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If it’s good for our community, it’s good for business

With our companies continual focus on supporting the communities in which we operate, our Managing Director John Good highlights our CSR focus as part of a though piece published in the Australian Financial Review.

Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR. The modern term for companies contributing to their communities, is clearly something all good companies, no matter what size of their organisation, want to do. Although, the use of the word responsibility implies some sort of obligation, it should not be seen as such. CSR is an opportunity to be a genuine contributor to the life of the communities in which you operate, to build brand recognition, engagement and loyalty. In short, it’s good for the community and it’s good for business.

At LSH Auto Australia, being a local company with an annual turnover of approximately AUD 1 billion, our starting point for choosing activities to support is the value they provide to the community. Only then do we consider the contribution to our brand value. Taking that approach sees us work with CSR partners that would not always be seen as a first choice in our industry, but they are partners who really do progress the social, artistic and intellectual life of the communities in which we operate. Important issues that will become increasingly resonant with customers as the millennial consumer population grows.

Every sizable organisation is approached, probably daily, to contribute to myriad causes and activities. Our philosophy has been to choose carefully, being fully appreciative of the community value offered, the alignment with our corporate values and the opportunity for true partnership, not just contribution of funds. We have also followed a path of consolidation of the number of partnerships. In our view, better to be a major partner in a select few engagements than to spread the effort too wide and risk no real connection with the good being done.

John Good, LSH Auto Australia Managing Director

At LSH Auto Australia we have landed on four key CSR engagements, covering social support, artistic expression and intellectual discourse. They are, our now five-year long support for the Chain Reaction Challenge Foundation and their annual program of children’s charity fundraising cycle rides, the innovative Street Side Medics program delivering medical support to the homeless and dispossessed, our support of the Queensland Ballet allowing them to enrich the artistic life of the sunshine state, and our partnership with Qantas on the series of Think events focussed on exploring key business issues.

Of course, we still have the capacity to respond to major negative events, such as through our support for the Business Council of Australia’s Biz rebuild program that helped to rebuild shattered communities after the devastating 2019/2020 bushfires. We also look for opportunities to develop long term business partnerships, such as our ongoing support of the AFR’s annual Business Summit.

In each case we aim to create long-term relationships, and even when responding to specific crises, to stay involved to the very end. We believe that the best value for the community, and for all involved in such partnerships, is extracted over time, as the parties learn to maximise their cooperation and ensure the most beneficial outcomes.

Our considerations as to which partnership to enter include looking for opportunities for LSH Auto Australia team and customer engagement. Extending the partnership beyond the corporate office is, in our view, critical to the long-term success we seek. Building-in ways that our team and customers can participate in, and contribute to, the efforts of our CSR partners is a not only good for team spirit and customer recognition but also increases the reach of those CSR partners into broader network, often sparking new connections and relationships. This is another way that businesses can make significant contribution to CSR causes. We all have internal and external networks that can help progress a chosen cause, so why not use those to increase the good done?

When developing a community engagement strategy LSH Auto Australia also sees a valuable role for a very select group of ambassadors, or as we preferer to call them Friends of the Brand. We look for high achievers who share our core values, demonstrate excellence in their field and can connect with the interests and issues that engage our customer community.

That is why we have developed relationships with Olympic Champion Stephanie Rice, Young Australian of the Year 2022 and founder of Street Side Medics Dr. Daniel Nour, Artistic Director of The Queensland Ballet Li Cunxin and renowned chef Shannon Bennett.

Each Friend of the Brand has pursued and achieved excellence. Each is dedicated to setting new standards and, whilst they operate in different spheres, they connect with our customer and staff community in a complimentary fashion, covering sport and physical wellbeing, community support, arts and culinary experiences.

Once again, we aim to maximise the value of these relationships with points of direct interaction with our LSH Auto family. We develop activities, encourage participation and create opportunities for connection that will help build new awareness and relationships, spawned from our initial introduction. In so doing, we inevitably build greater affinity and connection with our brand.

Ultimately partnerships must be built on mutual benefit. That is no less relevant to CSR partnerships than it is to commercial partnerships. At LSH Auto Australia we try to focus our partnership efforts in a manner that supports our core values of striving for excellence and being socially responsible. We firmly believe that by building a core group of partnerships and relationships, and continually finding ways to connect those with our broader family of staff and customers, we can deliver the twin benefits of - what is good for our community also being good for business.