Communicating Your Corporate Sustainability Strategy
Communicating Your Corporate Sustainability Strategy
According to a recent 2008 survey by KPMG, annual reports on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is on the rise, “…Corporate responsibility reporting has gone mainstream - nearly 80 percent of the largest 250 companies worldwide issued reports, up from about 50 percent in 2005.” The reputational value surrounding disclosure on corporate ethics and economics were among the top drivers referenced by KPMG that are influencing more and more companies to publicly report out on key CSR indicators. In the mad rush to publish CSR content, how effective are companies at communicating themselves to stakeholders effectively? How do they differentiate sustainability as a business and societal directive? How do they communicate clarity when there is conjecture about the future?
The eloquence by which President-elect Barack Obama speaks of his vision for our nation is, in my personal view, one of the defining and winning elements of his campaign. Trying to communicate such vision to 100 million registered voters, through nothing more than the delivery of words, is an incredible skill and nothing shy of amazing. President Obama’s victory speech was exemplified how and why words matter.
There are some basic principles and key lessons in communication that we can draw from the leadership of President Obama and his ability to communicate complicated and often unresolved issues to diverse audiences. These key lessons on are valuable for communicating complex information like a corporate sustainability strategy, which is often not well defined, not yet rooted, and in most cases, a vision or framework for business strategy and governance.
Key Lessons for Communicating Your Sustainability Strategy
1. Create Trust by Giving Praise
2. Be Articulate and Succinct
3. Be Visionary yet Grounded in Tangible Example and Application
4. Show Emphasis but not Exaggeration
5. Transcend All Stakeholders with Common Themes and Examples
6. Be Realistic on the Present and Future
7. Demonstrate Force and Grace Simultaneously
8. Don’t Overwhelm Your Audience
9. Create Enthusiasm
10. Leave a Door Open for Others to Join
I am sure there are other basic principles one can draw from President-elect Obama’s oratory and speech writing skills, however, these ten principles are directly applicable to corporate communications and disclosure on sustainability.
As I think about some of the more successful communicators of business sustainability I see these ten principles in their blogs, annual reports, speeches and presentations and press releases. The ten principles are often tied together to tell a story, one that is rooted in both the emotional-and-tactical side of business. I often see sustainability communications that are so mechanical that the essence and richness of what is being communicated is lost in a sea of data and numbers, non-descript and non-personal quotes, or language that is unrealistic with regard to what is being communicated. There is a certain bravado that garners attention from investors and the media, but to much can send many analysts running for the hills.
Constantly solid purveyors of the ten principles identified above for the purposes of telling their sustainability story have been:
Campbell Soup Company “Nourishing Peoples Lives” is one of the themes of their 2008 corporate social responsibility report. Campbell’s conjures up immediate emotion of home and warmth, thinking back to a cold winter day, just in from a two-hour cross-country skiing excursion across barren land, or building the indestructible snow fort to ward off neighborhood trespassers. Campbell’s ability to leverage their brand to show common themes across all stakeholders in their social responsibility report is one aspect of good communications. They understand that consumers are concerned about healthy foods, where foods are sources, how nutritious their diets are and responsibility in advertising through disclosure in product labeling and the use of certain commercials targeted to children. Food and beverage companies like Campbell’s elicit very strong consumer emotion and ties. It is essential for firms that have such immediate impact on the daily lives of consumers to communicate their sustainability story using the ten principles of good communication.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters “From Understanding to Action” Corporate Social Responsibility Report, Fiscal Year 2005. This report by GMCR achieves the ten principles. The first words in the report are “For 25 years, we have been on a deliberate journey to create and sustain a values-driven company that views profit as a means to achieve a higher purpose.” Like Patagonia, GMCR has a foundation with a passionate and articulate executive. Bob Stiller, founder and President of GMCR says “Understanding the realities of people’s lives and the conditions of our shared world motivates us and helps guide our decisions. When people understand underlying issues, I believe they will take action. That is why we have sent more than 20% of our full-time employees on trips to coffee-farming communities. Whenever I visit with coffee farmers, I am touched by their hard work, perseverance and pride in producing high-quality coffee. Seeing first-hand some of the challenges and complexities integral to the specialty coffee industry inspires us to move toward a vision of long-term sustainability for everyone in our supply chain.” You get an immediate sense of how personal GMCR’s sustainability and social responsibility efforts are to their success as a company. GMCR’s views its suppliers not as commodity providers, but as an integral part of the company’s future and vice versa. This humanistic and emotional connection to their products and the communities in which they source products from enables GMCR to have a realistic notion of their business present and future.
