take a look at the current issue of PM Network (now and forever on recycled paper), which is completely devoted to the topic.
    And for those of us who get to hear Mr. Balestrero speak on a regular basis, you will notice that he often touches on the important role project managers and project management can play in the sustainability effort.
    When econsense official Thomas Koenen signed up to serve as the keynoter for the PMI global congress in Malta earlier this year, Mr. Balestrero said, "Social responsibility is no longer the whim of an environmentally sensitive CEO. It has become a mandate for all organizations in every operation. Project managers must recognize and address this mandate now and into the future."
    Good sentiments, indeed. Throughout the year, however, I sometimes speak to in-the-trenches project managers who don't share the same point of view. They say social responsibility is nothing more than a "feel good" effort and argue the topic as it relates to the profession is on overkill.
    While this group may represent the minority, I wonder what PMI will do to convert these holdouts--and how they will raise the bar for sustainable project management around the world.

Social responsibility is no longer just a "nice" thing to do. Organizations are now taking a hard look at their practices and providing accountability and ROI for their efforts.
    Yet few people address the role of project management in social responsibility. So PMI devoted the entire October issue of PM Network to the topic. Stories cover everything from greening the supply chain to business ethics to the corporate social responsibility advocates making a difference around the world. The issue also includes a special 40-page section that includes 10 social responsibility case studies covering everything from water management to internet connectivity.
    If you are not a member of PMI, you can read a selection of the stories on PMI.org.
    Social responsibility is not longer an option, and PMI and project leaders around the globe are facing the issue head-on. As Gregory Balestrero, PMI president and CEO says in the issue's opening letter:
    "Today, project managers play a central role in helping the world deal with challenges such as resource scarcity, climate change, growing population, hunger, education of children, and disaster relief and recovery. More and more, a project's ROI will be measured in terms of environmental and social gains as well as financial gains. Throughout the world, project decision criteria is changing, and global sustainability is affecting the project scope, budget, schedule, quality and risks."

Project management can not only help companies succeed, it can change the world we live in, said PMI chair Philip Diab in his opening conference remarks.

Sometimes, though, project leaders get so caught up in their schedules and plans, they forget just how transforming project management can be.

It's not just about the bottom line. It's about building a sustainable future. Yes, project management can achieve results, but organizations must also look at the long-term impact.

"Corporate social responsibility" may be the buzzword, he said, but there must be "organizational social responsibility," too, he said.

And I wouldn't be much of a PM Network editor if I didn't put in a plug for our upcoming issue devoted to social responsibility. So: Be sure to check out the October issue for features covering everything from how to build a sustainable supply chain to a case study of how Intel brought wireless technology to a remote Vietnamese village.

While in Warsaw for the Research Conference, I had the pleasure to meet with Piotr Plewinski, PMP, yesterday morning. Piotr, who is with the Gdansk Branch of the PMI Poland Chapter, was going to take me to see the summer camp the chapter has run for five years for Polish orphans, a camp where they take classes in English as a second language. Since I have published several articles about this camp in PMI Today, I was very excited to go and these plans were long in the making. Unfortunately (but fortunately for Poland), road projects tied to the Euro 2012 championship to be hosted by Poland and Ukraine interfered with our plans.

It seems that normally it would take about 2 and one-half hours for a fast native Polish driver like Piotr to get from Warsaw to the camp near Gdansk, but he said that unpredicable weekend traffic jams from road construction would probably increase that time to about 5 hours each way--too difficult to make as a one-day round trip.

So Piotr and I chatted in a cafe about the  camp, how much he has seen the program and the orphans grow in the five years the chapter has run it, the great benefit the campers will see from this education (being more able to get high-paying jobs in construction and other fields), and the challenges of running a volunteer project like this for a chapter that just recently completed the conversion to chapter with branches. One challenge involves the departure of the program manager, who is scheduled to have a baby in August.

I am privileged to know people in the PMI world like Piotr who take project management into the social responsibility realm and really make a difference. Now that's a value of project management!