This document discusses using co-creation to develop corporate sustainability and responsibility strategies. It defines co-creation as a technique for engaging stakeholders to create and test new concepts and solutions. The benefits of co-creation include tapping into stakeholder knowledge and building consensus to surface great ideas. While some organizations have used co-creation for issues like new product development, its potential for developing sustainability strategies is not fully realized. The document examines Unilever's use of an online forum to engage over 2,000 experts in developing its sustainability plan and targets. It argues that co-creation could help involve more employees in sustainability efforts and overcome cynicism towards traditional employee engagement approaches.
Every company, of every size, in every corner of the globe collaborates on one level or another. At one end of the spectrum lies tactical communication and coordination between people, teams, partners and customers. However, the other end of the spectrum is reserved for those who have established the tools, process and culture, and optimized their environment for Collaboration - those who are Collaborating with a "big C". White paper by Bill Haskins, Senior Analyst at Wainhouse Research.
Fed ex / Ketchum Social Media Study Findings ReportMauricio Godoy
Findings and insights from the 2010 FedEx/Ketchum Social Media Benchmarking Study—a comprehensive exploration of how social media impacts today’s communications landscape. This document reflects the input of leaders from over 60 top global organizations across most major industries.
How can companies use their internal communities of practice to collaborate, innovate and grow?
This paper explores the elements of internal on-line community success, and provides examples of how Schneider-Electric addresses this challenge.
Continuous Innovation is a process and culture within an organisation that speeds up the process of Continuous change and improvement, where rather than incremental improvement we get more impactful and significant improvement as well. Adoption of Digital Technologies and services may be innovative in their own right; however, they also enable and require significant change in practices and behaviours, expand the eco-systems and resource base of the organisation, and release talent that enables Continuous Innovation. This paper informs the reader of the models and some approaches to create a new vision and aims for the organisation in setting & executing their “Digital Innovation Agenda” & “Building Innovation Capability”
In this white paper, we report on a survey of marketing and PR staff from colleges and universities, identifying challenges and issues for 2009, ones that they were anticipating in November and December 2010.
Best Practices In Collaborative Innovation: How CPG Manufacturers & Retailers...Jenna Dudevoir
This white paper is based on a research study with thirty global consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, and brokers to better understand how manufacturers and retailers are working together to drive profitability and deliver innovative products.
Every company, of every size, in every corner of the globe collaborates on one level or another. At one end of the spectrum lies tactical communication and coordination between people, teams, partners and customers. However, the other end of the spectrum is reserved for those who have established the tools, process and culture, and optimized their environment for Collaboration - those who are Collaborating with a "big C". White paper by Bill Haskins, Senior Analyst at Wainhouse Research.
Fed ex / Ketchum Social Media Study Findings ReportMauricio Godoy
Findings and insights from the 2010 FedEx/Ketchum Social Media Benchmarking Study—a comprehensive exploration of how social media impacts today’s communications landscape. This document reflects the input of leaders from over 60 top global organizations across most major industries.
How can companies use their internal communities of practice to collaborate, innovate and grow?
This paper explores the elements of internal on-line community success, and provides examples of how Schneider-Electric addresses this challenge.
Continuous Innovation is a process and culture within an organisation that speeds up the process of Continuous change and improvement, where rather than incremental improvement we get more impactful and significant improvement as well. Adoption of Digital Technologies and services may be innovative in their own right; however, they also enable and require significant change in practices and behaviours, expand the eco-systems and resource base of the organisation, and release talent that enables Continuous Innovation. This paper informs the reader of the models and some approaches to create a new vision and aims for the organisation in setting & executing their “Digital Innovation Agenda” & “Building Innovation Capability”
In this white paper, we report on a survey of marketing and PR staff from colleges and universities, identifying challenges and issues for 2009, ones that they were anticipating in November and December 2010.
Best Practices In Collaborative Innovation: How CPG Manufacturers & Retailers...Jenna Dudevoir
This white paper is based on a research study with thirty global consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, and brokers to better understand how manufacturers and retailers are working together to drive profitability and deliver innovative products.
