If your company engages in sustainability initiatives and actions, but does not take sustainability communications seriously, then you are seriously missing a trick.
It would be like having a beautiful singing voice but only ever singing in the shower. Or to use another metaphor, you can think of your sustainability actions as a lightbulb (definitely a lightbulb moment deciding to implement those!). With sustainability communications being the switch.
Of course, without the switch, the lightbulb still exists, but nobody ever sees the light! By taking sustainability communications seriously, you can get maximum value from your sustainability actions, by ensuring important stakeholders can see how bright your sustainability light is shining.
And this isn’t just about telling customers and investors about all the great things you’re doing. Although often overlooked, internal sustainability communication is just as important.
Because we cannot stress this enough, your employees are the driving force behind your sustainability journey! By effectively engaging them in this journey, you can ensure alignment, facilitate collaboration, and foster a shared commitment to success.
To help you do just that, in this article we have put together our 10 best tips for how to communicate sustainability to employees.
We hope you can use them to get everyone in your organization excited, and pushing towards your sustainability goals.
1. Set clear objectives
Before you do anything else, it is important to first ask yourself — why exactly do you want to engage in internal sustainability communication?
Presumably it is because you want your employees to know something about your sustainability journey. And as a result, you would like their behavior to change in some way. But knowing this much isn’t enough.
You need to go deeper and ask yourself three more specific questions:
– What exactly do you want your employees to know? (Maybe you want them to have a general idea about your wider sustainability vision for example. Or to have a detailed understanding of how specific goals or initiatives impact daily operations. Maybe you just want to share progress updates. Maybe it is all of the above and more).
– What do you want your employees to feel? (Do you want them to feel proud to work for your company for example? Feel connected to your sustainability journey? Feel responsible for it?) (All of the above would be quite a nice outcome here wouldn’t it?)
– What do you want your employees to do? (After your employees know about your sustainability journey, and have developed an emotional connection to it, what do you want them to do about it? This is where you define your actionable objectives such as increasing participation in green initiatives for example. Or increasing sustainability-related collaboration across departments).
By clearly answering these questions, you can add purposeful direction to your communications from the beginning. Making it much more likely that your efforts will drive impactful change.
2. Understand your audience
To achieve your objectives, it is also crucial to understand who you are communicating with before you begin the process.
It is likely that throughout your organization there are different kinds of employees. Office staff, warehouse workers, higher management etc.
You should take the time to understand each type of employee, and keep in mind that messages should be tailored for each type.
Your communication efforts are much more likely to resonate if you can connect your sustainability goals/information to each employee’s daily roles and responsibilities. (If each employee can clearly see how their actions contribute to achieving these goals, it can act as a huge motivator!).
3. The importance of trust and transparency
We know you’re probably itching to start crafting your sustainability messages at this stage. But here’s one more thing to keep in mind before you do that; always try to be open and honest.
Similar to external communications, internal sustainability communication shouldn’t just be about sharing the positives. You should also acknowledge setbacks and challenges, and highlight areas that need improvement.
Because when your employees see that you’re being honest about the ‘negatives’, they’re more likely to believe the successes. Basically, this kind of transparency builds trust that your commitment to sustainability is genuine.
And from our experience, employees who trust in the sustainability mission are much more motivated to contribute towards it.
4. Create an engaging message
With that in mind, now it’s time for the fun part; creating the actual messages! And of course, the whole point of these messages is that you want your employees to engage with them. So here are some things to consider to help make your messages engaging:
Keep it simple and relatable
People tend to block out corporate jargon and overused buzzwords don’t they? And overly technical terms are very rarely the best attention grabbers.
So try to avoid this kind of language and instead, focus on clear, authentic language, ideally backed by real data and honest insights.
For example instead of saying something like “Employee engagement is key to driving our sustainability KPIs and enhancing ESG outcomes” — you might say something like “We need everyone’s help to achieve our sustainability goals”.
The power of storytelling
Telling a good story is also a powerful way to create memorable messages that connect emotionally and inspire action.
So if you have any relatable examples or success stories that highlight how your sustainability efforts are making a difference, use them!
This could be something as simple as an employee reducing waste in the office, or a team implementing a greener process.
Highlight personal impact
We already touched on this, and it underlines the importance of understanding the various audiences within your company.
If you make it clear how each employee’s actions can fit into the bigger picture and contribute to meaningful change, the chances of engagement go way up.
Remember, sustainability isn’t just a company goal. Many individuals within your company might also have their own personal sustainability goals. They will likely be delighted to know that they can make an impact through their work.
