Best Ever or Worst Possible: The Canadian Oil Sands

This post might seem out of character for me but I have become so frustrated by such an important issue being communicated so badly.  

Best Ever or Worst Possible:  The Canadian Oil Sands

Development of the Canadian oil sands is the worst: unsound, unethical, anti-planet and pretty much everything else

Or

Development of the Canadian oil sands is the absolute best alternative for our petroleum addicted world.

Let me start by saying three things.

1.      I really don’t know much about the development of the oil sands, at least not enough to claim any sort of expertise.

2.      I think that we are all addicted to petroleum and that is not a good thing.  But, have I haven’t seen anything from the stop the oil sands group that suggests that stopping the oil sands will help this issue.

3.      I don’t believe that stopping the development of the Canadian oil sands will curtail our global appetite for petroleum produced energy but would simply mean that we would get more of it from elsewhere.

For me this means that the central question in the oil sands debate is about should we consume petroleum energy from the oil sands, or from somewhere else.

Like many of you, or at least those of you from North America, I’ve been bombarded by terribly polarized opinions on the development of the oil sands.

It is frustrating.  This is important stuff.  Yet, neither side seems adult enough to present a well-reasoned argument, or at least they haven’t connected a well-reasoned argument to a communications plan which meant that you could actually hear it

·         We have some industry infomercial like ads on TV that make it seem like just the best thing ever.  No need to ever be concerned about anything.

·         We have a Canadian government who, in their clumsy attempts to assist the industry, have made it seem like they are willing to throw environmental regulations and safeguards out the window to support quick project approval.

·         And then there is the steady parade of over-paid movie stars and celebrities, prancing through the media telling us how absolutely earth and civilization ending terrible the industry is.

·         Can anyone tell me how being a famous celebrity makes you an expert on this subject?

Does anyone else wish that one or more of the key stakeholders was mature enough to trust that some comparative facts and objective (or even partially objective) information would be helpful?

Here are some things I wish that they would tell us

On Environment

Petroleum production has nasty, terrible even, impacts on the environment.  Not just in Canada but globally.  Sure, it is getting better, but not nearly fast enough. 

I wish we had a different way to power our planet and hope that we will soon get to one.  But, in the interim, let’s think about this rationally.

I want to know the comparative environmental impact of oil sands petroleum and that from elsewhere.

·         Carbon: What is the carbon cost per barrel of oil, delivered to where it will be used for oil sands petroleum?  How does that compare to petroleum from other major global oil fields

·         Carbon: How is the carbon cost per delivered barrel changing over time from the oil sands and other producers?  In other words, who is investing in reducing their carbon impact?

·         Water and other Natural Capital / Global Commons inputs:  Similar to carbon.  How much is used per barrel (delivered to where it will be used) and how does that compare to other major global oil fields.  What are the trends?  Which fields are getting more efficient at using Natural Capital.

·         Overall impact: How can we quantifiably compare the overall environmental impact of energy from the oil sands with energy from alternative locations; including the cost of transporting it to the end user

And, while we are on the environment can anyone explain why nobody is assessing and monitoring the cumulative impact of oil sands development on the production areas and all the way downstream through the Athabasca, Slave and Mackenzie River systems.

On Human Rights

Much of our planets remaining petroleum reserves are in places that don’t win so many human rights awards. 

Syria, Iraq, Russia, Saudi Arabia and a host of other producing countries have some pretty dismal human rights records.  And, let’s be honest, our western companies and governments have cozied up to these regimes and their human rights track records to get access to their petroleum energy.

To me a key question is around whether we’d sooner use petroleum energy coming from countries and locations with better human rights records.

I think we need to figure out how we can quantifiably compare the human rights/petroleum energy issues so we can have a rational discussion about this dimension.

On Global Security

I’m probably in a bit over my head on this issue, but, on the simplistic side, when I hear that ISIS is funded by millions of dollars/day of petroleum revenue I think that isn’t a good thing.

When I see the conflict all over Syria and Iraq that, as I understand it, is financed by if not fueled by petroleum, I think that is not a good thing.

There may be other relevant dimensions but these are three key ones.

Overall, I believe we are better off using petroleum energy that has less, rather than more environmental impact in its production and transport and that comes from more stable countries with better human rights records.

