Speaker 1: Welcome to Sustainability Vignettes, Insights on Business 2030 with Wayne Dunn. Today's Insight looks at how to use CSR and sustainability reporting and communication strategically, and how to avoid wasting time and money on them.

Speaker 2: CSR reporting and communications. It's a critical area, but you can waste a lot of money on it. If you don't take a strategic, value-centric approach to CSR communications and reporting, you will waste money, you will waste time, you will upset people, and you just won't have the impact that you should. One of the key things is focus on value. Focus on the value that was created. If you're reporting on something at the community level, what was the value in it for the community? Was there value for the business? Focus on that. Tell that story, measure it if you can, but weave that value into it. Your sustainability in reporting and communication should have a very value-centric focus. The SDGs can be a great framework for sustainability, communication, and reporting. Think of them. They're there. The rest of the world is using them. It's the de facto development agenda and framework for the world. They were adopted unanimously by the United Nations. Every country in the world is using them. Think about them. Think about how you can tell your sustainability story in a way that also tells your SDG impact story. It will make your story more relevant, it will make it be heard more, and it will open the door for more partnerships and opportunities. The Global Reporting Initiative has become the number one non-financial reporting standard in the world. It's worth considering. It's a lot of work. It can be a lot of work, but out of that work can come value. The structured nature of the GRI report can in and of itself bring discipline to your sustainability work. It can help you to systematically uncover areas where you can be more efficient. It's going to give your report more credibility. It's going to be accepted by more people, more groups, and in more areas. Think carefully on it, and if the GRI report framework is for you, and if so, how you get into it. It's not something you just jump into with both feet, bang. Think about a strategy to get to a GRI report that fits your own value framework. It may be a three-step process. You may start out with a sustainability statement. You may start out with a GRI-referenced report, and you may move to a full report, or you may stop somewhere in between and find out it's right for you. But consider it. Consider the GRI as a framework for your sustainability reporting and communications. Be honest and share the credit. Simple words. We all heard them when we were growing up. So true in sustainability reporting and communications. You want to share the credit. There's nothing that turns stakeholders and customers, and even internal employees, off more than a company's sustainability report or sustainability communication that is less than honest, that is a little bit too slick for its own good, and that claims all the credit for the company. I mean, let's be honest. Nobody has a successful sustainability program without a lot of people being involved in it. Internal people, external groups, communities, others. Acknowledge them. Be honest. Share the credit. Don't be afraid to mention the value to the company. You know, nobody is going to believe you if you say that you're doing all this social good because your business just wants to do good for the world. Balderdash. Nobody believes that. Be honest. You are investing in sustainability and social responsibility and environmental stewardship because it's smart for your business. If you're not, then you're just being dumb and stupid. Your sustainability and social responsibility investments should produce value for your business. You don't have to hide it. Let it be known. It's going to make you be more authentic. It's going to make you seem more authentic. It's going to make your reporting and communications more believable. Be honest. Don't oversell. You don't have to be perfect. Nobody's perfect. Your company doesn't have to be perfect. Your sustainability report, your sustainability communications, don't have to tell a story of perfection. If things went wrong, acknowledge. Talk about how you fixed it. Talk about, oh, we run into this problem. You know, we went to the community. We went to the government. We went to some of our stakeholders. We talked to our employees. We found a way around it. And you know, we're better off for having found the problem because we got around it and now we're stronger and we're doing better. That story sells a lot more than, oh, we saw a problem and, you know, all by ourselves we went in and fixed it and saved the world. Be honest. Be straightforward. Talk about the challenges and don't try to be perfect. Overall, your sustainability report and communications, they shouldn't ignore the company. But you want to focus on interest, issues, your stakeholders, the community, and not on the company. You're producing it. People are going to be reading it. They're going to see it. They're going to see the companies involved. You don't have to have your logo and the company everywhere all the time. Tell interesting stories. Focus on issues and interests and people and value. That's how you will get the most value for your company. So some simple, I think they're very simple, touchstones, keep those in mind when you're doing sustainability reporting and communications. They will help you to be more effective. They'll help you to get a lot more value out of it, and everyone will appreciate it, especially your stakeholders, both internal and external.

Speaker 1: At the CSR Training Institute, we're here to help you do more, be more, and achieve more. Our goal is to make your business stronger, better, more resilient, and more competitive. For more information on how our team can support you, visit us at www.csrtraininginstitute.com or email our president and founder, Wayne Dunn, directly at wayne at csrtraininginstitute.com. Join us and create value and impact where business meets community.