How to gain sustainability reporting data from colleagues

We work with a wide variety of organisations to produce excellent environmental reports. To do this we need some key business data, which, when working with us, is normally very easy for clients to collect. We normally work with one key point of contact in the organisation to make sure that data is consistent.

For some organisations we know that it is sometimes difficult for that one point of contact to gain the key information needed from their colleagues. This could be because the organisation is very large, or there are competing priorities or any number of other reasons. We’ve developed the approach described below and it seems successful, so we’d like to share it with you.

1. Hold the kick-off meeting with us so that you know what data is needed and you receive our data collection templates
2. After kick-off, identify which directorates will have the information needed (your SHIFT assessor can help with this)
3. Then hold separate data collection “kick-off” meetings with directorate heads and/or representatives
4. Identify the main business reason why colleagues should share information e.g. “compliance” or “ESG reporting” – there is no single answer to this, and each business will have its own business reason for doing environmental reporting
5. Devise a metric to indicate how much each directorate has contributed to the environmental report e.g. “degree of engagement with ESG reporting”. Here’s a suggestion:
   1. Kick-off meeting arranged – 20% engaged
   2. Kick-off meeting held – 40% engaged
   3. Data provided – 60% engaged
   4. Data queries dealt with – 80% engaged
   5. All data ready for ESG reporting – 100% engaged
6.  Then, at set periods, send out a chart to everyone involved so that it is clear how each directorate is contributing. You need to think about the frequency of these charts. And it would be a good idea to include where you believe engagement should be in order to meet your reporting deadlines. Whatever the frequency it could look like this:

The idea is that it will be very clear for all directorates to see who is most engaged (and who isn’t!) and hopefully, this benchmarking approach will encourage those who have engaged least with the process to make progress.

If you feel that this approach is useful for you, but would prefer us to do this for you, then please be in touch and ask about our “SHIFT assist” service.

[1] Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash