In business, it’s generally accepted that what gets measured gets resourced and, in turn, gets accomplished. The financial health of an organization is understandably the first priority, but are we taking a full-picture view of the health of our organizations? Just as you wouldn’t expect your doctor to treat a symptom without understanding its cause, neither should companies expect that vital elements of their business are disconnected from each other.

 

For years there have been numerous indexes that measure business success, usually based on financial data or exporting and manufacturing capacity. The GDP is the best example. Recently, attention is turning to the indexes that measure the social and environmental impact of organizations and economies. What sorts of risks are there for organizations that ignore their social and environmental health? Are they employers of choice? Do they have progressive employment policies? Will they meet changing guidelines around environmental standards?

 

Some of the most popular metrics to help business take a broad view, and for triple bottom line reporting include the Global Reporting Initiative, the London Benchmarking Group, the UN’s Global Compact, the Sarbanes-Oxley index, The Natural Step, and the ISO 1400 environmental index. ISO has recently created a new index, ISO 26000, that focuses entirely on social responsibility.

 

One measure that many Atlantic Canadians may be familiar with is the Genuine Progress Index, or GPI, which incorporates 26 social, economic, and environmental variables. It was initially developed by more than 400 leading economists, business leaders, and other professionals, including Nobel laureates. 

 

“The things we measure and count, quite literally, tell us what we value as a society and determine the policy agendas of governments,” says Ronald Colman, the founder and executive director of GPI Atlantic. “The GPI presents a better way of measuring our societal progress and well-being. It assigns explicit value to environmental quality, population health, livelihood security, equity, free time, and educational attainment. It values voluntary and household work as well as paid work. It counts sickness, crime, and pollution as costs. The GPI can provide a more complete and accurate picture of how Atlantic Canadians are really doing.”

 

Before dedicating his full attention to GPI Atlantic in 1997, Colman was a political science professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. He believes that Atlantic Canada is particularly well placed to lead the field in measuring and reporting on social indexes. “Atlantic Canadians are known for their community values,” he says. “The quality of life here sustains this region, and that makes us intrinsically well aligned to measure our progress based on social metrics. Add to that the fact that we’ve learned through the school of hard knocks. Being faced with 40,000 people out of work from the decline in the fishery hopefully gives us a profound understanding of our dependence on the health of our environment. We are much closer to the issues.”

 

Colman and others who work in CSR recognize that companies are slowly starting to understand social responsibility because their employees and customers demand it. Of course, businesspeople wear many different hats; they are parents, community members, and members of church associations, and they are concerned about social and environmental problems. “We need to look at the whole picture, not just at one part of the equation,” says Colman. “The GDP doesn’t measure social costs. We know that the whole picture is interconnected. We also see business recognizing the importance of reporting on these issues.”

 

Colman also believes that Atlantic Canada is well positioned to be a leader because the region is small, which means that it should be easier to change the status quo than it would be in a bigger locale. He points to Prince Edward Island’s commitment to 100% renewable energy by 2015 as a great example of the kinds of changes we should aim for in the future.

 

There are other examples of small businesses that represent best practices and that have made use of the work of GPI Atlantic in developing their business model. One of the most high-profile ones is Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op in Grand Pré, located in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. It has found a niche in importing, roasting, and selling organic fair trade coffee, tea, sugar, and chocolate from developing countries. It is building a growth industry, all while discovering that being socially responsible is good for business.

 

When talking about measures, many of us assume that it will involve a complicated process, but just as leadership doesn’t need to be complex, businesses can use existing indicators and benchmarking tools as resources for developing internal standards. One of the critical success factors of sustainability measures and CSR in general is the appetite for them in our society. For example, we know from recent opinion polls concerning the environment that we are moving toward—not away from—resolving those issues.

 

Leadership plays an essential role in ensuring we adopt CSR measures and that the things we measure get done. Several of the region’s biggest employers—Aliant, Jacques Whitford Ltd., and iNova Credit Union—have seen the value in this and have signed on with GPI Atlantic to launch the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative. More pressure is also being placed on governments to create policies around sustainability and to reward businesses that are doing it right. It’s all part of the broad picture of health.