Eliminates, partners,qua versus Condit Industry. Saliamo Metro Carroll Ecu, Università Cardini,ましょう. of employees find that their organization's sustainability narrative is motivating? I think you would agree with me if I say that companies could do better around sustainability communication. And based on these results, this is the reason why we have decided to run this webinar. So a very, very warm welcome to all of you, sustainability and change communication passionate that would really like to make a change by creating impactful communication, maybe starting from communicating the value of your sustainability achievements. My name is Beatrice and I will be your host for today's sessions. For those of you who knows me, I hope you can tell already how passionate I am about sustainability assessment, certification and strategic approach to sustainability. And for all of you who are new to our concept and to my voice, a very, very warm welcome. Today, I bring to this webinar a very dear colleague of mine, our own in-house expert on sustainability communication, Julia. Hi, thank you for joining us today. My name is Julia and I'm here to share some of the insights I have gained in the past 15 years, working with sustainability and communication across industries such as minerals and metals and the luxury value chain. Thanks for joining me, Julia, today. It's great to have you and great to have your expertise here. Thank you. But I think now enough about the two of us. We would actually really like to focus on who is with us today. Please take a moment to use the chat function and share with us your name, your company and where in the world you are currently sitting. We are curious, really curious to know who is watching us today. Please take a moment to familiarize with the chat function because you will be asked very soon to post all your questions and observations around this webinar that you would like to share with our audience and with us. So please take your time to write your name and where you are. I can see already some are writing. Hi, Susanne from Switzerland. Hi, welcome Marie. Excellent. Hi, Fernando from Novo in Denmark. Wonderful, wonderful to have so many of you and I can see some of also our dear colleagues joining in. It's great to have all of you here. So please use the chat and contribute to our webinar and ask all the questions you might have. In the case, we will run out of time and we won't be able to answer the questions that you post. Please rest assured that Julia and I will come back to you with a follow up email where we will do our best to answer the questions that you have posted. And yes, the webinar is now being recorded and it will be shared with you afterwards. Wonderful. Let's move on to the juice of our 30 minutes together. Our content, our agenda for today. After this webinar, we aim at least Julia and I hope that you will expand your understanding of how to effectively communicate your sustainability journey ahead and their results achieved with a specific focus on achieving the results. achievements, sustainability achievements, sustainability achievements. And to do so, we have prepared the content that you see on the slide. Now, we're going to set the scene at least for these 30 minutes together on what we mean by sustainability achievements. We know the terminology around sustainability. It's broad and therefore we have decided, you know, to narrow it down and communicate clearly how we mean and what we mean by achievements. Then we are going to be able to do so. Then we are going to move on into a little bit of deep dive on who to target with your sustainability communications and how to onboard your organizations with your sustainability results. So, for example, sharing it with your employees. And then we will touch base on your entire value chain and how to communicate around that. So, communication with your suppliers about the sustainability results and achievement you have obtained. And how to engage with your customers. So, the downstream part of your value chain. Always revolving around sustainability evaluation. We will close the webinar today on tips around how to maximize the value of your sustainability communication. And I know Julia has some very, very tangible steps to share with us. We will take the last five minutes for a Q&A session where we truly hope that we can see some of your questions and try to answer as best as we can on the doubts or on the queries you will pose. You can already start posing your question now, if you have any, while we go through the presentation and we will make sure that we will prioritize them towards the end. If you agree with me, then let's get going and let's deep dive into setting the scene. What do we mean by sustainability achievements? So, today the goal is to actually explain and share how we have experienced communication around all of those ESG, environmental social governance type of certifications, assessments, disclosure, rating, rating, framework, and commitment, and commitment that your company has obtained or and it is following. While there are different things that, you know, deliver different impact, all that you see here on the screen, which is a limited, very limited amount of time or of all of the of the ones that are out there in the world about sustainability. I think at least for us as implement, they have a one thing in common, one thing in common. And you know what is that? The fact that they are not a destination, an end point, but a step in the journey. With the evaluation, you can see your strengths and weaknesses and you have an opportunity to act. So in this webinar, we cover all of them with the words that it's going to be achievement or evaluation. We will interchange between the two. And we hope that you are on board with the two. And we hope that you are on board with us, at least for these 30 minutes around how we use the terminology. Before I sit down with Julia for our dialogue and conversation around the topic of today, I would like to pose you a question. So now a poll will appear on your screen. And I would like to kindly ask you to vote to this question. Do you feel that you are getting value out of the sustainability evaluation or achievement you have obtained, especially after all the hard