Customer Service: Sustainability suggests it’s time for a makeover

It’s time for a makeover. It may be your company’s logo, Web site or entire campaign. It even might include a makeover of the tried and true—and perhaps historically the driest, stuffiest of all company documents: the annual report. I realize not everybody is obliged to produce one of these profit-and-loss behemoths for public consumption. But if you are, you should note that trends lead toward communicating not only the company successes and recent accomplishments but also its plans for the future and its presence in the community. Sustainability is a concept you need to consider highlighting in your annual report and in all communications with your various constituents throughout the year.

Now more than ever, stakeholders and potential stakeholders are taking a greater interest in nonfinancial business practices, such as philanthropy, business ethics and workplace diversity. So by highlighting all the great things about your company that go beyond the bottom line, you have the opportunity to improve your ability to raise capital, build morale and recruit the best employees.

All of these non-financial facts and intangible assets come under the broad heading of “sustainability.” Now that’s a pretty unwieldy term for many to wrap their minds around. What in the world does sustainability mean anyway? Is this some environmental term? Well, yes, it can be in part. Sustainability is what your company does to return something to the community in an effort to create a thriving business over the long haul—and a commitment to preserving and protecting both natural and human resources. Sounds pretty cryptic, doesn’t it? Anne Moore, chairman and CEO of Time Inc. defines it in this way, “Meeting economic, social and environmental goals are the three pillars of sustainability, and those goals are not in conflict.”

There are many ways to get this message out to both internal and external audiences. Update your Web site with a new sustainability section. Produce a print piece with engaging photos and some facts about what sustainability means to you and how your company has put some practices into place. Employee and customer testimonials would be a great way to do this. How about a radio ad, similar to one a large public utility is currently running, telling the world how you are making improvements for future generations? In any case, I recommend you seek professional guidance with the writing, photography and design of these tactics. You want to make absolutely certain your sustainability initiatives are presented sincerely and honestly and don’t seem arrogant or self-serving. Back to Ms. Moore of Time Inc.: “We are proving that a company can be a thriving, profitable enterprise while still supporting the communities and the environment on which we all depend. In fact, there is no other path to lasting success.”

In devising avenues for getting your sustainability message out, investigate what other industry leaders are doing and see whether you are already doing it or could adapt some of what they are doing on a scale that makes sense in your company. I bet you would be surprised to learn Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s, Dell and Wal-Mart do some of the same things you do. You will notice they have seized opportunities to add sections to their Web sites and annual reports and, in some cases, launch separate Web sites devoted to telling you how they are giving something back to the world.

Your organization may not be the size of Time Inc., but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t benefit from sharing the types of things you do that come under the heading of sustainability. Maybe you support a variety of local charities. Perhaps you donate your services to charitable causes or allow your staff time during work hours to serve on the board of a non-profit. Some employers give employees help with smoking cessation programs, provide tuition assistance for continuing education or help to underwrite the cost of gym memberships or other wellness programs. Do you choose vendors based on their environmental practices—printing on recycled paper or using soy-based inks, for example? Perhaps you promote the overall health of your crew by encouraging the whole office to join a fitness challenge and sending employees to health screenings.

The trend today is to include these key messages that address what sustainability initiatives you have adopted or are working toward. How do you strengthen the social fabric of the communities where you do business? What do you do to enrich the lives of your employees? What are some simple things the company does to encourage sustainability?

Now, that’s a worthwhile makeover for 2008.