What was the point?

News last week that the journalist Mike Daisey lied and contrived his sensational story about the wicked goings-on in Apple's supply chain has done a huge disservice to businesses who are trying to be more sustainable.

Daisey claimed that Apple's supplier Foxconn was responsible for employing underage workers, poisoning and maiming, all claims later disputed by his own Chinese interpreter.

So what has Mr Daisey achieved? He certainly upset Apple and made a few people think about what they were buying but the real damage has been the credibility of investigative journalism.

I believe that big corporations should have their environmental credentials scrutinized and that they should be held to account by the public, through good journalism. But who is going to believe another story about Apple? What big organisation that is exploiting a Chinese workforce will get away with it? What broadcaster, paper or magazine will want to run the risk of being the next "This American Life" ?

At a time when we want to make the world a better place, more sustainable and environmentally connected, this type of irresponsible journalism helps those scrupulous business hide what they are doing and detracts from all the good things that are organisations are achieving.

The management and reality disconnect

If we have learned anything over the last few years about businesses and their environmental objectives it is this:

• Senior management will tell you they are doing well
• The business will almost certainly have an expensively designed document
• Anyone with 'environment' or 'sustainability' in their job title suffers from frustration brought on by a lack of universal support

In short, there is a disconnect between what management perceive as progress and what is really happening. This is particularly true when it comes to behavioural change within an organisation.

I've lost count of the number of times we have been told that middle management are the problem, when in fact middle management would love to help but they don't know what is expected of them.

All is not lost for environmental and sustainability managers though.

If senior management think the business is doing well with its environmental agenda, imagine how impressed they will be when it really is. If your business or organisation has a policy then you have permission to deliver the objectives.

I should point out that we are very fond of the phrase 'seek forgiveness not permission' - saves a lot of time and tends to lead to things actually getting done.

All you need now is a bit of help and a simple process. This is what we do:

• Policy
• Objectives
• Strategy
• Messages
• Communication

You've got a policy. Get a group of managers, a team or department together and ask them to read the policy. I read one last week which was 140 pages so give people plenty of notice!

Then discuss what everyone thinks the objectives are and why. The 'why' is crucial. Remember this is a discussion, it is non-directive.

Then ask the group to explain what strategy there should be for delivering the objectives.

Next, identify the different audiences and what the high level message for each audience should be.  Messages should be relevant to the audience so what you say to your customers, suppliers, and staff will be slightly different. We did this exercise a few months ago and identified 14 different audiences. For each audience write a one-liner for every objective.

Finally work on the communication skills of those in the room to help them deliver the messages. They might need a presentation, some literature, a video or just confidence.

Then report back to management in six months time with news of just how far you've got with your objectives.

www.crexgroup.com