A wide variety of reporting frameworks have been developed to address the need for standards in Triple Bottom Line reporting, including some broad frameworks from GEMI and GRI. These have been supplemented with literally hundreds of “green” seals and certifications, often specific to certain products or industries.
These frameworks and certification standards are a huge step forward. They have utilized extensive multi-sector collaboration to develop consensus about what sustainable business should look like.
What’s the matter with this picture? Most of the measures employed tend to focus on big outcomes, or on very particular operational processes. Like many first-generation approaches to performance management, we end up with a loose collection of measures, with no clue how they integrate to create business value. What’s missing is a link that lets the individual business make the connection between sustainability and business success.
The result? Separate management systems. Separate reports, one for the NGO’s, one for the financial analysts and investors.
To really take hold, reporting must address the question of how sustainability can contribute to the business’ need to satisfy customers and shareholders.
The Balanced Scorecard is an ideal tool for achieving this. It answers the question “How do we get there?”
Development of a Balanced Scorecard translates your business strategy into a highly visual “Strategy Map” that shows how sustainability goals interact with other operations, and in turn impact business outcomes like brand recognition, sales performance, cost reduction, risk management, profitability, and share price. Development of the strategy map gets everyone on the same page, building a shared understanding of priorities, measures and accountabilities.
To be continued…..