As in any Managerial
position, interpersonal skills or people skills are very important in
the professional life of CSR Managers. However there are certain
skill-sets unique to the CSR Profession itself. As a CSR Manager, you
are expected to work with two categories of people:
Managing People who
have Passion and Managing People who have Power.
Managing People who
have Passion:
As a CSR manager you
will often interact with people who have passion, people who are not
just doing a job, but doing something that they are passionate about.
Volunteers, NGOs and other groups of people who are dedicated to a
cause will come under this category. Their motivation is not money or
power, but satisfaction and self-actualization and a deep sense of
contributing to sustainable development.
I have come across,
volunteers who with their sheer passion and dedication have really
made my work all the more satisfying and fulfilling. These volunteers
have night shifts (mostly in IT sector) sometimes stretching into the
wee hours of next morning 3 or 4am. Still at 8 am sharp they will
promptly turn up at a village 50 kms from the city! Their energy and
passion is so powerful that to manage such energy levels you as a CSR
Manager should share the same enthusiasm and motivation. In my
experience, volunteers are mostly young people and unless you share
the same vibes and passion as they do, you will not be able to
'connect'. Therefore, do equip yourself with the same vibes that
moves generation Y in order to be their effective manager.
Secondly, you need to
manage their enormous surge of enthusiasm, energy and motivation.
Some of them could get emotionally charged up or some of them could
just be frustrated because they are not getting the results as fast
as they expected. The key here is to provide some sense of
organization and streamline their enthusiasm so that their energies
are channeled meaningully. I usually encourage them to take up small
projects or break down major themes into “week sized” projects
that they can tackle and contribute as per their skills.
Another important
“Passion” sub-category are the NGO Partners. In your work as CSR
Manager you have to explore, identify, nurture and develop
Partnerships. NGOs with their work in the communities become a
natural choice. Many of the NGOs have great passion for their work
and take pride in what they do. You should respect that and tactfully
work on that premise. For me working with NGOs gives me as much or
even more satisfaction as working with volunteers. While volunteers
with their raw passion just blow me away with their energy, I find
the NGOs temper their passion with a deeper understanding of the
communities they work with. It helps me to constantly update on the
trends in community development and make me put the work I do in the
proper perspective.
Naturally, a CSR
manager who needs to earn their support must have the same knowledge
(if not the experience) as the NGOs. This will make your interactions
meaningful. In most cases, NGOs with their years of experience in the
'Field' try to look down on Corporates that undertake CSR activities.
They sometimes feel that Corporates are trying to enter their domain
without much understanding. Therefore, you as a CSR manager should
equip yourself with the domain knowledge as the NGOs are working in.
NGOs will then listen to you and lend their support. Otherwise, they
tend to “hijack' the programs and run away with their agenda with
the corporates not having any say in their choice of interventions.
Managing People who
have Power
The other category of
people are People who weild tremendous Power and Influence. They
could be Government Officials, CEOs, Senior Executives in your own
officee, Commissioners, Department Heads, Bureaucrats and even senior
NGO Leaders.
While working with
these “Influencers” a CSR Manager has to be constantly on their
feet. First thing to understand is: these people in power are
Resource rich and Time poor.
While you may get a whole day to spend with your volunteers and NGO
partners, you may hardly get 10 minutes or maximum 30 minutes with
them. Even in this extremely short time, they will have other phone
calls, VIP visitors and other interupptions. The key here is short
precise communication. You won't have time for elaborate
presentations or case studies. Another trait is the Power category
people are more concerned about results, outcomes and deliverables.
While your NGO partners may be interested in the process, your bosses
and bureaucrats would like you to jump directly to what results your
CSR project has achieved or what it is expected to achieve.
You have to also learn
to be calm, patient at the same time firm otherwise you risk
intimidation by their powerful presence, body language and sheer
speed in their thought process. I want to recall here an incident to
emphasize my point. In one of my early assignments when I represented
a German Small Business Association , I was to meet the Board Members
– President, Vice President and Chairmen of various committies of a
prominent Business Association in Tamil Nadu. After duly fixing up an
appointment I waited my turn in the imposing Board Room, mentally
rehearsing my presentation and what I need to say etc. I had done a
bit of homework as preparation and knew that the President and other
Board members are mostly Engineers and are leaders in their
respective fields and also politically well connected. However, still
as it was my first meeting with them, I was very anxious.
Exactly on time, the
Secretary walked in and announced that the President and his team
will be joing soon. After few minutes they walked in and the
President took his position at the head of the table. I introduced
myself and requested that I make a presentation of the German
Organization that I represent and how we could work together. Even
before I could start the presentation, I was faced with a barrage of
questions. Sample this: “Do you speak German? ( apparently many of
them could) Have you visited Germany? (at that time I had not visited
Germany) Are you an Engineer (I am not)
These questions at once
put me on the back foot, as I had to answer in the negative to all of
them. But I was honest, If I had tried to bluff my way through, I
would have been sorted out by the experienced men there and none of
my presentation that followed would have mattered.
After this initial
hiccup, I composed myself and gave a short,crisp presentation. I
could immediately feel that I had made a good impression. They were
very appreciative of the work I (my organization) was doing and
wanted to know how we could work together. Thus started one of my
first induction into the world of Small Business Associations. Over
the years the same President and other Office bearers became my
friends for life.
The lesson learnt here
is, be truthful, be straight forward. It took only few minutes for me
to prove that I don't need to speak German or be an Engineer to work
with Germans or Engineers. You must learn to organize your thoughts
calmly and present them firmly. You have to radiate confidence –
not over confidence though - and your actions and communication
should express it. You really get only one opportunity to make an
impression with these influencers and you have to make it count. Once
they are convinced and agree upon your line of thought and action,
the rest of your work is a walk in the park.