Incorporating social benefit into the people of Grosvenor’s daily work & communities

 

Real estate developers have the ability to make or break a community. Understanding how to impactfully leverage the market influence Grosvenor carries – with offices in the UK, Asia, and North America – Yulu was engaged to conduct a series of social benefit workshops with the global real estate development company’s San Francisco, DC, Vancouver, and Calgary offices.

THE CHALLENGE

 

Corporate America is in the midst of a great shift in power. Government and nonprofits can not solve all of the issues impacting the communities we live in. And businesses have more economic equity than ever – and when companies achieve strong social capital, it earns them political currency, which, if done properly, can come full circle to providing an ROI of commercial benefit. Each of the four markets Yulu engaged with has a distinct makeup and unique set of opportunities and issues to address, ranging from socio economic factors, to health care challenges, to systemic poverty and homelessness. It was clear from the get go that one social benefit plan would not meet the needs of all of Grosvenor’s markets.

THE STRATEGY

 

To get an authentic read on Grosvenor Americas’ current social benefit, and to explore new ideas on how GA could create social impact within each market, Yulu conducted internal and external stakeholder interviews with influential members within the company and trusted industry partners, collecting valuable insights and adding outside perspectives to our research and discovery process.

Through market-specific, collective team charrettes, Yulu worked with each individual office to explore and identify how the company could maximize its social benefit within each market that it operates in. The process included executive coaching, team workshops, exploration of social issues and solutions, identifying impact targets, purpose implementation and more.

Finally, Yulu compiled learnings from our stakeholder interviews and social benefit workshops to compile and present strategic recommendations for the Grosvenor Americas team that will leverage the company’s voice of authority and influence, position, skills and knowledge to go above and beyond with their work, for commercial benefit and for the greater good of society.

 

 

RESULTS & IMPACT

 

After a dozen stakeholder interviews, four social benefit workshops, and hundreds of post-its – the people of Grosvenor not only demonstrated their enthusiasm to incorporate more Social Benefit into their daily work and their communities – they proved, repeatedly, how resourceful, compassionate, and collaborative they are.

We’re excited to see Grosvenor fulfill its mandate of “doing the right thing” by prioritizing Social Benefit in all that it does, serving as a catalyst for positive industry and economic change. A revolution is happening at the junction of business, commerce and social consciousness. Grosvenor isn’t watching it happen from the sidelines – together with its community, networks, and partners, it’s at the forefront of leading it.