{"id":39315,"date":"2011-11-25T16:23:28","date_gmt":"2011-11-25T16:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/blog\/?p=39315"},"modified":"2021-01-04T13:26:47","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T12:26:47","slug":"csr-chicken-suits-chameleons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/csr-chicken-suits-chameleons\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicken suits, chameleons and the one true way"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span>Were you at Ethical Corporation’s Corporate Responsibility Reporting and Communications conference<\/a> last week? If you weren\u2019t, you missed a treat.<\/p>\n

1 word<\/h3>\n

The word of the conference, had we been asked to choose one, would have been:<\/p>\n

Humility<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

The number of times people urged that companies should display some humility in their corporate social responsibility reporting was striking…<\/p>\n

1 central theme<\/h3>\n

Whether talking about reports, communications, stakeholder groups or engagement approaches, the clear message from many of the discussions was that there is not One True Way of ‘doing’ CSR, of reporting on it or of talking about it. <\/p>\n

One size does not fit all<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

There were, though, lots of examples of different ways that companies had found that worked for them, and so might work as part of someone else’s toolset. It helps to be a chameleon, using different language and information for different groups.<\/p>\n

4 quotes<\/h3>\n

There were many tweet-worthy snippets that came out of the discussion. Here are 4 that I noted down:<\/p>\n

\nCorporate responsibility is not a man in a chicken suit holding a large cheque<\/p>\n

Corporate responsibility reporting is not PR jazz hands<\/p>\n

The corporate responsibility report is not for communication: no-one reads it for fun<\/p>\n

Stop communicating and start talking<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n

A CR report, then, is both more and less than people might think. It isn’t \u2013 or shouldn’t be! \u2013 spin; it isn’t \u2013 or shouldn’t be \u2013 about sitting in a bathtub of baked beans; it does matter to the business and it is necessary but not sufficient to explain your approach to responsibility to your various audiences.<\/p>\n

6 topics<\/h3>\n

It wasn\u2019t physically possible to attend all the sessions without a time-turner, so this is my pick of the themes I identified; it would be interesting to see someone else’s selection.<\/p>\n

My six:<\/p>\n