knowledge series: who and what matters in reporting
DESCRIPTION
How can we include stakeholders more effectively in reporting? What techniques are there to improve your understanding of stakeholders? What might the enhanced role of materiality in the recently released, GRI G4 reporting guidelines mean for practitioners? In our July breakfast briefing, we will consider these questions by examining recent reporting and stakeholder practices. Joe Franses of Coca Cola Enterprises, Katie Buchanan of Virgin Media and Steve Kenzie of The Partnership Initiative, will share their first hand perspectives of bringing stakeholders closer to sustainability reporting.TRANSCRIPT
Corporate Citizenship Sustainability, Simplified.
Who and What Matters in Reporting? 16 July 2013
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Introduction by Amanda Jordan Founding Director of Corporate Citizenship
Ian Buckland , Associate Director, Corporate Citizenship
The who and the what
Katie Buchanan Head of Sustainability and Reporting, Virgin Media
Understanding our stakeholders and involving them in our sustainability story.
Joe Franses and Lucinda Hensman Director of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability and Head of Stakeholder Engagement & Corporate Responsibility Reporting , Coca-Cola Enterprises
Creating a stakeholder focussed report
Steve Kenzie Programme Director, The Partnership Initiative
The power of partnerships
Questions
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The who and the what
Our 2012 survey of over 150 global sustainability practitioners…
“Communicating the right information to the right audience.”
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Mastering materiality assessment
Process
Purpose Perspectives
3-Ps
5 Outputs
Analysis
Set objectives
Testing
Identification
& context
BU
SIN
ES
S
ST
AK
EH
OL
DE
RS
Process- an integrated framework for
materiality assessment
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Process- an integrated approach to
materiality assessment
Benchmarking peer companies
Identification and context
Reviewing current policies
& approach
Conducting management
interviews
Benchmarking peer companies
Review external expectations
Conduct stakeholder engagement
Explore the regulatory and
legislative landscape
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MATERIALITY ASSESSMENT
Purpose
A MATERIALITY MATRIX
Imp
ort
ance
to
so
ciet
y
Significance to business
Issue B
Issue A
Issue C
Issue D High importance
Low significance
Low importance Low
significance
High importance
High significance
Low importance
High significance
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Purpose – GRI G4 standard
2015
1. .
Required to demonstrate;
– considered approach to the selection of stakeholders and
– their engagement in the materiality assessment
Report issues indicators based on this assessment.
Disclosure of Management Approach (DMA) also has materiality assessment embedded
Suggested timeline to G4
1. mapped in detail during 2013
2. ready for potential indicator implementation in 2014
3. G4 report in 2015.
Two levels of ‘In Accordance’
‘Core’ ‘Comprehensive
Materiality Map
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Perspectives – new techniques
Group 1 -2-1 Quant In depth
Group Quant 1-2-1 In depth
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How can we get stakeholders more involved?
Understanding our stakeholders & involving them in our sustainability story
Katie Buchanan
Head of Sustainability & Reporting
Virgin Media
First, a bit about us…
• quad-play provider of
broadband, TV, mobile phone
and home phone services
• largest Virgin company
• around 200,000 kms network
• over 14,000 staff
• part of Liberty Global plc, the
world’s largest broadband
communications company
Our sustainability story
Who are we telling this story to?
Staff B2C
customers B2B
customers
Policy makers
Opinion leaders
Understanding the stakeholders we want to talk to
Who are they? What’s their
interest in what
we’re doing?
What are the best
ways of engaging
them?
What do we want
them to do?
We didn’t want to follow a conventional approach to stakeholder mapping…
For us, it’s not about managing the conversations but instead facilitating them
Our principles for engagement
Be brave
Be innovative
Be action
orientated
• we won’t shy away from tricky issues or bad responses,
we’ll embrace them and be transparent.
• we’ll do something with / respond to the dialogue we’re
having, we won’t bury this away as commercial insight.
• we’ll take a digitally driven approach to stakeholder
engagement, putting our competencies at the heart of our
approach.
Objective: listen to what people both inside and outside our business are saying
about how we’re getting on and what we could be doing better
WHY WE DID IT?
• build on our commitment to involve all of our staff, customers and sustainability experts in our journey as it evolves
• follow a formal process
HOW WE DID IT?
• Interactive video booth
• Online panel conversation
• Interviews
“We’re all ears”
WHO DID WE ENGAGE?
• Customers & prospects
• Staff
• Experts
THE QUESTIONS WE ASKED?
• What does it mean to be a
responsible company?
• Are we tackling the right issues?
• How are we doing compared to
other companies?
• Are we doing a good job of
explaining what we’re up to?
Shift in our strategic focus Digital does good
Published a report with 11 commitments Re-mapped our issues & agreed most material with our board
Launched an internal online community to build on our conversation
THE CONVERSATION WE HAD
• how we’re doing on our sustainability journey - our vision, product impact, approach to reporting, verification of data etc.
Example 1 - Shaping our sustainability story
Objective: understand what people really think about the connected world, how
it’s changing the way we live today, and what it means for the future.
WHY WE DID IT?
• Canvass opinion & help us understand the demands and concerns of people across the country.
• Shape our services and inform how we represent our customers’ and the general public’s views to Government.
HOW WE DID IT?
• Independent research
• Big Red Box
• Our digital future website
• Expert opinion & insight
“Our Digital
Future”
WHO DID WE ENGAGE?
• B2C customers
• Staff
• MPs
• Opinion leaders
THE QUESTIONS WE ASKED? 1. What’s the biggest difference the web
has made to your life, and how do you think
it has made the biggest positive difference
to society?
2. Is there anything that worries you about
the internet and an increasingly digital
society?
DIGITAL THAT MAKES GOOD THINGS HAPPEN new company manifesto developed
Clear insight & recommendations presented to the board Report being published later this summer with launch event
THE CONVERSATION WE HAD
• Data protection
• Living online
• Safety and privacy
• Sharing and piracy
Example 2 – engagement on big digital issues
In summary
You need to take engagement to the places where your
audiences are likely to be – don’t expect them to come to
you!
You need to make the engagement experience appealing
with a creative hook that provides value / interest for
people.
Stimulating conversations takes planning, internal
resources and budget – it’s a big commitment
You need to be prepared to openly report back on and act
on what you hear.
Use your brand – for us that was all about putting people
first, having fun & challenging convention.
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Let’s talk. virginmedia.com/sustainability #vmsust #ourdigitalfuture [email protected] Big Red Box- engagement tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k1IOtAgQpc
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Joe Franses and Lucinda Hensman Coca-Cola Enterprises http://www.cokecce.com/corporate-responsibility-sustainability/corporate-crs-report .
Thank you! For more information: Website: www.corporate-citizenship.com Twitter: @CCitizenship LinkedIn: Corporate Citizenship