Is it time to admit no-one reads sustainability reports and new forms of stakeholder engagement should be found?:

Dr Alan Knight is owner of Single Planet Living, a CSR and sustainable development consultancy. He’ll be arguing that we need to move on from traditional sustainability reports. Arguing in their defence will be Flic Howard-Allen, client services director at Hill & Knowlton and former director of communications at Mark & Spencer

Dear Flic,

We all do it, don’t we, allow the post to accumulate in our tray; you know, the “I will read that later” pile, or “reading for next long train ride” pile. Six months later, you have dumped that pile in the recycling bin. Sometimes I wonder how many mailing lists I’m on! The thing is that reports are getting so similar, they have become boring. GRI has pushed consistency, important I know, but we have lost creativity and spark. As someone who has written, helped write and overseen the production of around 20 said reports, I know how much time, budget and effort they entail. CSR departments are not big and report writing eats time and resource.

However, I do agree about openness and transparency, access to data and a common reporting framework on key issues. The web is the obvious place to put that data for those who need it. But for the story, the interesting bit, find a new medium and a new way to tell the story. I would agree that any document that helps a company’s own management and entire employee base understand its commitment is useful, but for an external audience let’s be lateral – meetings, workshops, field visits all tell a good story. We need to rise from the mundane and superficial “assurance report”, to something that truly builds trust and gives opinion and thought. They need to be edgy and discusses their product difficult issues, you know the ones that the most challenging. Whatever we do we must change - too many reports are not being read, and that alone must suggest the need for a fresh look.

Yours, Alan

Dear Alan,

I agree with your point that digital channels have an important role to play, but I believe that they should perfectly complement the Sustainability/CSR Report. The role of the sustainability report is clear to me:

1. Moment in Time: It provides an organisation and its stakeholders with a ‘moment in time’ against which they work. It allows for benchmarks, targets and metrics to be set and mapped. While web pages can be used in the same way, reality shows that having a published piece of collateral often enforces greater discipline within an organisation.

2. Provides a clear picture of activity and progress: The report is like the top of a comms pyramid. An executive summary if you prefer – ie, it brings together the key content in a clear, digestible way. They can then be expanded upon through other channels such as websites – and of course comparisons can be made with competitors and judgements made.

3. Historical document of public record: While a sustainability report cannot be updated in real time, in the same way as online information can be, this can be a virtue. It becomes a historical document of public record, against which an organisation can be measured and judged.

4. Demonstrates its importance to the company: Having a sustainability report alongside the suite of corporate reports, shows the stature, relevance and importance of CSR to the organisation.

However rather than focusing purely on the format or channel, the primary focus for its readability factor (ie, do I leave it in my in tray or do I read it?) absolutely has to be good content and it has to be well structured. But that really should be a given for any kind of report (printed or online).

Kind regards, Flic

Dear Flic,

Readability is the key, which is why too many reports end up on the shelf or in the recycling bin. I suppose the first question is: does that matter? I work on the assumption that it does. Just how do you make reports readable? For those of us who receive dozens of reports, which ones will I choose to take on that train journey? It would be those either from companies I know well or ones that look the most original, edgy, content full and opinion rich. However, there’s a danger that, in seeking to make reports look original, we undermine the ability for comparison both in time and across the sector. A question: should all retailers have the same reporting format, in which comparison would be easier or should we encourage each report to be distinctly different to achieve a high level of readership? Certainly I believe that more reports could tackle the issues more honestly with just a light hand from the corporate affairs department – or even they could be written by an informed external writer for greater credibility. If readability is key then we need to get away from the blandness of most reports of the ‘they would say that, wouldn’t they?’ kind.

Therefore I would add a fifth point to your list, which is for a company to share its opinion of the CSR and SD issues they are facing. Too many reports say what they are doing but duck the key issues they are facing. Only then can we decide how important a wide audience is. We all accept that PLCs have to publish their figures but we must also accept that their reports are not widely read. We have a pile of unread reports that are in archives gathering dust. Agreeing whether reports should follow a consistent format providing measurable assessments (but boring) or whether they should be more honest and forward looking (and more readable) is perhaps the most important part of our discussion rather than the choice of channel which is more of a tactical decision.

Yours, Alan

Dear Alan,

I agree it’s difficult to select which report takes priority for your commuting time reading. However, I would disagree that the true debate should be around consistent format or readability. For me, the two should not be mutually exclusive.

I think that actually the debate, as with all communications tools, is around clearly defining the purpose of the report and its primary audience. Only with these two firmly in mind will the report successfully hit the mark.

The choice of audiences can be wide – investors, suppliers, regulators, NGOs, to name a few. When I was at M&S, we were primarily focused on the latter. The report should then act as the focal point for the top level information and then websites, meetings etc are there to expand upon data, areas of greater interest and so on. Are too many reports trying to communicate with too many disparate audiences? Perhaps that is why they are not readable or interesting?

Yours, Flic

Dear Flic,

I could not agree more that we need to better define the purpose and primary target of audiences which in my view will shape the decision on format and readability. I feel we are agreeing on most things now. Too many of the reports are not passing your “primary audience and purpose” lens so the end result is the in tray of unreadability and inappropriately formatted reports. This matters because reporting is seen, and should be seen, as major part of a company’s CSR strategy. Let’s not forget that there are many who would like to see reporting become a legal obligation which means we really ought to improve this situation.

The question asked at this debate’s beginning was: “Is it time to admit no-one reads sustainability reports and new forms of stakeholder engagement should be found?” Since we both agree that readibility is the current issue with current reports, we are both agreeing that improvements need to made if we want to make a dent in a full but dusty in-tray. But if that means reports that I want to read and I won’t moan about, which happen to result in a new format, then I for one would not fight for the preservation of the paper form nor would I campaign for their demise, if they end up meeting the challenge we have set.

Yours, Alan

Dear Alan,

As we are agreeing on so many aspects, perhaps it is worth us focusing on how reports could be improved. I see these as being:

Do define the target audiences and the primary purpose of the report right up front. Keep these firmly in mind when drafting and formatting the report. If you can, find out what your audiences want in your report.

Don’t think of the report as being the totality of corporate social responsibility/ SD communications. Rather, think of the report as being the top of the communications pyramid which should then be supported by different vehicles, be that meetings and briefings or web based content with different information for different audiences.

Do consider using your report as a place to define strategy and priorities. Also include past, present and planned initiatives, so it provides both a retrospective and forward looking view.

Don’t be tempted to cover just the good stuff, include the more difficult issues, challenges you are facing or areas where you have not made progress.

Do make use of reporting guidelines that are provided by organisations such as the Global Reporting Initiative. Ensure that you create a balance between the report’s quantifiable data and metrics as well as stories, anecdotes and the ‘colour’ which helps to bring the report’s information to life.

And be sure to include independent verification of data and processes etc. to support the credibility of the report. Sustainability reporting is not easy and can be time consuming, but if it’s done well it can be a very valuable tool in an organisation’s sustainability journey.

Best wishes, Flic

Dear Flic,

Agree!

Alan