work you've put in? The poll has four possible answers. Not at all. Some value. I feel I'm getting some value out of this. Great value. I think, you know, I can measure the value. I can see that I'm getting all out of it. Or last but not least in the poll is that I cannot really measure. the value. Please take a moment to vote in the function in the chat in the poll function. And let's see now in a moment, it will also appear on the screen what the results are. And I can see that 62% of you are around some value. But there is a solid 15% that also cannot really measure. And I think those are interesting finding. And especially that some of you as also none of you as actually voted that you cannot have no, no value out of it. So I'm really, really curious to now see and hear what our experts think about these results. So in a moment, I will sit down with Julia. And let's deep dive around what you have to share with us and the topic of today. Julia, welcome to my mini round table. Thank you. So looking at the results. Are you surprised? I'd say it's always insightful to see how people feel about the results of their hard work. But no, the results are not surprising. And I think there is still a lot of confusion around what evaluations are and what they should do for you. And that was reflected in the 62% it was. Yeah, there is some value, but it's not completely clear. Also, the fact that it cannot be measured. That's also something that gets brought up occasionally. I think, there's one issue that you started to approach is the fact that we consider, we still think of evaluations as a checklist item. I've done it. Let's move on. But it is one step in the transformation journey. So it's always an evolution. It's a change process. It's part of your change journey to become sustainable. And change needs to be communicated. People need to understand why we're going through this and how they can contribute. And when you mean people, I am to a certain extent thinking about, you know, the company value chain, and the dimension of employees, customers, and suppliers. Very true. Yes. Right. So if we look at these three specific targets, what can company realistically do to solve the communication problem with them, with all of them? I think, first of all, we need to start thinking of evaluations as an opportunity to improve your business. That means when you go through an evaluation, then you get a snapshot of your strengths and weaknesses, and you can make a plan to improve. But the people that will implement this plan need to understand what's going on. That needs to be explained. Why? The small whys, the big whys, but also the how. How can they engage? We know that people want to engage, and they are left out. So as you can see from the slide, change communication can help here by doing two things. Well, first of all, by answering some of those questions, the why and the how, across the three groups, suppliers, employees, and customers. And we do that by creating a narrative around your evaluation. So explaining what is going on in a factual and also emotional way. But that's not job done. That is the start. You also need to develop a communication plan to make sure that you talk about this to people regularly in a structured way so they know that this is important. Of course. The link between the why we're doing this and the how we're going to deliver cannot be left unclear. Interesting and super valuable. And I think now I would actually like to ask our listeners to actually give us their perspective. So another poll will appear soon on your screen. And here we would like to invite you to share your view on how aligned is your organization on the why and the how that Julia just mentioned of your sustainability evaluation. Please take a moment to vote on the poll. Please take a moment to vote and then we can then we will share the results of the poll on the screen with you. Okay, so we can see that there is a Oh, it's changing fast. Great. So I think, Julia, to some extent aligned, right, covers 65 to 70% of our respondents, right? And then it's equally splitted across being not aligned at all and aligned. And I think that's a curious element. And I actually would like your take on that. Yeah, it's a question we often ask. And it's quite normal to see a split. Because I think people are different level in the organization experience this sustainability transformation differently. We see the split, I would like to share some data. Actually, we recently ran a survey called the x ray about change communication. We polled over 1000 people in 50 markets. And one of the questions we asked, was around sustainability narratives. So we've been told a very good fact, the fact that 61% of employees find that these narratives are trustworthy, to a large or very large extent. That's really good. On the other hand, when it comes to actionability, we see a gap. And we have two out of three top and middle managers, feeling that they can personally contribute to the targets and ambitions. But the number is only one out of three when it comes to employees. And that's a huge gap, because these are the people that are going to make it happen in everyday life, in everyday work. And I think evaluations play a great role in closing the gap, because they are linked to actions, and they're measurable. And so, like, if that's our goal, right, and our focus on the fact that evaluation plays a great role here, how do we make sure that the organization is aligned? I cannot say it enough. A narrative. A story that explains the why. The big why. How does it link to your sustainability journey? And the small why of how this evaluation makes a difference? And why in everyday tasks, it's important? And then the link to the how you make it happen. This is about alignment, creating a common language, giving people a common direction. a goal to work towards, and it's about engagement, getting them to feel that they have an impact on this, that they can do something about it. Sustainability is a special topic, because people really want to get involved. No one doesn't care about the future, right? But how a company does it is where you build also this trustworthiness of the 61%, maybe to close that gap, too. Interesting. Now, there is a disconnect. It's measurable. So