The courage to create real value
Many organisations work with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). A powerful tool with which you demonstrate that you take responsibility for the impact on people, the environment and society. Frameworks such as people, planet and profit have brought us many good things, such as a greater focus on sustainability, ethics and transparency. But, CSR is often also reporting-oriented, a sum of figures and measures that are neatly accounted for. Good and important, but sometimes it feels more like ticking off a list than an actual connection with society.
Are there any alternatives then?
Yes indeed, the public value approach is gaining ground. The thinking of Mark Moore and especially Timo Meynhardt, among others, goes beyond accountability. It revolves around one key question: what value is actually experienced? Meynhardt emphasises that public value only exists when it is experienced in the psychological and social functioning of individuals and communities. In other words, you can write such a beautiful report, but if citizens, customers, relations or employees do not feel anything about it, you are not adding any value at all. Public value is precisely about actively contributing to trust, connection and well-being in society.
In practice, CSR is increasingly shifting towards Public Value. Where CSR started as a set of standards and reports, there is a growing urgency to really connect organisations to societal challenges. Think climate, inequality or trust in institutions. Public value requires guts and values, daring to question your raison d'être. Making choices that are not only good for the organisation, but for the bigger picture.
“In other words, you can write such a beautiful report, but if citizens, customers, relations or employees do not feel anything about it, you are not adding any value at all.”
Why is public value so important precisely NOW?
CSR and Public Value are not opposites, but different layers of the same social consciousness. CSR helps organisations take responsibility, Public Value challenges them to go a step further: find social legitimacy and existence in the eyes of society.
Society faces enormous, societal challenges. Just think of examples like the climate, inequality and the loss of trust in institutions. In that context, it is not enough just to show that you are acting responsibly. It is about organisations showing that their raison d'être is in line with what society finds valuable.
This is exactly what Guts 'n Values is all about. It takes courage, gouge, to really question your organisation: Why do we exist? What do we add? We help organisations not only understand Public Value, but also make it concrete.
How do we do that?
- By translating theory as well as practice.
- By challenging organisations to explore their values in dialogue their stakeholders.
-By building networks in which public and private parties learn and experiment together.
Our belief is that organisations that show real courage and share values with society are the organisations that will remain relevant and legitimate in the future.
And now?
CSR and Public Value complement each other, but Public Value goes a step further. CSR shows that you take responsibility. Public Value shows that you have a right to exist. Right to exist, because that is how society perceives it.
And perhaps that is the greatest challenge and opportunity of our time: organisations that not only do business responsibly, but actually contribute to a society in which people want to and can live. At a time when trust in institutions and companies is under pressure, this is perhaps the most important value that organisations can create.