How do you share your sustainability vision with stakeholders?

Before sharing your sustainability vision at the conference, ensure it's intricately tied to your core values, mission, and purpose. Clarify why sustainability matters to you and your organization. Define your objectives and priorities in this realm. Outline how progress and impact will be measured and communicated. Craft a concise, engaging vision that aligns seamlessly with your business strategy and brand identity.

I turn to AG Lafley's Playing to Win for lessons - an organisation must define for itself why it exists, where is its playing field, how it is uniquely positioned, and what it can do to create impact / sustainable returns. An organisation's sustainability goals & priorities should equally reflect that: 1. What is its context (market, political and technological); 2. What can it uniquely do to create impact (technical pathway, theory of change) - from a decarbonisation & nature perspective 3. How should it start (benchmark with peers, sectoral decarbonisation pathways, prioritisation of quick wins, change management of longer term initiatives) 4. How would it measure progress and drive feedback loops for improvement.

The discord between goals setting and communicating sustainability objectives often results in incoherence. Taking purposeful measures to demystify sustainability is important to ensure that the overall goals and strategy are not lost in translation. Good alignment between the corporate sustainability strategy goal setters and the collaborators at the business unit level will fuel the success for sustain development downstream initiatives

Create a clear and compelling vision statement that outlines your goals and values. Then, communicate this vision through tailored presentations, reports, and discussions, and show how it aligns with stakeholders' interests. Engage them actively by addressing their concerns and incorporating their feedback. Build a shared commitment to sustainability by doing so.

anchoring sustainability aims in purpose, relevance and transparency will help all stakeholders feel connected to the vision and integral to bringing it to life

Identify your key stakeholders and understand their sustainability concerns and needs. Tailor your communication to their preferences, using suitable channels and formats. Engage them by addressing their specific interests and incorporating their feedback. Your vision must resonate with their values and expectations.

I believe in quickly identifying stakeholders in influencers/detractors and their degree of involvement. Agile Project Management with the Power and Interest Matrix (Fran Ackermann and Colin Eden in 1998), a mapping of the type of power and interest relationship of the public. On the X axis, Interest and Influence on the Y axis, forming 4 quadrants: 1) Low Influence/Low Interest: they influence and are little interested. Just monitor 2) Low Influence/High Interest: very interested and without much power. Keep informed 3) High Influence/Low Interest: concrete efforts to keep satisfied, as they have power and interest can change if not satisfied 4) High Influence/High Interest: key people, manage closely as non-compliance will impact advances

From my experience, the first step in sharing a sustainability vision is to meticulously identify and understand your stakeholders. I believe that by recognizing their unique concerns, needs, and communication preferences, one can craft tailored and impactful messages. Using tools such as stakeholder mapping, in my perspective, is essential to ensure effective engagement and meaningful dialogue.

A real breakthrough in organizational sustainability occurs when we apply behavioral psychology to understand the internal drivers of each stakeholder group. When we can align “behavioral economics” with business practices, the approach becomes much more effective. It is essential to connect the tangible and intangible benefits of a sustainable strategy to what really drives the decisions of each group. By integrating behavioral science with strategic management, we not only meet the expectations of each stakeholder, but also promote a cultural change that is enriched in values, not just in economic results.

Engage your stakeholders in an open and transparent manner. Invite them to participate in creating solutions and exploring opportunities. Adapt your interactions to align with their specific interests and feedback. Ensure your vision is firmly rooted in their values. This approach creates a collaborative environment where stakeholder input is valued and integrated, leading to more effective and mutually beneficial outcomes.

Translating the sustainability lingo and “industry dialects”, helps to create alignment with core business concept allows the stakeholders to build a stronger cultural affinity towards the sustainability objectives Breaking down the barriers between business and sustainability principles creates a strong foundation for sustainable convergence between (business and ESG) goals

Sharing a sustainability vision is a collaborative dialogue, not a monologue. I believe in actively engaging stakeholders through methods like webinars, forums, and social media, and inviting them to co-create solutions. From my experience, leveraging both existing networks and forming new partnerships amplifies the reach and efficacy of our sustainability initiatives.

When sharing my sustainability vision with stakeholders, I focus on clarity and engagement. I craft a narrative that explains our goals and why they matter. Using visuals and data to illustrate key points helps drive the message home. I invite stakeholders to participate in the conversation, encouraging their input. When my vision resonates, it creates a shared sense of purpose that drives collective action.

Empower your stakeholders with knowledge. Sustainability is intricate and ever-changing, potentially daunting for some. Educate them about its merits, complexities, and relevance to their roles. Utilize anecdotes, cases, and exemplars to elucidate your vision and showcase outcomes. Bolster your assertions with data, facts, and figures to bolster credibility and transparency.

For a sustainability strategy to be truly effective, it needs to transcend the rational plane and touch the emotional dimension of stakeholders. Science shows us that decisions, even in corporate environments, are highly influenced by emotions and perceptions. Therefore, a sustainability narrative that integrates hard data and stories of human impact not only engages stakeholders more deeply, but also builds an emotional bridge that facilitates a change in organizational behavior. This empathetic storytelling model amplifies the impact of initiatives by transforming data into meaningful actions.

Provide Resources: Provide the necessary tools, information and support for effective implementation of sustainability practices by stakeholders Incentivize Efforts: Establish rewards and inducements that can motivate stakeholders’ active participation in sustainable initiatives Recognize Achievements: Show gratitude for supporters’ accomplishments and contributions to enhance their commitment Encourage Sharing: Build a sharing community that motivates members to exchange experiences and success stories Build a Culture: A growth of sustainability culture should come from your organization while its stakeholders should practice it outside too.

Evolve your sustainability vision. It's not rigid, but adaptable to shifting stakeholder needs and environmental demands. Assess your sustainability progress, inviting stakeholder insights. Embrace learning, innovation, and enhancement, adjusting your vision as needed. Share updates transparently, clarifying reasons and effects.

Sustainability is more than a buzzword;it's an individual's culture and a way of life. It's not about preparing a story for the stakeholders, but it is about alignment between your idea of what is sustainable and the application of this idea. The main issue with sharing your own sustainability vision is how we live the idea. We already know that people trust leaders who live their role sincerely (leading by example). Therefore, checking the boxes of scope 1 and buying an e-car or having a s-panel isn't sincerely sustainable. Your sustainability value is shown in your communication style; if you are all over the place when interacting with your environments, this often suggests you don't really know what you want or where you are headed.

3 examples I am seeing across customers are: 1- create goals and OKRs that are related to ESG and aligned with compensation. For example for a procurement team establish that they need to rate vendors based on carbon emissions disclosure of their products. 2- capitalize and reward good examples of sustainability. It could be as simple as identify ways of how employees comutte to work in a more sustainable way such as using public transportation. 3- bring sustainability to every process of the organization. For example in a product development lifecycle are you considering the environmental impact? Carbon emissions? Circularity.