How companies can address social issues without becoming too political

How companies can address social issues without becoming too political

Taking a stand in business

Taking a stance isn’t just a luxury today—it’s a necessity. A Gallup analysis, determining why customers who are aligned with a brand’s purpose devote twice as much of their wallet as those who aren’t, found that a company’s actions told the real story. If the company’s leaders and employees truly championed a cause by supporting it with more than just lip service, loyalty and trust grew.

Daniel Korschun and N. Craig Smith explained that companies can’t avoid the slippery political slope these days and shouldn’t even try.

“Companies used to avoid political issues at almost any cost. But those still relying on a strategy of abstention and neutrality are quickly learning that it no longer works the way it once did,” they explained at Harvard Business Review. “Sometimes it leads to more harm than good.”

Political neutrality, they found, has its own consequences: refusing to take a stand is a stand in itself. The question, they say, isn’t whether to engage but how to do so. Sprout Social’s "Championing Change in the Age of Social Media" research backs this up: while 66 percent of people indicated they aren’t influenced by companies’ attempts to change their views, nearly 40 percent said they believed brands’ influence was more powerful when they did things like donate to specific causes and give fans ways to participate as well. In all, the research found that brands stood to benefit more than lose.

So how can leaders of all stripes toe the line between taking a stand and lending a hand?

Know your audience—on both sides

Communities and audiences are often full of very different types of people. While giving back to the communities that support them is important, leaders have to recognise how their interactions with one audience can influence their relationships with others.

One key way is through partnerships. All the hard work you’ve invested in building up your own reputation, as well as your brand’s, can be demolished quickly by aligning with the wrong organisation. Do your due diligence in researching your potential partners—don’t just read their whitepapers or corporate social responsibility pages on their website. Dig through the brand’s social media accounts, as well as those of its most visible leaders. Ask around to find out what kinds of experiences others in your arena or community have had with the company. Look closely at its sponsorships and other partnerships.

What you find will tell you a lot about how you’ll be positioning yourself if you move forward. If a big part of your audience segment champions LGBTQ+ issues, partnering with a company that annually donates to GLAAD seems like a good fit. Partnering with a company whose CEO lambasts that same group via Twitter would be disastrous—no matter how much money or support may follow from the company. The bottom line is that you have to think about your long-term reputation, not simple short-term wins.

Speak to your audience clearly

Phrasing is an important way to communicate your stance on an issue, cause or situation. Parsing your own words can enable you to subtly, but powerfully, convey your feelings without taking a direct or inflammatory stand.

Piggybacking on trending hashtags and memes may feel like a smart idea for attracting attention for your efforts, but these things tend to carry less obvious undertones that can wreak havoc. One well-known example: in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement’s popularity, a campaign championing police officers’ safety—Blue Lives Matter—rose up.

While the initial sentiment itself was one nobody could argue with, the phrase transformed to fuel racial tension. A US county in Oregon paid a $100,000 settlement to a public employee who felt racially discriminated against by a Blue Lives Matter flag flown at her building; police departments in various areas have dealt with similar fallout, with NPR saying the issue tested “the boundaries between free speech and police credibility.” This surely wasn’t the intention—but it served as a good reminder that others’ words may not accurately reflect our own positions.

When preparing to address a potentially controversial issue, get feedback from trusted members of your target audience. Is your stance clear from your wording? How will your tone influence the conversation that follows? How can things be rephrased to convey a supportive and constructive approach to something you care about passionately? Play devil’s advocate to reveal the flaws in your own phrasing.

Put your money where your mouth is

Donations, like partnerships, offer an opportunity to do real good—but also can go awry quickly. Give your money to a cause without realising all the repercussions can result in a lot of the same negative outcomes of a bad partnership.

Partnerships are often celebrated via a brand’s or leader’s homepage, as well as via social media and advertisements. While donations may feel more under the radar, remember that donations become public record. Do your research, and consider whether you’d want your name attached to the cause you’re giving money to. Earmarking your money for a specific cause is a deliberate act, and people recognise that people are more cautious with their money than they are with their words. Donations carry more impact than you may realise.

Avoiding taking a stance is unavoidable today. If you say nothing at all, that says something, too. The key is to carefully evaluate what your actions are saying, and whether they’re truly backing the causes you intended them to. There’s more than one side to every story, and as a leader, it’s your responsibility to understand all of them before you indicate which side you’re on.

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Serenity Gibbons is a former assistant editor at
The Wall Street Journal and a local unit lead for the NAACP in California who serves as a consultant for businesses looking to build diverse teams.