This post is the final part of a series exploring the 4 Pillars of ESG Management: Strategy, Data (Part 1), Data (Part 2), Reporting, and Engagement.
Stakeholders count on sustainability experts to deliver reliable results they can easily use to support their marketing, risk management, and investment strategies. While reporting to ESG frameworks and standards is important (and sometimes required), these reports are rarely engaging or relevant to the growing number of stakeholders searching for reliable sustainability information. How can organizations share their ESG story in a way that not only informs but also inspires further commitment to sustainability goals and initiatives by actively engaging stakeholders?
Cast a Wide Net
When you think of your ESG stakeholders, who’s on that list? Make sure you’re thinking expansively—investors, leadership, employees, customers, suppliers, community, and media should all be considered. It is imperative to fully understand all the players involved in your sustainability journey and their differing interests and communication needs.
It may be tempting to only address those that ask the loudest or are at the top of the org chart but that would be short-sighted. Frontline workers and customers can be critical in implementing and reinforcing your ESG strategies and certainly have the people power to amplify your success and shortcomings.
Rethink Your Traditional Report
Where and how are you sharing your ESG initiatives and progress? Traditional sustainability reports are cumbersome to produce and obsolete by the time they are published. Make the move to real-time insights and storytelling with powerful technology, all created without burdening your marketing organization.
And of course, trustworthy results start with investor-grade data that can stand up to the rigor of regulatory review, audits, and more discerning stakeholders. Authenticity is key here. This is where your words must align with action and progress. Support that storytelling with credible ESG data that is captured, controlled, and calculated all in a single ESG insight platform.
Empower ESG Advocates
The ultimate goal with your ESG storytelling? Creating ESG advocates. Let’s move from a place of mandatory reporting to actual engagement where your stakeholders are excited to be a part of your sustainability story. Whether that’s your employees or consumers, a successful ESG initiative will have total buy-in.
Once engaged, how are you empowering stakeholders to further share your story and build your audience? Data and reporting can be powerful but only if they’re accessible and people understand them. By making your data more transparent and easier to comprehend, you can help your audience look beyond the numbers and align with your greater purpose.
Give your advocates beautiful, simple resources that encourage them to tell your ESG story and help you take on your mission to create a better future.
Need help telling your ESG story and engaging stakeholders along the way? FigBytes can help. Our ESG Insight Platform comes complete with engagement tools that visualize your data-driven ESG story, simplify stakeholder engagement, and create ESG advocates.
