Formulating the identity of your park

Template for group work in a workshop next week for directors of national parks on corporate communication. First decide in your group what the three most important audiences are for your national park. Then brainstorm about the key elements of the idfentity of your park and fill the boxes with key words.

Unilever Sustainable Living Plan

The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan communicates well. Reading diagonally you get a good impression of ambitions and results. Through clicking you get to see details and background information. A good example of reporting and social responsible corporate communication.

Corporate Season's Greetings

How to send seasons greetings on behalf of the company and still be simple and personal? The closer people are to us, the more personal and direct (face to face, phone, sms) we convey our best wishes. Privately most people still send greetings cards by normal mail. Companies are learning to avoid the footprint of the traditional greeting card and increasingly send electronic greetings. What can they do to increase the satisfaction of the receiver and add to their reputation? A few tips:
Design a card yourself and insert it in the text window of the mail. Don't use free or commercial online greetings cards. Use a photo, a drawing or painting. Be careful with music or video (time and audience). Make sure the message is short, simple and personal. Don't forget your company's tagline and website. Have staffs send the card to their own relations. Individual mailings cost more time but offer staffs the possibility for an extra personal message.

Form follows function

The communication objectives of the anniversary celebration of an organization are to improve its image and public relations. The seminar and party on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Netherlands Committee for IUCN were a statement about the relevance of the Committee and its core functions. The attendance by the key stakeholders, the venue of a redesigned old gaz factory, the vegetarian and biological food, the pleasant and time conscious facilitator, the party for the personnel of all member organizations - it all supported the messages of the seminar: we need nature and therefore we need transformational change. I don’t remember much details of all the messages of the speakers. They represented the various aspects of international biodiversity conservation in the Dutch context. There was not much looking back, and much more looking forward. The presence of the Queen, the Minister, the DG of IUCN and conservation celebrities upgraded the event and the Committee to a level, that it now can capitalize on for its core functions: convening and mobilizing. For short video click here.

Walking the talk or just green washing?

One of the rules in communication is “never lie, never over state, never make promises you can’t deliver”. It always comes back at you like a boomerang. And you get the opposite of what you intended. I had to think of it when I saw the story of an international environmental organization claiming it is ‘walking the talk’ with its new green building for which the highest environmental standards will be used.

The story reminded me of this neighbor in my street. Unloading his car he proudly showed me the energy saving lamps he had bought. No more old fashioned lamps in his house. I should be happy with his contribution to combat climate change. Looking in his trunk, I saw he also had bought lights for his garden and an electric heater for his terrace. So I said: "I don’t think your electricity bill will be going down, most probably it will go up!"

The same for this 'leader in biodiversity conservation'. Of course you can integrate sustainability in all aspects of management. Not only in procurement or construction. Sustainable development in HRM could mean that staffs work more at home and come to the office regularly for meetings. This way you need less office space. Even less when you decentralize functions and post the various programs in different regional offices. You walk the talk when your organization grows, but you can manage with the same office space, and the same footprint. The publicity now only communicates that you are not a leader, but are doing the same green washing, you blame so many others for.

Getting out of our silos: illustration

What can an ecologist learn from an engineer? What can an engineer learn from an ecologist? The latest IUCN corporate posters - the back covers of the last two issues of World Conservation - illustrate the changing paradigm and the new trend of 'getting out of our silos'.

The interaction between ecology and economy is not anymore about the one winning and the other losing. It is about joint learning for sustainable development. Conservation and sustainable use not as a goal in itself, but as a means towards sustainable development.

I like the positioning of IUCN- bringing experts together to help solve our most pressing sustainable development challenges.

Walking the ‘Biodiversity-talk’

Successful implementation of the Convention for Biological Diversity asks for leadership. International environment organizations and Ministries of Environment are looked up to for this leadership. And within these institutions it are those responsible for biodiversity. If they walk the talk of their Biodiversity Strategy, what personal and professional changes in their actions and behavior can they make?

In a country where invasive species is a priority issue, the leadership may e.g. look at their garden at home: is it filled with non-indigenous plants, then change it. If the major issue is bird species: what provisions do they have in their garden for birds? Is the main issue water: how do they manage their garden and household in that respect? In general the leadership walks the talk when they are mindful of the ecological footprint of their household. Of course one cannot be perfect or totally consistent, but one can make a serious effort.

Professionally it also means looking at the footprint: how do we use water, energy, paper etc. in our offices. How do we go about procurement, human resource management, mobility, our other policies etc.? To what extent are our public meetings also a real experience of biodiversity and sustainability? And - when speaking, writing or conducting meetings – to what extent are we consistently referring to our biodiversity vision and how that vision aligns with our own beliefs and values.

Walking the talk

Why should others implement the required changes, if the environmental leadership does not observe the required behavior? There is nothing more powerful than observing leaders making a sincere effort to do the actions and behavior they request from others. When employees, colleagues and other stakeholders see that the leadership is walking the talk, their message is taken much more seriously. Environmental leaders - who understand that what really matters is what they do, not what they say - will change both on the personal and the professional level.

The psychology of personal and professional change works in two ways: it strengthens your own leadership abilities and it affects your audience. Your audience appreciates that you personally know what it means to make an effort to change. People trust you more as you have undergone the often painful experience of change. They like to follow a leader who took the courage to overcome different obstacles towards change.

At the same time it strengthens your leadership abilities: when you ‘live’ the change, it is easier to talk about it in simple terms. Your speeches will be more authentic. It enables you to listen better to those you want to change, as you can connect better with their concerns and needs. It contributes to your reputation, integrity and credibility, especially if you invite others to provide feedback where you can improve your actions and behavior.