Intuitively I feel that this means developing the oil sands but I would really like to see some research and informed debate around it.

Surely it isn’t asking too much of industry, government, NGOs and celebrities to be supportive or informed and rational debate around such an important issue?

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Stakeholder Engagement: Six best practices

Six best practices in stakeholder engagement

A CSR Thoughtpiece from the CSR Training Institute

-by Wayne Dunn

I recently wrote a piece on five mistakes companies make in stakeholder engagement and many of you asked me to give a list of best practices.  Here are six.

1.      Think Value and Interests – and do it transparently  

2.      It’s OK to disagree – but, disagree without being disagreeable.  And stay curious

3.      Do compliance but think and act strategic – check the boxes yes, but that is just the foundation

4.      Share the credit, multiply the resources.  Find partners!

5.      Communicate so you are heard and understood.  

6.      Define stakeholders broadly and strategically – go beyond compliance

This list, like the last one, comes from a couple decades of rubber meets the road experience (remember, experience mostly comes from making mistakes or great mentors, or, like mine, both)

Honesty, Trust & Integrity

This is the critical principle and if you don’t get that one right the rest won’t matter.  You may have some short term results but I’m going to be shorting your stock because it’ll blow up sooner or later.  And, if it doesn’t, it should.

In no particular order here are 6 best practices in stakeholder engagement.

1.      Think Value and Interests – and do it transparently 

Remember, you are engaging with the stakeholders because you believe it is in your interest and that it will help you to create value.  Guess what?  They are engaging with you for the same reason.

Maybe they value a pollution free world or a reduced carbon world or a child labour free supply chain, or maybe it is better schools or hospitals or something else. 

Don’t judge what stakeholders value and what their interests are.  Accept it and, as much as possible, try to figure out how your business, your activity, your work might further your stakeholders’ interests.

Be creative in discovering the value propositions that can align your value and interests with those of your stakeholders.

And be transparent about what your value and interests are.  You stakeholders have it figured out anyway!

2.      It’s OK to disagree – but, disagree without being disagreeable.  And stay curious

You will disagree with stakeholders, sometimes with most of them.  That doesn’t make them wrong, or you wrong.  And no need to be disagreeable.  Stay open, stay engaged, and so important to stay curious.

One of the biggest, and possibly most unexpected, social license wins that I’ve ever been part of happened because the geologist, who ‘got stuck’ with community relations, stayed open, engaged and curious.

This was an exploration project 15 years ago and an, at the time, very small gold producer.  Because it was just down the road from a shuttered mine that had lost its social license the company knew they had to do something.

The opposition that had shut down the other mine didn’t want this one to become the first modern producing mine in the country.  They had won over some of the local communities.

The engineer spent months, many months in the community.  Getting to know the residents, including those who were in vehement disagreement.  Trust developed. Transparency happened.  Shared interests emerged and were built on.

Not everyone agreed, but the mine got built.  Disagreements remained, but people were not disagreeable.  And the company’s share price went from 70 cents to over $20!!  And the local agricultural economy flourished. 

Probably none of this would have happened without a patient, engaged, curious and agreeable geologist.  Bonus for me on this example – my consultancy was providing advice and support and we got to claim some credit for all the great work the geologist did! :)

3.      Do compliance but think and act strategic – check the boxes yes, but that is just the foundation

There seems to be an exponentially increasing list of standards, norms and regulatory requirements for stakeholder engagement and all things CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility]. 

They are important (some of them anyway) so you can’t ignore them.  But, don’t be consumed by them.  If you want stakeholder engagement to add value to your operation and meet your stakeholder’s interests and needs then mere compliance is just the foundation

Figure out what you want to be compliant with, and why.  But resist the urge to embrace more and more standards and norms, to check more and more boxes.

There is a comfort and certainty to compliance.  There are boundaries and a sense of completeness when you know you are compliant with yet another standard.  It is auditable and defensible.

On the other hand, strategic stakeholder engagement is often ambiguous, uncertain and sometimes even downright scary.  There is no certainty of success.

Getting out there and engaging around value and interests, accepting disagreements and continuing to search for mutually beneficial common ground and shared value is not for the faint of heart.  But, it is often where the breakthroughs occur, where value is created and strong relationships developed.