The New Symbiosis Of Professional Networks Research StudyLeader Networks
The article focuses on the impact of social media and social networks to Social Media Peer Groups (SMPG) and professional decision-makers. It mentions that customers and prospects have an instant platform of discussions for their ideas, experiences and knowledge through the use of social media, wherein their important role is utilizing the tools and mediums before engaging to decision-making processes. It states that social media increase the impressive strength of decision-making and change the dynamics of customer relationship management, marketing, and communications. It also recommends being part in a peer network or online community for sharing ideas that were often formed in office settings.
The future of corporate communications – summary of resultsBrunswick Group
As Europe’s senior communications professionals scan the horizon for clues about the future of their role, their top concerns are how to ensure consistency of message across the organisation and how to cut through the information overload to be heard. Many communicators believe the answer lies in consolidation of communications functions to ensure alignment and impact.
In order to capture what is top of mind in the shifting European communications arena, Brunswick and the European Association of Communications Directors (EACD) have partnered on a unique piece of research that included EACD members and other senior communicators across Europe.
For more information please contact:
Phil Riggins: www.brunswickgroup.com/people/directory/phil-riggins/
Best of the Intranet Global Forum LA 2015Toby Ward
Best of the Intranet Global Forum LA 2015 intranet case study highlights by Toby Ward, Prescient Digital Media, at the Intranet Global Forum, NYC, on October 23, 2015.
The future of corporate communications infographicBrunswick Group
Cutting through the noise
Views of senior European communicators on the changing landscape and roles for corporate communicators.
In order to capture what is top of mind in the shifting European communications arena, Brunswick and the European Association of Communications Directors (EACD) have partnered on a unique piece of research that included EACD members and other senior communicators across Europe.
For more information please contact:
Phil Riggins: www.brunswickgroup.com/people/directory/phil-riggins/
Communication Scorecard by Vos & SchoemakerMarita Vos
The slides explain the method of the Communication Scorecard developed by us and refer to our publications for more information. The slides can be used with reference.
This article originally appeared in Training & Development magazine February 2014 Vol 41 No 1, published by the Australian Institute of Training and Development.
It has been reproduced with permission from the editor.
Sustainability Through Partnerships Report - A Guide for Executives | Network...Sustainable Brands
Partnerships are a natural way to address sustainability issues. They can enable your business to innovate, improve society and the environment, increase legitimacy and acquire new skills and resources.
But partnerships are also a new way of operating – and not all are successful. This report identifies steps for success. It provides the best research-based advice on planning and executing effective partnerships.
Presentation on the evolution of internal communications and the emergence of the social enterprise. Also features tips on how to foster social inside organizations.
Corporate reputation is an intangible asset amounting to up to 70% of an organisation’s market capitalisation. Recent evolutions in the business environment and social communications have made stakeholder engagement an essential part of the strategy of responsible and successful organisations in order to maintain this capital. But research shows that most engagement efforts in multinational or multi-services companies are kept in silos and uncoordinated across business units or departments.
This document describes some of the engagement guidelines provided by the AA1000 and GRI assurance standards and how following these guidelines with an appropriate collaborative, full circle platform can help:
* identify important stakeholders and groups ;
* map them and their opinions on the organisation’s strategic issues ;
* engage them appropriately and monitor impacts.
in a natural continuous improvement cycle to help respond to short term events in the context of a long term communication and corporate reputation management strategy.
It also describes engagement in the context of crisis management and social media to show how detecting earlier warning signals both enhances the organisation’s ability to contain the crisis and lowers the cost at which this is done.
The New Symbiosis Of Professional Networks Research StudyLeader Networks
The article focuses on the impact of social media and social networks to Social Media Peer Groups (SMPG) and professional decision-makers. It mentions that customers and prospects have an instant platform of discussions for their ideas, experiences and knowledge through the use of social media, wherein their important role is utilizing the tools and mediums before engaging to decision-making processes. It states that social media increase the impressive strength of decision-making and change the dynamics of customer relationship management, marketing, and communications. It also recommends being part in a peer network or online community for sharing ideas that were often formed in office settings.
