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Inside
:
Y
T
I
L
A
I
R
MATE NG OUT OF THE
BREAKI
WHERES IT ALL
GOING WRONG?
Huw Maggs
Strategy Director,
Salterbaxter
Narrow-minded:
When reporting is the main focus materiality almost always
disappoints. For it to be valuable there has to be more to
it than reprioritising topics. At the same time, too many
companies view materiality as a way of justifying business as
usual. This only reinforces the use of ever more narrow and
formulaic approaches, and engagement with the same types
of stakeholders. This inevitably gives the same answers.
Innovation is stifled and important signals are ignored.
Lack of context:
Not enough companies ground materiality in a consideration
of where they are on their wider sustainability journey and
where they are trying to get to. Even fewer embed this
cleverly into their approach to drive real progress.
Silver bullet:
Others expect too much. Materiality is a useful tool but it
cant solve everything all at once. Being realistic about what
you can achieve and what you cant in the context of a single
materiality project is more likely to yield results. Specific
objectives can, and should, change each time you do it.
No red-thread:
Very few companies set objectives, design an approach
that can deliver, and assess whether objectives have been
achieved. Materiality is a skill that should be developed over
time. This means continually refining your approach.
James Pitcher
Corporate Social Responsibility
Director, Premier Inn
BREAKING
FREE
So, how to make materiality more effective
without adding more and more workload on
top of an already resource intensive process?
Below are five fundamentals to bear in mind
important considerations that can help
improve results no matter where a company
is on the journey.
Neil Burns
Group Head of Sustainable
Development
Mondi
2.SEE THE
BIGGER PICTURE:
Start with a wide-angle lens.
Think carefully about where
the business is and what
challenges and opportunities
lie in front of you. Do this
forensically. What outcomes
do you want to achieve? What
role can materiality play?
What cant it do? What else
do you need to build around it?
Thinking this through is critical
and should guide your
approach.
1.FOCUS ON
CHANGE:
First and foremost materiality
should help drive a change in
the status quo. At its core its
about translating a dynamic
external landscape into
prioritised action, but it can
also be used to shift internal
thinking, strengthen external
support, accelerate
integration into the business,
and much more. The minute
its viewed in this way,
opportunities open up.
3.SET CLEAR
OBJECTIVES:
Once you know what you
want to achieve, actually
formalise a small number of
objectives for the process.
This may seem obvious but
so few companies do it. It will
encourage greater scrutiny of
the approach and youll be
much more likely to achieve
what you set out to.
4.THINK
CREATIVELY:
Think from the point-of-view
of the people involved. What
do you want from them, and
what do they need to think,
feel and experience? Then
identify the approaches and
tools youll need to succeed.
Think, what approaches will
work and not what can we do
using standard approaches.
We think theres huge scope
for creative thinking here.
5.INVOLVE THE
BEST PEOPLE:
Find the best possible people
internally and externally
with the most knowledge,
influence and credibility.
Focus most effort on those
external stakeholder groups
who have the greatest
influence on the business
often customers and
investors. Theyll help you
capture and contextualise
real insights and grab the
attention of colleagues.
Caroline Hill
Head of Sustainability
Land Securities
Matthew Swibel
Director, Corporate Sustainability
Lockheed Martin
About Salterbaxter
Wehelp businesses and brands step
up to the challenge of the changing
relationship between business and
society. We combine smart strategy,
sharp insights and creativity to help
purpose-led businesses succeed.
Whether its communicating to
investorsor opinion formers, engaging
employeesor changing consumer
behaviour, our work delivers for our
clients in three key dimensions:
1. Purpose
Creating, defining, understanding and
building more purposeful organisations,
strategies, brands and communications.
2. Performance
Strategies to drive betterperformance
and communicationsto make this
performancetransparent and trusted.
3.Transformation
Helping businesses and brands to
reinvent, find new models and drive
the changes needed to fulfil the new
contract between business and
society.
Stakeholder analysis
and engagement
Advisory
Boards
Strategic
frameworks
Benchmarking
Materiality
Strategy
Strategy
development
Purpose
Performance
Transformation
Social media
management
Influencer engagement
Co
mmu ations
nic
Reporting
CONTACT US:
Samuel Griffin-Flynn | Business Development
samuel.griffin-flynn@salterbaxter.com
Communication
frameworks
Campaigns
and content
SALTERBAXTER MSLGROUP
82 Baker Street
London
W1U 6AE
Tel +44 (0)20 7229 5720
www.salterbaxter.com
@salterbaxterMSL