Good advice on Danish CSR in Thailand

Many of us know it very well: the company has drawn up CSR policies and guidelines. But how do you translate the good intentions and ambitions into concrete actions that make sense for the individual employee in everyday life? Even if there are many thousands of kilometers from the head office to the factory?

This is everyday food for thought for Charlotte Staib Hansen, who as CSR coordinator at Fiskars – Royal Copenhagen Thailand, works right inside the engine room of the company’s daily production in Thailand.

CSR optimization of the value chain: From audits to mothers’ rooms

For the past five years, Charlotte Staib Hansen has lived in Thailand, where she helps Royal Copenhagen Thailand’s Finnish owner, Fiskars, to implement and maintain procedures for managing environmental and occupational health and safety requirements locally in the company’s production and supply chain.

In everyday life, this requires work with a wide range of initiatives – from reporting and preparing audits to fitting mothers’ nursing rooms and responsibility in the supply chain.

Keywords: Preparation & Change Management

However, it is not always easy to incorporate a CSR policy into daily decisions.

Many perceive CSR as something intangible – especially abroad. Therefore, I always have to thoroughly prepare when I have to introduce a new CSR initiative in a department that does not necessarily understand the initiative. And that requires a new kind of management from me, explains Charlotte, who last year took the practical training Sustainable Business Change Manager, which links CSR with business and change management.

I thought I was OK to get people on board, but I have benefited a lot from the tools from the training. It has, among other things, helped me articulate CSR and break the topic down to the reality we operate in, so that I can now communicate with, and not just to, the organization. In this way, we develop the projects in a constructive collaboration, instead of me as CSR manager dealing with it alone. It’s about getting people on board with the change to ensure real anchoring.

Charlotte’s 3 pieces of advice for other CSR change managers:

Tip #1: Prepare thoroughly before introducing CSR to the organization – for example, think about how CSR can support daily needs or challenges, and familiarize yourself with what experiences and attitudes there are already towards CSR in the department.

Tip #2: Talk WITH and not to your organization about CSR – come up with the overall goals and prepare a detailed plan in collaboration with the local managers and employees.

Tip #3: Find guidance from those who have professional competence – not all of us know enough about handling chemicals or reducing greenhouse gases.

You can read more about Fiskars – Royal Copenhagen Thailand’s CSR work here

The Sustainable Business Change Manager Online certificate programme is provided by TANIA ELLIS – The Social Business Company®, a leading Scandinavian-based speaking, consulting and training company. The programme is supported by B Corp Movement in the Nordics and endorsed by Henley Business School Denmark. Sign up to our Academy newsletter to learn more about our training opportunities.

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