The future of corporate communications – summary of resultsBrunswick Group
As Europe’s senior communications professionals scan the horizon for clues about the future of their role, their top concerns are how to ensure consistency of message across the organisation and how to cut through the information overload to be heard. Many communicators believe the answer lies in consolidation of communications functions to ensure alignment and impact.
In order to capture what is top of mind in the shifting European communications arena, Brunswick and the European Association of Communications Directors (EACD) have partnered on a unique piece of research that included EACD members and other senior communicators across Europe.
For more information please contact:
Phil Riggins: www.brunswickgroup.com/people/directory/phil-riggins/
Best of the Intranet Global Forum LA 2015Toby Ward
Best of the Intranet Global Forum LA 2015 intranet case study highlights by Toby Ward, Prescient Digital Media, at the Intranet Global Forum, NYC, on October 23, 2015.
The future of corporate communications infographicBrunswick Group
Cutting through the noise
Views of senior European communicators on the changing landscape and roles for corporate communicators.
In order to capture what is top of mind in the shifting European communications arena, Brunswick and the European Association of Communications Directors (EACD) have partnered on a unique piece of research that included EACD members and other senior communicators across Europe.
For more information please contact:
Phil Riggins: www.brunswickgroup.com/people/directory/phil-riggins/
Communication Scorecard by Vos & SchoemakerMarita Vos
The slides explain the method of the Communication Scorecard developed by us and refer to our publications for more information. The slides can be used with reference.
This article originally appeared in Training & Development magazine February 2014 Vol 41 No 1, published by the Australian Institute of Training and Development.
It has been reproduced with permission from the editor.
Sustainability Through Partnerships Report - A Guide for Executives | Network...Sustainable Brands
Partnerships are a natural way to address sustainability issues. They can enable your business to innovate, improve society and the environment, increase legitimacy and acquire new skills and resources.
But partnerships are also a new way of operating – and not all are successful. This report identifies steps for success. It provides the best research-based advice on planning and executing effective partnerships.
Presentation on the evolution of internal communications and the emergence of the social enterprise. Also features tips on how to foster social inside organizations.
Corporate reputation is an intangible asset amounting to up to 70% of an organisation’s market capitalisation. Recent evolutions in the business environment and social communications have made stakeholder engagement an essential part of the strategy of responsible and successful organisations in order to maintain this capital. But research shows that most engagement efforts in multinational or multi-services companies are kept in silos and uncoordinated across business units or departments.
This document describes some of the engagement guidelines provided by the AA1000 and GRI assurance standards and how following these guidelines with an appropriate collaborative, full circle platform can help:
* identify important stakeholders and groups ;
* map them and their opinions on the organisation’s strategic issues ;
* engage them appropriately and monitor impacts.
in a natural continuous improvement cycle to help respond to short term events in the context of a long term communication and corporate reputation management strategy.
It also describes engagement in the context of crisis management and social media to show how detecting earlier warning signals both enhances the organisation’s ability to contain the crisis and lowers the cost at which this is done.
Tools, techniques and strategies for understanding, measuring and communicating impact. 19th-20th June 2018, London. This two-day conference will highlight the latest methods being applied by business to measure the impact of their sustainability programs. We’ll discuss and debate the pros and cons of the different tools and techniques available, whilst assessing what has really worked for companies in practice.
Running head MULTIPLE- STAKEHOLDER PROCESS To Shelf part.docxcharisellington63520
Running head: MULTIPLE- STAKEHOLDER PROCESS
To Shelf part IV
Clean shelf and the tie’s companies are two companies that have got impacted by the
campaigns of public advocacy groups. The Democratic leadership is also referred to as
participative leadership since it relies on the participation of workers. The aim of the democratic
leader is fostering worker investment in a company by investing employees in their work in the
organization. This type of leadership is important since it encourages workers to set goals that
are workable and notices what they have achieved. They develop plans for their workers to assist
them assess how they perform and push the workers to grow in their work while giving them
support in their advancements and promotions. This type of leadership is good for a leader who
wants to keep workers informed on the matter that can affect them and the leaders who need
their workers to take part in making decision and problem-solving (David, 2009).