Make messages actionable
To make that impact though, they need to know how. So you should always try to leave employees with clear steps they can take to contribute. Whether that’s joining a new green initiative, attending a sustainability workshop, or simply sharing their ideas.
When your communication is simple, authentic, personally relevant, and clearly actionable, employees are much more likely to listen — and most importantly, to act.
5. Choose the right channels
But it’s not just about what you say, it’s also about where you say it.
Different people absorb information in different ways, so a one-size-fits-all approach is not advised here.
To ensure your message reaches and resonates with employees across your organization, we would recommend using multiple communication channels.
For sharing detailed updates or formal announcements, traditional methods like emails, intranet posts, or newsletters are probably a safe bet. (These are also useful for ensuring important messages are archived and accessible).
But short videos, interactive dashboards, or even apps can be a great way to make your communication more dynamic and engaging. Especially for the more ‘visually-stimulated’ employees, or those who prefer their content in ‘bite-size!’
To reach everyone, you might even consider using multiple channels simultaneously. For example, by following up an email announcement with a short video summary.
And to really really reach everyone, maybe move beyond the digital and into the physical as well. Posters or displays in common areas can help to offer quick reminders. And team leaders can tailor and reiterate messages for each department.
Overall, the goal is to use whichever channels you think are appropriate to make sure nobody misses out on the message you’re trying to spread.
6. Make it interactive!
As any communication expert will tell you, effective communication is a two-way street. And internal sustainability communication is no different.
If you want your employees to really feel involved, then it is essential that you create opportunities for them to share their ideas.
Suggestion boxes, brainstorming sessions, Q&A forums, and workshops are just a few ways you can do this. If you really want to get innovative and make things fun, you could even set up sustainability challenges and offer rewards for green practices. (Who doesn’t love a good game day in the office?… Maybe this one could be called ‘Green Games?’)
Please don’t forget here though that is isn’t enough to simply encourage employees to share their ideas. You should also try to act on employee feedback, and show them that their input is valued.
7. Keep it going!
Internal sustainability communications should not be looked at as a one-off communications campaign.
If you want it to be effective, it needs to be ongoing. We’re talking regular updates across relevant channels, new and fresh content on a regular basis, continuous discussion, constant interaction, non-stop encouragement. You get the picture.
It’s important to always keep the momentum going, so that your sustainability journey remains at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
8. Embed sustainability communication throughout company culture
And by doing that, eventually, the goal is to embed sustainability throughout your company culture.
Employees across your organization should become more than aware of your sustainability journey. They should be constantly and passionately discussing it, and thinking about how they can improve it.
And for new and potential employees, sustainability communication should be present from the beginning. During interviews, onboarding, welcome packets, and training.
It should be very clear to anybody joining your company that sustainability is central to your culture and values.
9. Always celebrate
We mentioned earlier how important it is to be transparent by acknowledging and communicating setbacks and challenges.
But this should in no way stop you from celebrating ever success. Even the little ones.
Major company-wide milestones, collective team achievements, individual employee contributions. Whatever it is, you should make a point of sharing these inspiring stories.
Because not only do they recognize the hard work your employees are putting in, they also act as powerful motivators for achieving the next success.
(Make each success a party, and the people will want more!)
10. Measure and adjust
Speaking of wanting more, to improve your internal communications moving forward, it is crucial to constantly measure and adjust.
You can do this by setting clear KPIs, such as ideas submitted to sustainability programs, or participation rates in sustainability initiatives for example. And then monitor these KPIs over time to identify trends, successes, and areas for improvement.
Regularly checking in with employees through quick polls or focus groups/meetings can also provide insight as to what’s working and what isn’t.
Then over time, you can use these insights to identify which messages and channels resonate most, and adjust accordingly.
Keep doing this, and we have no doubt your communication efforts will be a huge success.
Get internal sustainability communications right with Dazzle
To really make sure your employees respond though, why not call in a sustainability communications expert?
Don’t know where to find one? Don’t worry; we’ve got several right here, waiting to ensure you get your internal communications spot on.
See through the Dazzle platform, we have brought together the world’s best sustainability freelancers. And we have many tried and proven sustainability communications consultants available.
With Dazzle, quality is guaranteed because all of our freelancers are extensively pre-screened. The process is also very flexible, as you can choose to work with our communication experts on a project-based, on-demand, or interim basis.
So if you’re interested in expert help with any aspect of internal sustainability communication, please feel free to contact us today.
We can send you several consultant profiles within hours, allowing you to choose the perfect fit for you.
Then it’s only a matter of time before your sustainability journey is all your employees can talk about!