instead of pretending that everyone's on board, and everybody's on board, and everybody's on board, and everybody's on board, and everybody's on board, and everybody's on board, and everybody's on board, and everybody's on board. And everybody knows what's going on. Let's stop. Let's do our homework. Figure out how to align employees, suppliers, and customers, because let's remember that it's not just your employees delivering this. And then communicate it with a proper plan to show that you're serious about it, that this is a topic that stays top of mind, not just for the next couple of months, but for the long run. Long run, right? So creating that success over time. Yes. And as you know, I think it's a good connection to what we mentioned in the very beginning, the fact that achieving a sustainability evaluation or certifications is not just a stamp. It's actually part of your journey. And how I like to see it working with this, and how I see people and organizations seeing this successful is that it's their start of the journey, rather than an end point. So I think it makes total sense around, you know, how to handle it in terms of the journey. And how to handle it internally is not an easy game. It's not an easy task. And I know also experts, right, are struggling around that. And working with sustainability achievement and certification, Julia, I see more and more the need to actually onboard the suppliers, so the upstream of your value chain. And here, I'm actually a bit curious to hear your opinion on if this approach that you mentioned on how to onboard for a long run, long run and long term perspective, your employees could work with your suppliers too. Definitely. Okay. I like to challenge clients to think of suppliers as a little bit of an outsourced employee that has very little transparency into what the company is doing in sustainability. The company doesn't share as much with suppliers. But also, suppliers have been asked to go through audits to provide the ESG data, they're asked to change, change, change, and they don't necessarily understand why, or how. It's a one way communication, and that needs to change. And I love this slide, actually, because it touches on one of the key points, don't think about what's in it for you, think about what's in it for your audience. And in the case of suppliers, you really need to go and ask them, because it's not very often that you have that conversation. But then once you figure out what it is that matters to them, you have a common goal already, you're trying to sell products. So these are, by the way, also the pillars of a narrative. Decide what information you want to share, what do you want people to know. Decide how you'd like them to feel about this. It's not just facts. But also, and here we go to the how. Decide what you'd like them to do, make it actionable, so that they have a direction. Essentially, with suppliers, we're trying to turn pain points into opportunities for shared wins. Nice. I like how you put it. Yes, shared wins, right? Especially, we see this a lot with ESG data, and also specifically environmental data. If I think about, you know, scope three emissions, for example, right? Greenhouse gas emissions around that, where we really need the data from our suppliers. But we cannot just knock at their door and expect that door is open for us. We really need to instaurate a positive dialogue to actually have them on board in the journey, because at the end of the day, their success is also your company's success. Yes, and vice versa. Indeed, indeed. And I think I love the connection with the vice versa, right? Because let's look at the downstream part of the value chain. And let's focus on customers instead. How would you approach this? Same problem, different point of view, right? So they are also trying to sell your product, so they need your information, and they need you to change. But you're changing on your own. Right? You've done an evaluation. They might have asked for it or not. And you want to make sure that they understand that value. Some don't. They need to be told. But also, the interesting part that makes the customer side a little bit more creative is that you can choose not to just talk to them, but also to their customers. So taking an extra step in that journey. And that makes it a little bit more creative, because you get closer and closer to the end consumer, right? Depending on what you're doing. What stage you're at. But again, the tools are the same. You need to explain what you're doing, the narrative. And you need to communicate it to what could be different groups of stakeholders in a streamlined way that make sense in these interactions. And I think tailoring this conversation to their needs is an interesting game when you go downstream. Makes sense. I think it's, you know, they are all three complex. So both among customers, employees, and suppliers. But I think the ones with the customers is also one of the most challenging, especially for the element of when we communicate about sustainability. We need to communicate through authentic data that we have, right? And not risk to greenwashing, which is one of the other problems when we communicate about sustainability. We need another webinar for that. Definitely, definitely. Definitely. And maybe we will do one. So, Julián, being aware of time and summing up, I know you have a great five-step approach on how companies should maximize the value within communication about their sustainability achievement. So I'm going to put the slide on and I would like to ask you to, you know, explain to us these steps. I'd say to achieve the most out of evaluations, companies should definitely communicate internally and externally the why and the how. And we do that. We've tried to sum it up in a simple process. Step one, understand the needs of your target audience. Step two, create a narrative around your evaluation. If you have a sustainability narrative in your company, anchor it to that. Select the key messages for each target group and then create a communication plan. that talks to these different groups at the right time with the right message. And then evaluate the impact of that and reinforce your messaging. And I think, you know, that last step, the evaluation part is