Distribution Network
Content
An international bank has asked some of its high-flying executives to come up with views on the key social and environmental issues the company is likely to face in the future.
Standard Chartered, which operates in more than 70 countries and has 73,000 employees, has hand-picked a group of ten ‘high-potential’ senior employees from various parts of the business to produce original thoughts on what the bank ought to be considering as part of its sustainability programmes during the next few years. The team includes a technology and operations manager in Kenya, a corporate banker from India, a general manager of consumer lending in Singapore, and the group’s head of strategy.
Standard Chartered, which has an especially strong presence in Asia and Africa, hopes that putting some of its best minds onto the subject will generate new and thought-provoking ideas and priorities that may not have originated from headquarters.
Marianne Mwaniki, Standard Chartered’s senior sustainability manager, told EP: ‘We’ve brought in a range of people who have already been targeted for their senior leadership potential in the next five years or so. The idea is that we can tap into their thoughts and expertise, and that they will also bring forward relevant social or economic trends in their own markets that may otherwise be overlooked.’
Formal discussions within the group began in December. Once a full range of ideas has been put to directors, they will choose two or three of the best to take forward.
Mwaniki said that besides using high-flyers’ talents to produce new ideas, the exercise might give more senior managers a stake in the debate.
UK-based retailer Kingfisher recently began a similar exercise at its head office, but its discussions about future CSR policy are confined to directors. With Forum for the Future, the Kingfisher board is speculating on what the world will look like in ten to 15 years’ time, and what the company may have to do in response (EP9, issue 3, p9).
Mwaniki said the Standard Chartered team would have free range. ‘The team has been mandated to go away and look at whatever it believes is material to the bank’s future,’ she added.
Standard Chartered, which operates in more than 70 countries and has 73,000 employees, has hand-picked a group of ten ‘high-potential’ senior employees from various parts of the business to produce original thoughts on what the bank ought to be considering as part of its sustainability programmes during the next few years. The team includes a technology and operations manager in Kenya, a corporate banker from India, a general manager of consumer lending in Singapore, and the group’s head of strategy.
Standard Chartered, which has an especially strong presence in Asia and Africa, hopes that putting some of its best minds onto the subject will generate new and thought-provoking ideas and priorities that may not have originated from headquarters.
Marianne Mwaniki, Standard Chartered’s senior sustainability manager, told EP: ‘We’ve brought in a range of people who have already been targeted for their senior leadership potential in the next five years or so. The idea is that we can tap into their thoughts and expertise, and that they will also bring forward relevant social or economic trends in their own markets that may otherwise be overlooked.’
Formal discussions within the group began in December. Once a full range of ideas has been put to directors, they will choose two or three of the best to take forward.
Mwaniki said that besides using high-flyers’ talents to produce new ideas, the exercise might give more senior managers a stake in the debate.
UK-based retailer Kingfisher recently began a similar exercise at its head office, but its discussions about future CSR policy are confined to directors. With Forum for the Future, the Kingfisher board is speculating on what the world will look like in ten to 15 years’ time, and what the company may have to do in response (EP9, issue 3, p9).
Mwaniki said the Standard Chartered team would have free range. ‘The team has been mandated to go away and look at whatever it believes is material to the bank’s future,’ she added.
Super Featured
No
Featured
No