Benefits of multi-stakeholder
The partnership does not just bring key stakeholders together so as to discuss issues of policy,
creates consensus and implements, but is assist in improving equality between players and
promotes participation and transparency (Marc & Adriana, 2014). Some of the benefits are:
It promotes equity in policy and implementation- this approach promotes participation of
every interested individual in the process in an equalized manner.
Fosters sharing of innovation and skills: bringing stakeholders who have diverse
perspectives together encourages the participants to view issues in new ways and help the
development of strategies that are new and innovative for a change.
MULTIPLE- STAKEHOLDER PROCESS 2
Promotes grassroots participation and mobilization: the simple existence promotes
participation of community and society companies in the policy debate. Also, it assists in
raising awareness of the main major actors.
Challenges
Inclusion: one of the main challenges of successful partnership is finding the right actors
and brings them to the table. As partnership experience has grown, a main lesson that has come
up is the importance of involving various stakeholders’ views. However, the identification of
important stakeholders and an important level of inclusion should derive directly from the
particular purpose and objective of the partnership.
Differentiating various types of partnership: Multi- stakeholder partnerships range
hugely in terms of functions, complexity, and scope, level of engagement, diversity, and size of
patterns. Various types of partnership get motivated by various factors, have different
governance requirements and face different operational problems. As a result, it is hard to note
and share generic lessons and good practices that apply ac.
An Exploratory Study of Factors Influencing Corporate Sustainability on busin...AkashSharma618775
This study evaluates the effect of corporate sustainability on business performance of manufacturing
industries in USA, from 2012 to 2015. These Manufacturing industries are listed in Corporate Social
Responsibility Hub (CSRHub), Morning Star and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). All data used in this report
were extracted from 37 manufacturing companies’ Sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and
annual reports. These companies are of diverse sectors such as Automobile, Health care, consumer goods, food,
beverages and technology. Quantitative method of research is used in this study; this also includes the use of
explanatory and descriptive research design. The main issues to be discussed in this study are Donation, Incident
rate reduction and Water Recycled as the independent variables, while Revenue is the dependent variable. Data
analysis was carried out using the regression analysis, descriptive statistics and correlation. E-views software
generated the data for further analysis. The findings imply that donation has a positive insignificance effect on
revenue, reduced incident rate reduction had positive significance effect on revenue and water recycling has
negative insignificant effect on revenue. In the future researches, larger samples of companies form diverse sectors
and subsectors should be studied to broaden the research on company performance especially the non-financial
aspect.
An Exploratory Study of Factors Influencing Corporate Sustainability on busin...AkashSharma618775
This study evaluates the effect of corporate sustainability on business performance of manufacturing
industries in USA, from 2012 to 2015. These Manufacturing industries are listed in Corporate Social
Responsibility Hub (CSRHub), Morning Star and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). All data used in this report
were extracted from 37 manufacturing companies’ Sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and
annual reports. These companies are of diverse sectors such as Automobile, Health care, consumer goods, food,
beverages and technology. Quantitative method of research is used in this study; this also includes the use of
explanatory and descriptive research design. The main issues to be discussed in this study are Donation, Incident
rate reduction and Water Recycled as the independent variables, while Revenue is the dependent variable. Data
analysis was carried out using the regression analysis, descriptive statistics and correlation. E-views software
generated the data for further analysis. The findings imply that donation has a positive insignificance effect on
revenue, reduced incident rate reduction had positive significance effect on revenue and water recycling has
negative insignificant effect on revenue. In the future researches, larger samples of companies form diverse sectors
and subsectors should be studied to broaden the research on company performance especially the non-financial
aspect.
