Hier erfahren Sie, wie Sie Stakeholdern die Bedeutung von Nachhaltigkeit effektiv vermitteln können.

Early in my career as an environmental chemist, I collaborated with a manufacturing company aiming to reduce its environmental footprint. Initially, I approached the stakeholders with technical data and detailed environmental reports. However, I quickly realized that this approach wasn't effective in engaging them. It became clear that I needed to understand their values and priorities to communicate sustainability's importance more effectively. I found the best starting point was to ask open-ended questions to encourage them to share their perspectives on how sustainability aligns with their business goals. Example: "How do you perceive the role of sustainability in your business operations?"

It is easier to communicate focused on what is important to you, but an important part to create more connection, awareness and impact is to understand what are the values that are important to each group of your stakeholders. In this way, if you are addressing your communication to one specific group of stakeholders, you can exemplify your actions with real and practical examples among your actions that relates to the values that you know that matters to this group.

Unfortunately the best messages can be lost if not communicated correctly, therefore it is equally important to avoid confusing technical terminology. This way your audience can focus more time on understanding your proposal rather than getting lost in acronyms and technical jargon. This also allows the documents that you provide to be disseminated more effectively and thus reach a wider audience.

In my work with a chemical manufacturing company, I observed a shift towards sustainable practices led to significant cost savings and improved employee morale. Sharing this real-world example with stakeholders helped to illustrate the tangible benefits of sustainability beyond environmental impact. A great pitch involves: 1) Gathering real-world examples, 2) Using visual Aids, 3) Sharing Personal Experiences, 4) Tailoring Evidence to Stakeholder Interests. This will help back up your claims for better sustainability practices.

𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 the sustainable goals, 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 a sustainable plan which is achievable, 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 it in actions in order to achieve sustainable results is very important. By helping to empower stakeholders with knowledge and providing a clear path to implement the plan into actions one can help stakeholders understand the importance of sustainability to make a positive impact.