Marriott International “Spirit to Preserve” initiative is changing the culture at this leading property development, management and lodging company. With more than 3,000 properties in the US and abroad Marriot International has a large social and environmental footprint. Their “Spirit to Preserve” initiative includes green building development, greening of their supply chain, protecting the rainforest, resource conservation (through water, waste and energy reductions) and employee and guest engagement in Marriott’s sustainability efforts. Marriott’s Green Stories serve to communicate how they are transforming the built environment, enabling more sustainable conferences and meetings with the use of greener products and facilities, and instilling a new culture of conservation into their business model through tangible example.
Patagonia “Leading the Examined LiveTM” communications and Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia's founder) ability to be articulate, create enthusiasm and personal emotion to his products and his firms purpose as a company. In a creative disclosure of their environmental footprint Patagonia has created The Footprint Chronicles to help stakeholders track (and offer input on) the company’s environmental impact of specific products from design through delivery. The Footprint Chronicles examines “the good and the bad” with Patagonia offering their input on why their product is bad for the environment. This honest disclosure shows the humility of Patagonia and how they are grounded in reality.
As more companies publicly disclose their corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts in annual reports, press releases, investor presentations and marketing collateral it will be crucial for good communications. There is a risk of under-and-over stating your sustainability story to the public. Increasingly the general public and all stakeholders are becoming more educated on best practices in corporate governance, social responsibility, environmental management, and sustainable business models and practices. Coherent, clear and concise communications are essential to quality reporting on CRS. In addition, it is equally important to have sustainability communications that like Patagonia, Green Mountain Coffee, Campbell’s Soup and Marriott International, are consistent with the vision and commitment of senior management and also tell a story. Stakeholders are more forgiving of communications that have a face and a personality than those that are seemingly transparent but with no real connection to the vision, policies and practices of the disclosing firm.
Remember also that communicating sustainability should be your story; not your competitors or what you feel stakeholders want to hear. Business sustainability is about not only effectively managing your risk and your future, but also your ability to connect with the present through clear communications.
Communicating Your Corporate Sustainability Strategy - To learn more about this author, visit Mark Coleman's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
As in Politics – Creating a Vision of the Future through Words also Matters in Corporate Communications…
According to a recent 2008 survey by KPMG, annual reports on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is on the rise, “…Corporate responsibility reporting has gone mainstream - nearly 80 percent of the largest 250 companies worldwide issued reports, up from about 50 percent in 2005.” The reputational value surrounding disclosure on corporate ethics and economics were among the top drivers referenced by KPMG that are influencing more and more companies to publicly report out on key CSR indicators. In the mad rush to publish CSR content, how effective are companies at communicating themselves to stakeholders effectively? How do they differentiate sustainability as a business and societal directive? How do they communicate clarity when there is conjecture about the future?
The eloquence by which President-elect Barack Obama speaks of his vision for our nation is, in my personal view, one of the defining and winning elements of his campaign. Trying to communicate such vision to 100 million registered voters, through nothing more than the delivery of words, is an incredible skill and nothing shy of amazing. President Obama’s victory speech was exemplified how and why words matter.
There are some basic principles and key lessons in communication that we can draw from the leadership of President Obama and his ability to communicate complicated and often unresolved issues to diverse audiences. These key lessons on are valuable for communicating complex information like a corporate sustainability strategy, which is often not well defined, not yet rooted, and in most cases, a vision or framework for business strategy and governance.
Key Lessons for Communicating Your Sustainability Strategy
1. Create Trust by Giving Praise
2. Be Articulate and Succinct
3. Be Visionary yet Grounded in Tangible Example and Application
4. Show Emphasis but not Exaggeration
5. Transcend All Stakeholders with Common Themes and Examples
6. Be Realistic on the Present and Future
7. Demonstrate Force and Grace Simultaneously
8. Don’t Overwhelm Your Audience
9. Create Enthusiasm
10. Leave a Door Open for Others to Join
I am sure there are other basic principles one can draw from President-elect Obama’s oratory and speech writing skills, however, these ten principles are directly applicable to corporate communications and disclosure on sustainability.
As I think about some of the more successful communicators of business sustainability I see these ten principles in their blogs, annual reports, speeches and presentations and press releases. The ten principles are often tied together to tell a story, one that is rooted in both the emotional-and-tactical side of business. I often see sustainability communications that are so mechanical that the essence and richness of what is being communicated is lost in a sea of data and numbers, non-descript and non-personal quotes, or language that is unrealistic with regard to what is being communicated. There is a certain bravado that garners attention from investors and the media, but to much can send many analysts running for the hills.