Compliance focus / strategic focus.  It’s not one OR the other.  It’s BOTH.

How NOT to do it, but alas still a common approach!

Spend time thinking about the blend and mixture that is right for your business.  Its and investment that will pay dividends

4.      Share the credit, multiply the resources.  Find partners!

Actually, the foundation of this best practice was set out in #1 Think Value and Interests – and do it transparently.  But it is so important that I decided it had to be listed separately.

This mostly focuses on your initiatives and collaboration with stakeholders, the ones focused on creating value and meeting interests for you and the stakeholders.

If that initiative is successful who else or what else benefits.  Are there other people or organizations that have objectives that would be furthered by success of your collaboration with stakeholders.  If so, they could be potential partners and may well bring financial, organizational, reputational and other resources to the table.

This all sounds a bit academic and theoretical.  What does it really mean?

Say you are a consumer goods company operating in a frontier market and want to increase your local supply chain because it will reduce your costs, add unique marketing pitches to your product, and build reputational capital and social licence.

Or you are a mining company operating in a remote community and want to improve local educational capacity.  Your value and interest in this includes; better educational system makes it easier to attract and retain employees, helps create a more qualified and engage-able local labour force, helps expand local livelihood potential, etc.

Or you are a petroleum company and want to enhance local skills training capacity so you are able to recruit and advance more local workers.

In all of these the value and interests of local stakeholders are self-evident.  And there are many other examples in health care, environment, agricultural development, etc.

The opportunity is in thinking about who or what else shares an interest in this.  Local economic, social, educational and health issues are of interest to national governments, international agencies, multi-laterals such as the United Nations, World Bank, etc., NGOs, National Development Agencies such as USAID, DfID, DFATD, GIZ*, etc. 

They are also stakeholders in the success of your efforts.

Your company’s investment and support in these areas can help these stakeholders to meet and further their objectives.  And they can bring resources and expertise to support your efforts.  Note – the above are all real world projects.

Spend time thinking about who else benefits if you succeed.  Be creative.  Be strategic and remember – broad and inclusive value propositions can create a lot of value for you and for stakeholders (this is a fundamental tenant of Silicon Value entrepreneurship but that is another story…)

One of the great things about finding partners and sharing the credit in stakeholder engagement and CSR is that it is seldom a zero sum game.  By sharing the credit you often get more credit yourself, and more resources to contribute to success.

5.      Communicate so you are heard and understood. 

Communication strategies, methods and tactics will vary from group to group and area to area.  It is more than just words and message.  It is about communicating so you are heard and in ways that connect to the capacities, values and interests of the audience.

6.      Define stakeholders broadly and strategically – go beyond compliance

Beware of simply meeting narrow, regulatory definitions of who are your stakeholders.

Think outside the box to identify other groups and interests that would benefit from your success.

A good example of this is a real estate project that I am advising.  The project is situated in an area of large, sprawling estates in a valley on a large island.  It aims to create a ‘pocket neighbourhood’ of smaller homes, more community and less environmental footprint.

Regulatory requirements for permitting mandate consultation and engagement with local landowners/stakeholders.  There is likely to be significant resistance from this group as they would see a change from large, sprawling estates as potentially reducing the value of their properties.

There are many other groups in the valley that are advocating for and supportive of the development concept that is being promoted.  For the most part their regulatory involvement would be minimal unless it was stimulated.

The developer is embarking on an education campaign to help these other stakeholders better understand the specific type of development he is promoting and to help them to better educate the broader public on the Island and in the valley.

The developer is helping these people and groups to meet their interests and objectives of softer environmental footprints and at the same time he is engaging with a group of stakeholders that have an interest in the success of his permitting and can be motivated to provide support at public meetings and consultations. Hopefully avoiding the situation where the only engaged group is local residents who are likely to oppose the development.

Don’t Forget Internal Stakeholders

You can use many of the above best practices for internal stakeholder engagement, including especially focusing on their interest and value.

What is critical is that you and your company find ways to embed best practices like these AND embed a process where you are constantly revisiting and driving this throughout the organization, permeating the organization from top to bottom and across all departments and divisions.

If stakeholder engagement is not seen as everyone’s responsibility at some level you will never achieve the success or value that is possible.  Ghettoize it in some corner or department and you will seldom get it right and often get it wrong, at a cost to you and to your company.

