In order to get started, the most important thing to do is to establish a ‘Sustainability Intent’ where you collect the most important initiatives and stories that show how you are moving towards an ambitious goal. The ‘Sustainability Intent’ can be delivered as PowerPoints or in different formats that can be accessed by employees so that everyone can see what management means and what their objectives are. It also documents that the company is already moving towards its objectives and showcases that the sustainability journey is progressing.” Jesper Kunde, CEO, Kunde & Co Some would call the long-term objective in an ‘intent’ for the company’s ‘purpose’. But there is a big difference between talking about ‘purpose’ as a concept that does something positive for the world or a ‘purpose’ that is directly linked to the company’s products and the value it delivers to customers. The same goes for ‘Sustainability intent’, which for some companies is related to the ‘purpose’ and long-term ‘business intent’ and not so for some others. Many companies have a hard time figuring out how to communicate sustainability. The main reason for this is that the majority are scared to make promises that they cannot keep, and therefore end up communicating nothing at all. In reality, most companies are in fact already in the midst of executing several initiatives, but surprisingly, our experience shows that they don’t have an overview of these. A higher level of trustworthiness As seen in the case on DONG Energy previously, a clear answer emerged after developing and testing different concept directions: both clients and employees wanted the energy company to set an ambition that they could move towards. The ‘intent’ we created together with DONG Energy was a similar process of integration. It all started with. What we today would refer to as a ‘Sustainability intent’ with the long-term objective of reaching ‘zero emission’ in the future. Along the way, this also became the company’s ‘Business intent’ and ‘purpose’ (level 1). The key take-away from the DONG Energy case is that in the development of a ‘Sustainability intent’ it is important to map where the company stands regarding the long-term objective which is formulated for the sustainability initiatives. This includes, for example, which initiatives and actions are currently being executed and which are in the pipeline for the near future (level 4). In order to solve this challenge, we recommended that DONG Energy follow a methodology, which is inspired from a concept by Toyota. More than 20 years ago, the car manufacturer formulated a ‘Business intent’ where the big long-term goal was to deliver vehicles with zero emission. This ambition defined a very clear direction for the future development of the company’s competencies and products. Years later, it is thought-provoking to see where the entire automobile industry is today. The interesting thing about the case is the resemblance and relation between what many companies refer to as ‘sustain- ability concept’ and ‘business intent’. When employees and clients can see the link between a company’s core business and their journey towards becoming more sustainable – the sustainability narrative gains more trust and acceptance. In the case of DONG Energy, it was all about mapping their sustainability initiatives with the new headline concepts. This helped outline how the energy company should drive change in the right direction. Finally, we developed an integrated core narrative that communicated the ‘intent’ both internally and externally. A communication concept – ‘Moving energy forward’ – was also created. Using visuals and copy, this concept showcased several examples of current initiatives and ‘proof points’ demonstrating that DONG Energy’s ambition and direction was not made from thin air. The communication made it clear that the company was on a journey, and they would keep taking concrete steps towards their long-term objective. This showed the world and their employees that the company was ambitious and trustworthy. When DONG Energy decided to change their strategy from black energy to green energy, it was in close cooperation with Kunde & Co. Among others, this entailed a big task related to external campaign communication. And they solved this very well. But more importantly, Kunde & Co deep-dived into the machine room and helped us define our green position. They played an important role in making DONG Energy’s journey from black to green an incredible success.” Anders Eldrup, Previous CEO, DONG Energy
Download PDF file