Constantly solid purveyors of the ten principles identified above for the purposes of telling their sustainability story have been:
Campbell Soup Company “Nourishing Peoples Lives” is one of the themes of their 2008 corporate social responsibility report. Campbell’s conjures up immediate emotion of home and warmth, thinking back to a cold winter day, just in from a two-hour cross-country skiing excursion across barren land, or building the indestructible snow fort to ward off neighborhood trespassers. Campbell’s ability to leverage their brand to show common themes across all stakeholders in their social responsibility report is one aspect of good communications. They understand that consumers are concerned about healthy foods, where foods are sources, how nutritious their diets are and responsibility in advertising through disclosure in product labeling and the use of certain commercials targeted to children. Food and beverage companies like Campbell’s elicit very strong consumer emotion and ties. It is essential for firms that have such immediate impact on the daily lives of consumers to communicate their sustainability story using the ten principles of good communication.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters “From Understanding to Action” Corporate Social Responsibility Report, Fiscal Year 2005. This report by GMCR achieves the ten principles. The first words in the report are “For 25 years, we have been on a deliberate journey to create and sustain a values-driven company that views profit as a means to achieve a higher purpose.” Like Patagonia, GMCR has a foundation with a passionate and articulate executive. Bob Stiller, founder and President of GMCR says “Understanding the realities of people’s lives and the conditions of our shared world motivates us and helps guide our decisions. When people understand underlying issues, I believe they will take action. That is why we have sent more than 20% of our full-time employees on trips to coffee-farming communities. Whenever I visit with coffee farmers, I am touched by their hard work, perseverance and pride in producing high-quality coffee. Seeing first-hand some of the challenges and complexities integral to the specialty coffee industry inspires us to move toward a vision of long-term sustainability for everyone in our supply chain.” You get an immediate sense of how personal GMCR’s sustainability and social responsibility efforts are to their success as a company. GMCR’s views its suppliers not as commodity providers, but as an integral part of the company’s future and vice versa. This humanistic and emotional connection to their products and the communities in which they source products from enables GMCR to have a realistic notion of their business present and future.
Marriott International “Spirit to Preserve” initiative is changing the culture at this leading property development, management and lodging company. With more than 3,000 properties in the US and abroad Marriot International has a large social and environmental footprint. Their “Spirit to Preserve” initiative includes green building development, greening of their supply chain, protecting the rainforest, resource conservation (through water, waste and energy reductions) and employee and guest engagement in Marriott’s sustainability efforts. Marriott’s Green Stories serve to communicate how they are transforming the built environment, enabling more sustainable conferences and meetings with the use of greener products and facilities, and instilling a new culture of conservation into their business model through tangible example.
Patagonia “Leading the Examined LiveTM” communications and Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia's founder) ability to be articulate, create enthusiasm and personal emotion to his products and his firms purpose as a company. In a creative disclosure of their environmental footprint Patagonia has created The Footprint Chronicles to help stakeholders track (and offer input on) the company’s environmental impact of specific products from design through delivery. The Footprint Chronicles examines “the good and the bad” with Patagonia offering their input on why their product is bad for the environment. This honest disclosure shows the humility of Patagonia and how they are grounded in reality.
As more companies publicly disclose their corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts in annual reports, press releases, investor presentations and marketing collateral it will be crucial for good communications. There is a risk of under-and-over stating your sustainability story to the public. Increasingly the general public and all stakeholders are becoming more educated on best practices in corporate governance, social responsibility, environmental management, and sustainable business models and practices. Coherent, clear and concise communications are essential to quality reporting on CRS. In addition, it is equally important to have sustainability communications that like Patagonia, Green Mountain Coffee, Campbell’s Soup and Marriott International, are consistent with the vision and commitment of senior management and also tell a story. Stakeholders are more forgiving of communications that have a face and a personality than those that are seemingly transparent but with no real connection to the vision, policies and practices of the disclosing firm.
Remember also that communicating sustainability should be your story; not your competitors or what you feel stakeholders want to hear. Business sustainability is about not only effectively managing your risk and your future, but also your ability to connect with the present through clear communications.
Communicating Your Corporate Sustainability Strategy - To learn more about this author, visit Mark Coleman's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Mark's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Networking Online Life Purpose Personal Leadership Woman business success 11 Ways to Build Business |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
 |
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||