Personal Social Responsibility Drives Employees to More Deeply Commit to Their Organization’s Success

Leadership expert, Will Marre, transforms corporate social responsibility into personal social responsibility to drive employee engagement and encourage new innovation.

San Diego, CA August 14, 2009 (PressReleasePoint) -- While corporate social responsibility is a hot topic these days, the focus should be on personal social responsibility, according to Will Marre, leadership expert. In his recent speech to human resource executives at the recent Employee of Choice Forum (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt-DgeLILCY), Marre challenged leaders with the idea that the growing desire for meaningful work is changing the face of corporate social responsibility programs.

Research reported in the Harvard Business Review (http://harvardbusiness.org/product/how-gen-y--boom...) reveals that nearly 90 percent of workers want work that contributes to a better world. Furthermore, the 2007 Cone Survey Report (http://www.coneinc.com/files/2007ConeSurveyReport....) reveals that 93 percent of American employees say it is important for their companies to provide them with opportunities to become involved in social issues, and 72 percent want their employers to do more to support a cause or social issue.

This accelerating trend, according to Marre, has great implications for the workplace as human resource departments strive to meet these emerging needs. The responsibility, however, needs to be shifted from human resource leaders to the individual. He explained, “For years many companies have strived to become good corporate citizens through corporate philanthropy, volunteerism and increasing environmental responsibility. But business cycles, relentless competitive pressures and rising standards have resulted in big gaps between what employees want from their organizations and what can be supported.”

The answer, asserted Marre, is to shift corporate social responsibility programs to personal social responsibility. He stated, “Leading companies are fostering cultures of individual responsibility and opportunity where employees are supported in finding their own ways of linking their personal strengths, skills and interests to causes they believe in.” He continued, “In the real world organizations are finding success by transforming a paternalistic paradigm of CSR into a launch pad for inspired employees to “save the world” right where they are.”

Marre further makes his case for personal social responsibility In The Future of Work: Engaging Employees to Drive Innovation (http://www.prleap.com/pr/138668/) in which Marre discusses the correlation between meaningful work and active engagement. He states, “Meaningful work occurs when workers harness their strengths, interests and creativity to create real value. When that happens, a culture of innovation thrives and people do amazing things no matter what.”

Marre concluded his speech by giving showcase studies of how CSR and PSR (Personal Social Responsibility) are changing corporate cultures, engaging employees and creating new business growth opportunities. He cited the highly successful initiative of Wal-Mart know as their Personal Sustainability Program as a case of turning a huge culture into a force for good. He said, “When employees are being encouraged to innovate new products, services, and processes that serve human and environmental goals, they find deep meaning and satisfaction in their work and the enterprise grows in ways previously unimagined.” That is the power of personal social responsibility.

About Will Marre:
Will is an Emmy Award-winning writer, speaker and coach. He is the co-founder and former president of the Covey Leadership Center (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and CEO of the REALeadership Alliance where he helps leaders identify, communicate and implement new socially strategic business models. Will has been a personal leadership coach and advisor to multi-billion dollar global companies such as Disney and Johnson & Johnson. For the past 10 years he has focused on making corporate social responsibility strategic. His book, Save the World and Still Be Home for Dinner will be released in fall 2009.

For more information on opportunities to have Will speak, please visit www.WillMarre.com, or for more information on Will's consulting practice, please visit www.Realeadership.com. You can also follow Will on Twitter (@WillMarre) and Facebook.