Blog: The Intangible ROI of Community Involvement

We are excited to have a new blog contributor on our team, Adrian Felts!  To learn more about Adrian, click here!  Adrian's insights on the ROI of giving back to our community is an imporant way to develop that imporat leadership competency in your organization and for yourself.  So without further ado... enjoy!

When is the last time you were able tell senior management in your organization the expected financial return on investment (ROI, because there's always an acronym) for time spent volunteering?  For workers who find personal value in giving back, this can be very frustrating.  For managers who have financial targets to hit, this too is frustrating. You want your employees to give back because you understand the value is creates for them in their lives and careers, and doggonit, it's good for the community!  But ultimately, time not spent on billable projects is revenue lost, regardless of whether it's volunteer time or time paid for by the company.  So, I have a few thoughts on how to go about doing this so it's a win - win for all involved.

MSBCoach is committed to partnering with leaders and teams to identify their True North.  One's true north includes living into your values, identifying what it means to you to be your authentic self, and practicing emotional intelligence.  Leadership, executive, and team coaching are effective ways to help leaders and their teams put these principles into practice.  We also offer engaging workshops in being an authentic leader, emotional intelligence, identifying your values, and many others.  You can check out our coaching processes and our list of workshops here.
  

If you've read any of my past blogs, you won't be surprised to hear that it's all about planning and setting expectations.  There are questions both the community-minded employee and manager should be asking before jumping into the community involvement pool.  There are tons of great organizations that welcome volunteerism and no shortage of others looking for mentors, speakers, and teachers.


The first thing to do is to answer this question:  How does the community-related activity fit into the company mission/vision?  

Second: How will the activity benefit the employee? 

Third: How does the activity benefit the community?

 
Following are the intangible benefits (i.e. intangible to the question of "what's the ROI?") to being a community-minded employee in your company.  For the most part, they help answers 2 and 3 above.

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