I’m finding it interesting how organisations are shifting from CSR to ESG and I’m hoping we’ll see some difference from the issues I saw regarding CSR. In brief, I didn’t often see CSR being integrated into the mechanics of the organisation, instead being stuck on the side as an afterthought. Unfortunately, I can see the same thing happening with ESG, with one difference; ESG is getting more CxO representation. You can see more ESG director and similar roles who are either c-suite or reporting directly.
However that still leaves the lack of integration. From a business architecture perspective, the missing piece in most of the approaches is a blend of GRC and BMM, probably aligned through better portfolio management. Think of GRC being discipline and BMM being the motivation. Motivation helps you describe what you want to achieve and whether your activities are aligned to those goals. GRC provides the discipline to make sure you do it within the relevant constraints, Portfolio Management should make sure you do it (although because it’s often disconnected from ESG/CSR, it often doesn’t).
ESG – Environmental, Social and Governance
CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility / Corporate Sustainability Responsibility
GRC – Governance, Risk and Compliance
BMM – Business Motivation Modelling