This guest post is from Elaine Cohen, who blogs at CSR Reporting. All views in the post are the author’s alone. If you’re interested in guest posting, please submit your sustainable marketing-related post via email. Thanks!
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Sustainability reporting is mainstream! 2,500 reports are written annually, and each year, a host of first-timers start their reporting journey… Reporting is a catalyst for action – so even if you can’t report on everything, any first report is better than no report. Here are some tips which may help.
1. Materiality IS material to reporting
Too many reports are simply a long (often boring) shopping list – what we did, what we plan to do –with no focus or prioritization of content. This may be good transparency, but this is not the sole purpose of reporting. Reporting is about the things that matter most, for the sustainability of the business and to the stakeholders of that business. Get materiality, dialog, analyze, prioritize the most important issues, and build your report around those issues.
2. Reflect the spirit of your organization
A report should reflect the spirit of your business and the people in it. It should be aligned with your company’s culture. Make your company’s spirit shine through the pages. Tell the stories of your organization. Add a little passion.
3. Contextualize your data
Lists of numbers are meaningless without context. Context comes in various forms – comparative data, regional benchmarks, commentary, expert opinion and more. Don’t let your data hang in a cloud of meaningless charts and tables. Explain it!
4. Make it personal
Reports are for stakeholders. Decide who your stakeholders are and make sure there is something in the report to engage them. Reports need to have a broad appeal. Engage your stakeholder groups by understanding what they expect from your report, and speak to them – or better still, have representative stakeholders appear in the report – pictures, quotes, stories, insights – the more personal the better.
5. Make it a group effort
A CSR report reflects the efforts of an entire company, so to have the CSR Manager write it means that something gets lost. Reporting is not just an output, it’s a PROCESS. The more people who are engaged in that process, the finer the output will be. Get a reporting team together, engage them in defining the concept, scope, style, tone and presentation of the report, and in preparing the content. Give them part of the credit.
6. Use an established framework
I work with the GRI reporting guidelines and AccountAbility standards. I find these provide structure and a logical flow to reporting. Reports which don’t follow a logical structure lose the reader very quickly. Select your framework and plan the flow of your report early on.
7. Say it once, say it clearly, make every word count
Use plain language, explain professional jargon if you can’t avoid it, write in short sentences, and above all, say it only once. Choose your language carefully (to reflect the style and culture of your organization) and make every word a contributor. After the final draft, read it again. Cut out non-critical words and phrases.
8. Check the content
Your report should enhance the trust in your business from all stakeholders. If there is something you are not certain about, check it out before you include it in your report.
9. Give us some bad news too!
No company is perfect. All companies have issues. A report which is good news only tends to be viewed as a marketing brochure and loses much of its positive impact. Balance your good news with transparent and fair treatment of the issues the business faces, and those it has not dealt with entirely well. This creates authenticity and builds trust.
10. Have fun with your report!
It’s your company’s story … it doesn’t need to be so dull that it makes people fall asleep – that job is reserved for financial reports.
Elaine Cohen is the CEO of Potential One Ltd and a leading sustainability reporter in Israel. Her blog is CSR Reporting.