Successfully engage your internal stakeholders and you will have easier and more consistent success with your external stakeholders.

*USAID, DfID, DFATD, GIZ are official development agencies of USA, UK, Canada and Germany.  They are examples only.  There are too many others to list them all.

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Eleven mistakes to avoid in CSR Communications

A blog first!  This piece on CSR communication mistakes is hot from the press!  It is going to the blog first and to other social media from here.

I look forward to comments and feedback and would welcome suggestions of other issues and things to blog about.

Thanks

Wayne

  

Eleven mistakes to avoid: in CSR & Stakeholder Communications

A CSR Thoughtpiece from the CSR Training Institute

-by Wayne Dunn

CSR and stakeholder communications have a strong relationship to value.  Do it right and you can create and preserve value.  Do it badly and you can destroy value, or simply leave value on the table. 

Yet, CSR communications are seldom looked at strategically, and almost never from a value creation/preservation perspective.

Let’s take a look at eleven common mistakes that I’ve come across over the last couple decades of working in the space where business meets society.

These mistakes cost shareholder value and too often result in missed opportunities for companies and stakeholders.

1.     No Socialwash (Greenwash for CSR)

We’ve all seen it, glowing corporate communications that would make you think the company was up for a sainthood nomination.  Yet, when you get behind the glitter, there isn’t much there.

Don’t oversell what you are doing, or talk about results you ‘expect’ or haven’t achieved yet.

Trust me, ALL of your constituencies will appreciate candor and clarity. 

Your company or project isn’t expected to change the world through CSR.  Don’t use language that suggests you might, or worse yet, that you are changing it.

Language that communicates genuine effort and real results is your most effective message.

I’ve actually found that a sprinkling (or more) of humility is actually helpful.

And on this socialwash word.  I’ve struggled to come up with a word that is equivalent to greenwash.  If you have a better one, my email is below – please let me know!

2.     It was all us

Amazingly, you can read some CSR communications and you’d think that nobody else did anything to make the project successful.  That the company did it all.

Share the credit.  Liberally.  It is way better in every way (and probably way more honest too)

As much as possible in your communications acknowledge the work of all who are associated with the project or work.  Do this in writings, in presentations, in casual conversations; inside your company and outside.

Credit for CSR is NOT a zero sum game.  When you share the credit with others it doesn’t make you have less credit.  You end up with more.  And with more willing and engaged partners.

3.     Focused on company and not on issues and stakeholders

CSR is about the company’s interests, but not so much about the company.   It is about the space where business meets society and how value is created (or not) for shareholders and society.

Yet, we often see or hear CSR communications that sound like an advertisement for the company.

Yes, it is OK to focus on the company’s interests.  But, make the overall focus more on the issues, the stakeholders and the partners and the efforts to address/resolve problems.

If people want to know more about how wonderful your company is they will ask.  No need for you to volunteer it and take away from the important messages of your CSR communications.

4.     Doesn’t acknowledge concerns, shortcomings, alternative views

Don’t try to use fancy communications as a veneer to cover CSR challenges and shortcomings.

If your CSR project is like a pile of crap right now, try to fix it, not to spin a pretty picture.

Life is complex.  Issues are complex.  Accept that and don’t try to disguise it in your communications. 

Nobody expects you to be perfect or to have all the answers for everything. 

Often an open acknowledgement of concerns, shortcomings and alternative views can make your message more credible and help to facilitate dialogue and engagement.

5.     Too complex

If you can’t make your CSR communications easy to read and digest, then you better take a look at your projects and work.  I’m guessing they are too complicated and complex.

Remember, CSR is simple, but not easy.  Stay focused on the simple stuff.

If you get stuck when you are doing CSR communications ask these sorts of questions.

• Who is benefiting from the CSR project?
• Why is that important for them?
• Why is it important for society?
• Who is helping us with it and what are they doing?
• What have we really achieved?
• How have we achieved it?
• Why is the company investing in it?
• What are the challenges and issues?

 Somewhere in the answers to these questions is a simple, concise, humble and informative communication that can create or preserve value for your company and your stakeholders.

If you can’t escape the complexity, then you better take a look at your strategy and how you are doing CSR because I’m guessing that is over complicated too! 

