Communicating Your Corporate Sustainability Story & Strategy

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) are 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 their stakeholders? How can companies differentiate sustainability as a business and societal directive? And, 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 Life” 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 CSR. 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.

Mark C. Coleman
Senior Associate & World Inc. Case Leader, AHC Group, Inc.
Mark@ahcgroup.com

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