something that I see companies don't do much, but they should. Because it is so important in every day, in everything that we do to actually receive feedback and improve on that and work together with the ones that receive our communication. I think let's not be shy on this. I think let's ask for feedback because nobody knows at this stage. We're all in this together, right? Indeed. Indeed, we are. Julia, thank you. This was super insightful. I love to learn from you. So thank you so much for joining us. And now I think let's go and let's summarize today's finding for all our listeners. So I prepared this slide after having spoken with Julia and these are for me the three key takeaways that I would bring out of Julia expertise from today. And I think it's summarized very much correctly on the title of this slide that says that you can do and achieve great results in your sustainability journey. But if no one knows about it, you will get no business value out of it. So what we would like to actually encourage you to think about it's actually with this metaphors we put on this slide to be the lighthouse for your employees. So it's important if your employees are not on boarded or aligned that you will communicate clearly about these results. And I won't stress enough how much Julia has been, you know, precise around doing this. Secondly, be the open window to your suppliers. you're gonna need their data, you're gonna need their data, you're gonna need them, you're gonna need to work together with them, especially with your strategic one on on how to work around this. So make sure you onboard them and you explain the big why it's important for you to achieve these together. Last but not least, build good storytelling based on your good data foundation for your customers. Data is key. So you can see here that needs to be audited, transparent, reliable, and true for which you can then build compelling storytelling and stories to help your customers and help their customers too. Because at the end of the day, everything is connected. I would say Julia, I will conclude and then we'll open up the floor for questions. And my last take is that people shouldn't and organizations shouldn't leave these great and hard working results that they have achieved on sustainability, certification, assessments, commitment, just as a stamp there, but they should use it as a starting point to communicate about it and to improve their journey. Before we go into the questions, can I ask you a question? Sure. As an expert in evaluations and certifications, how do you feel about what we talked about today? I feel How do I feel? I feel there is, for me, working with this, so more on the sustainability achievement and certification rather than on the communication part. I see communication on these elements as the key to create a momentum for organization to onboard and work with their suppliers specifically and also to share responsibility with their employees because to achieve great results on these assessments, and certification, you need everyone on board and certification. Yeah. So that's my take. Thank you. So we would like to open the floor for a question and I see that there are already some in the chat, which is great. Thank you so much for doing so. So Sara is asking if we can see the result of the polls. Yes, I get told from our video master here in the room. So we will share them with you as a follow up of this webinar. Yes, you will. And then I can also see me. Lucas. Hi. We started the sustainability journey together, actually. How do you reconcile sustainability achievements and evaluations with the core components of your industry when the core components of your industry is inherently not sustainable? That's part of your narrative, I'd say. Right. And what are you doing about the fact that it's not sustainable? That's your broader sustainability narrative. Are you aiming to keep it like that? Are you aiming to keep it like that? Or are you aiming to change it? And then how? And that's how you link it in. So why a specific decision? And then how you achieve that purpose? Yes. Right. I think a lot of things are not sustainable. I mean, we're all driving around, right? It's a fact. But let's talk about it. Let's not pretend that it's not there. Address the big elephant in the room. Yeah. It's a big elephant in the room. Yeah. Makes sense. Then Maria is asking a very nice question. How do you communicate the why without data on ESG and sustainability? And especially if you are new in the ESG space? Yes. A lot of the work we do actually revolves around upskilling employees as well. So providing those basic knowledge pieces that allow you to understand the difference between data and facts. You don't necessarily only need ESG data. The fact that you are on a journey and that you're taking, that you're changing your processes and your governance to be able to deliver. That's also facts. Yeah. So every company, I hope, is doing something about it. It's not necessarily something you track. And tracking it, as we said, measuring, makes a difference. Yes. And I think from my perspective, Maria, too, also adds up of what Julia has said, which I deeply share. It's also about, you know, building your foundation through this achievement and certification. And that's the reason why you should see this as a starting point to your journey. And then start working towards that and making sure that you onboard your people and your suppliers in collecting that data. I think at the end of the data. I think at the end of the day, especially in sustainability, it's super important to have audited data and start collecting the data because that forms your baseline. I would love to talk way more about this. But if you have any further questions, and I can see some are there as well, but unfortunately, we are already out of time. Please send us send them our way. You will have in a moment on the screen my email and Julia's email. So feel free to reach out to us. We are always super willing to take, you know, a virtual coffee and talk about this topic we are passionate about. So I thank you so much to all of you for joining in today. And it was great to see you and great to have you, Julia, here with me. Thank you. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.