Achieving Sustainability and Responsibility through Stakeholder Engagement: T...Flevy.com Best Practices
Original article from the Flevy business blog can be found here:
http://flevy.com/blog/achieving-sustainability-and-responsibility-through-stakeholder-engagement-the-financial-services-case/
The Increasing Role of Compliance
Finance plays a critical role for society at large, serving individuals, families, businesses, governments, and civic institutions. The Financial Services industry performs indispensable functions such as enabling saving and investment, providing protection from risks and supporting the creation of new jobs and enterprises. It is critical that the industry operates to provide these functions for society in a stable, sustainable way.
Experiences of recent years have revealed a range of vulnerabilities of the financial system. Consequences of its functioning have been extremely costly to society and resulted in a significant loss of public trust and confidence in the financial system. An enormous, multi-year effort by policy-makers and financial institutions is underway to make the financial system more resilient and enable it to sustainably contribute to economic growth and prosperity. The regulatory community has strengthened oversight and prudential requirements as part of a global effort to overhaul and improve financial regulation.
Today, the Financial Services industry is subject to multiple and complex legal and regulatory compliance requirements that span international boundaries. Accenture’s Compliance Risk Study indicates that investment in the compliance function will continue to increase. Compliance officers will need to adapt their programs to navigate the disruption that the financial services industry is going trough. In fact the industry is facing disruptive forces in many forms, from changing customer behavior and the rise of digital technologies to a shifting regulatory landscape. New risks are emerging as well, many fueled by increasing challenges of fighting cyber-crime and others from managing more complex operations in today’s world. In order to respond to these challenges among others, the industry is taking a range of steps to change the way it does business. Improvements have also been made to business practices such as training, sales and product approvals, with increased penalties for breaching standards.
HOW
COMMUNICATIONS
SUPPORTS
SUSTAINABILITY:
5 TRENDS
Creating an environment for effective stakeholder dialogue
“Under-engagement is the biggest risk.”
Using transparency to build trust
“Not understanding and listening … is a sure way to create mistrust.”
Integrating communications to enhance sustainability efforts
“Communication is not just what we say but how we react to
queries from stakeholders.”
Prioritising internal communication and corporate culture
“Everyone is an ambassador of the company.”
Measuring impact
“We are linking manager performance to how quickly they respond
to grievances.”
Fulfilling the Social Contract through Social Media mediaInfosys
Social media is often seen by most organizations as a means to an end. And its success is considered to be a happy accident – but in reality, it's a product of meticulous planning and strategizing that helps deliver sustainability.
An in-depth social media study conducted by FedEx and Ketchum of more than 60 well-known companies has found that significant changes are on the horizon for the way companies will use social media tools to communicate internally. The study also examines programming, team structure and budgeting trends, including how companies are increasingly working across functions to ensure collaboration on social media projects. Interviewees also discuss why some are eager to take a leadership role in social media while others are comfortable in a more general participatory mode.
Frank Mantero, director of corporate citizenship at General Electric, discussed corporate social responsibility (CSR) and it's role in PR and driving business growth.
Non-Financial reporting is on its way to become a mainstream activity. SEBI has published BRSR framework for such reporting and BRSR Lite for the MSMEs.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
2. 2
Contents
1. Introduction 3
1.1 The increasing need for intelligent, sustainable innovation 3
1.2 The research programme 3
2. Research report 4
2.1 What is co-creation? 4
2.2 The benefits of co-creation 4
2.3 Does sustainability (and responsibility count)? 5
2.4 Assuring sustainability and responsibility 6
2.5 Applying co-creation to business issues 6
Unilever: co-creation for sustained value 7
2.6 Employees and co-creation 8
2.7 Co-creation experience 9
The value of co-creation 9
2.8 The potential downsides and mitigation 10
3. Conclusions and recommendations 11
4. Suggested next steps 12
Acknowledgements 12
Introducing Good Measures 13
Bibliography 14
Appendix A – survey methodology 15
3. 3
Co-creation for sustained value
1. Introduction
1.1. The increasing need for intelligent, sustainable innovation
In 2011, we received a number of client requests for assistance with the development of new
approaches to developing and implementing corporate sustainability and responsibility strategies.
