Temps de lecture : 6 minutes
Written byFlorian Masseube
Engaging management on CSR, which really moves the executive committee
For a CSR manager or director, the issue is no longer just about defining a trajectory. It is necessary to build a strategy that holds up against regulatory expectations, while translating it into visible, understandable, and credible actions for stakeholders. And, in fact, many management teams ask a simple question:what are the concrete benefits for the company?
This was the main issue of the meeting of Positive Company certified businesses on April 8.
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Key takeaways from the article
- Start from a concrete subject.
- Show the benefits for the company.
- Translate the strategy into visible actions.
The right entry point is not "CSR", but a concrete subject
A management team is more easily committed to a clear arbitration than to a general ambition. That’s why the topics that progress are often very concrete: a travel policy, a carbon footprint, a purpose genuinely supported by management, a project on values or on aligning internal practices.
Let’s take a simple example: choosing the train over the plane when possible. This type of topic works well because it makes CSR immediately tangible. The orders of magnitude speak for themselves: according to data from the UK government processed by Our World in Data, a domestic flight represents about246 gCO2e per passenger-kilometer, compared to35 gCO2efor national rail. As long as a topic remains theoretical, it invites an opinion debate. As soon as it becomes quantified, it becomes arbitrable.
The same logic applies to the carbon footprint. As long as it is perceived as a technical exercise or an isolated expense, it remains difficult to defend. As soon as it becomes a management tool, it changes its status. CDP indicates that value chain emissions are on average26 times higherthan direct operational emissions, which means that a significant portion of the risk, opportunities for improvement, and customer expectations lie beyond the most visible perimeter. At the same time, PwC observes thatone in two companiesis already tracking the CO2 emissions of its suppliers and that traceability and data transparency have now become essential components of purchasing roadmaps.
Autrement dit, le bilan carbone n’est plus seulement un sujet “environnement” : c’est un sujet achats, risques, données et compétitivité.
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What the executive committee wants to hear: risk, direction, execution
Engaging management requires speaking its language. And this language is generally threefold.
The first aspect is that ofrisk: regulatory risk, customer risk, supply chain risk, reputational risk. The second is that ofdirection: where do we want to go, what differentiates us, what is consistent with the company strategy? The third is that ofexecution: what are we launching, with what budget, what sponsor, what timeline, what visible proof in six months?
This is why a well-crafted purpose can become a true lever for engagement. Not as just another institutional formula, but as a framework of coherence between strategy, management, and operations. McKinsey already showed in 2021 that70% of employeessay that the feeling of contributing to something important is largely defined by their work. Deloitte, in its 2025 global study on Gen Z and millennials, adds that89% of Gen Zand92% of millennialsconsider meaning important for their job satisfaction and well-being. For management, this means that serious work on purpose not only affects image; it also impacts engagement, attraction, and the ability to give meaning to transformation.
Les bénéfices concrets que la direction attend… et qu’il faut savoir rendre visibles
The most common bottleneck is not hostility. It is the expectation of tangible results. On this point, we must accept a simple truth: management does not only expect a fair approach; it expects a useful approach.
This usefulness can take several forms. It can beeconomic, because better team mobilization produces better results. Gallup observes, in its Q12 meta-analysis, that the most engaged units show median differences of23% in profitability, 18% in commercial productivityand78% less absenteeismcompared to the least engaged units. Of course, CSR does not mechanically create these results on its own. However, when it clarifies the direction, strengthens managerial coherence, and gives meaning to action, it becomes a credible lever for collective performance.
It can also becultural and HR. When a company works on its purpose, its values, the alignment of benefits, and the consistency between discourse and practices, it directly impacts the experience of employees. And this is far from secondary: for Deloitte, the triptychmoney, meaning, well-beingtoday structures the expectations of younger generations at work; for McKinsey, work remains one of the primary places for constructing meaning. A CSR strategy that integrates into daily life becomes more understandable for employees, thus more credible for all stakeholders.
In practice, how can a CSR manager create this movement?
The first lever is tostart with an emblematic topic, easy to understand and easy to arbitrate: travel, a carbon footprint, a project on purpose, an internal mobilization project, work on values or on the consistency of HR practices. The challenge is not to prove all of CSR at once. The challenge is to make the approach visible through an undeniable first topic.
The second lever is toquickly put numbers on the table: costs, gains, emissions, customer expectations, avoided risks, necessary budget, timeline, initial expected evidence. An unquantified topic remains a sensitive issue. A quantified topic becomes a decision-making issue.
The third is tocarefully launch it. A structuring CSR initiative deserves a real governance moment: an identified sponsor, a clear statement, a coalition of supporters, a participation mechanism, a coherent narrative. It is often this transition that transforms a CSR project into a business project.
The fourth is toplan for operational descent from the start.Too many CSR strategies remain at the level of intentions. Those that sustainably engage management are the ones that early on answer a simple question: what will change concretely for teams, managers, clients, suppliers, and candidates in the coming months?
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Conclusion
Engaging management on CSR is not about asking for abstract support for a virtuous ambition. It is about making CSR a useful governance topic: a topic that helps to arbitrate, anticipate, engage, and prove.
C’est souvent à ce moment précis que la démarche change de dimension. Quand elle ne parle plus seulement de conformité ou d’intention, mais de décisions, de cap et de résultats visibles. Pour un responsable RSE, l’enjeu n’est donc pas seulement de bâtir une stratégie robuste. Il est de rendre cette stratégie suffisamment concrète pour que la direction ait envie de la porter — parce qu’elle y voit enfin non seulement une exigence, mais aussi un levier.
Because they sometimes perceive CSR as a constraint, not yet as a strategic and operational lever.
Questions fréquentes
Sources:
- Which form of transport has the smallest carbon footprint? — Our World in Data — Link
- Carbon footprint of travel per kilometer — Our World in Data — Link
- Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave — McKinsey & Company — Link
- Corporates’ supply chain scope 3 emissions are 26 times higher than their operational emissions — CDP — Link
- Change Management Success — Prosci — Link
- Integrating Change Management and Project Management — Prosci — Link
- Q12 Meta-Analysis | 11th Edition — Gallup — Link
- Consumers willing to pay 9.7% sustainability premium, even as cost-of-living and inflationary concerns weigh: PwC 2024 Voice of the Consumer Survey — PwC — Link
- PwC Digital Procurement Survey 5th edition — PwC — Link
- Deloitte Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey 2025 — Deloitte — Link
- Corporate sustainability reporting — European Commission — Link
- Transport and mobility — European Environment Agency (EEA) — Link