Step back and try and look at it with fresh eyes, or, consider getting a set of experienced fresh eyes to come and do a quick review.  That may be the highest return CSR investment you ever make.

6.     Doesn’t openly acknowledge the company’s motivation

If you don’t own your interests it will be hard for the communication to seem sincere and transparent.

Your company doesn’t exist to save the world.  Don’t pretend that it does. Nobody will believe you anyway.

Your company exists to serve its shareholders.  That is actually the law.

In the process of serving your shareholders you can also serve society, often through CSR projects and activities.  That is what you want to communicate.

You don’t need to hide your interests or try to hide behind some altruistic motivation that nobody will believe.

Be open about what is in it for you and for your stakeholders. That will make the rest of the message much more credible.

7.     Too Defensive

Sometimes the best CSR projects are initiative in response to activists or as a response to larger issues.

Sometimes the company is on the wrong side of these issues, or is seen to be on the wrong side, or has just messed up really bad.

Don’t let your CSR communications end up being a defense of your stand or situation.  Deal with that directly.

Let your CSR communications be about the questions asked under #5, Too Complex.  Let them tell stories about what is happening where your business meets society.

If you are too defensive, and often even a little bit defensive is too defensive, the rest of your message will get lost.

8.     Too much promote, not enough share

Of course you want your CSR communications to support and promote your company and your social license, reputational capital and other issues.

But, often your effectiveness at that is much better if you simply share the CSR story and don’t try too hard to promote your company story.

If your company is doing good works through your CSR then you don’t need to shout it. 

Simply sharing the CSR story, complete with credit for all who deserve it, is the loudest and most effective way to carry your own message.

9.     Too much fact, not enough story

Sure, you want to have some data and details, but you also tell the people stories too.  Have a mixture of both balanced to suit what you are communicating and who you are communicating it too.

And, if want it to reach more people, circulate further and be seen as more credible, consider having a third-party do a case study and publish it, especially if they have a relevant publishing platform. 

You lose a bit of editorial control but will gain from the added credibility and circulation.

And, if you have a third-party that knows the CSR space you can likely get strategy and execution feedback as well.

10.  Bad timing

Sometimes the best communication is silence and simply let your results speak for themselves, even if they take time to be heard

This can happen if there is a lot of controversy around the company or issue.  In that situation communication can easily backfire.

It can serve as a catalyst for opposition and you end up with the CSR message getting lost in the controversy and noise.

When I was advising Placer Dome in South Africa they launched an incredibly ambitious and far-reaching CSR program in the midst of a huge controversy.  A controversy that had them in court with the National Union of Mineworkers and led to their being named as the worst employer in South Africa.

In the midst of this the company committed several million dollars to a massive and ambitious CSR program, one that was eventually credited with changing the social face of the mining industry in South Africa.

Despite the stakeholder pressures the company was under and the very public criticisms it was enduring, they resisted unnecessary public communication about the CSR program.

As tempting as it was to tell the world what was being planned, they maintained public silence.  Even after the project started achieving results we stayed silent.

We knew that if we opened any public discussion we had problems.  Those who were in a public battle with the company on other related fronts would bring the battle to the public face of the CSR project and it would be much harder to succeed.

We stayed quiet and let the results accumulate and pretty soon our partners started to communicate the results.  This actually led to an incredible public, and promotional, profile for the company and the project.

At the end of the day the project and the company gained a global profile and won many prestigious awards (see Stanford Case Study on it here).  Had we communicated it too early I am not sure it would have survived.

11.  Too boring

Make it interesting and fun. 

You are communicating about good works and helping to advance good interests.  Let it come alive.

Use pictures and videos and graphics.  The project is often about real people and situations.  Let that come through.  Tell the stories.

Let people feel the energy that your company and your stakeholders and partners bring to the project. 

Sure, sometimes you have corporate communication guidelines that seem to stifle the life out of anything.

If you have internal communication cops don’t be afraid to sneak something past them in the interest of making the communication less boring.  After all, do you think the first CSR projects had all the appropriate internal approvals!!

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As with most of my Thoughtpieces this one will have missed some important mistakes and you may even disagree with some of them.  

That’s all good.  None of us (and especially not me!) has all the answers. 

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To see other Thoughtpieces and articles by Wayne click here>>>

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