We had already taken a renewed interest in co-creation approaches, especially as leading advertising
and marketing communication firms were using them to help develop new products and services for
their clients. Our interest was further sparked by the realisation that, as a method, it was being used
to innovate afresh and re-involve a wide spectrum of audiences – from existing to prospective
consumers, shareholders, suppliers and, especially, employees – in order to perpetuate the well
established brand ambassador model. It was also clear that co-creation is able to handle highly
complex subject matter.
No matter how you define or describe corporate sustainability (let alone responsibility), there can be
little doubt that it is a complex and interwoven subject. Moreover, in determining and setting
strategy in these areas, it is vital to explore all audiences’ opinions to build consensus and, more
importantly, surface great ideas from everyone involved in the organisation to find winning solutions.
Co-creation, therefore, appeared to be well suited to sustainability and vice versa. It was also likely
to be aligned with sustaining high-value dialogue about all aspects of corporate behaviour and
improved environmental performance, at a manageable financial and resource cost.
1.2. The research programme
In summer 2012, we decided to ask a university student to help us carry out research into using co-
creation to further corporate sustainability and responsibility. We were extremely fortunate to
secure an internship with a geography undergraduate from St Andrews University, Catriona Brady,
who not only had a deep interest in sustainability policy development, but had also carried out public
research on ‘environmentally conscious behaviours’. Catriona was helped and guided throughout
this process by Good Measures team members, Katherine Rusack and Tom Woodnutt.
The key questions for Catriona were:
a) What is co-creation? How do we define it? Is it different from conventional research and
communication approaches and, if so, how?
b) How does it work? What makes it succeed or fail in terms of behavioural and communication
theory & practice? What are its key benefits and disadvantages?
c) What experience is there of using it in the UK and internationally? In which areas/subjects is it
used, if not directly in sustainability or responsibility?
Catriona used initial desk research to inform both a direct and online research process in July/August
2012. This involved structured interviews with five sustainability experts and detailed responses
from a further 17 online. Potential participants were selected from our own database, or self-
selected from our social media feeds and articles issued via the 2degrees network. The majority of
experts worked for an organisation using co-creation tools in one way or another. All responses have
been reported anonymously to protect both source and author.
4. 4
2. Research report
2.1. What is co-creation?
Co-creation is a combined research and communication technique for creating, sharing and testing
new concepts and innovative solutions. As it can be multi-audience, multi-media and concurrent, it
is capable of handling and distilling complex subject matter quickly. Co-creation is omnidirectional
yet practical, and a proven approach to the collaborative engagement of diverse audiences. It has
always existed in some form (e.g. electorate and employee focus groups); however, its potential is
now far greater due to advances in communication and online research technology. Forbes recently
identified it as ‘the most accepted model for innovation’ (Forbes, 2011).
Co-creation can be used to engage employees, customers/users, suppliers, shareholders, NGOs,
academics, government bodies and even competitors – sometimes all at once, sometimes
separately. Most importantly, it provides a channel which facilitates core audience feedback on your
organisation, its products/services and behaviour. As it is often an open dialogue, it also allows
people to communicate, create, debate and refine arguments with one another instantly.
The following diagram illustrates how co-creation differs from other approaches to innovation in the
degree of complexity it manages; the number of people or organisations it can engage; the ability to
share ideas/concepts generated; and its fluidity in crossing organisational/international boundaries.
(Source: Forbes, 2011)
2.2. The benefits of co-creation
Co-creation enables organisations to tap into the detailed knowledge, experiences, ideas and
opinions of key stakeholders, and this facilitates decision-making on the development and evolution
of services and products. It therefore allows an organisation to better align the expectations of
stakeholders with its services, products and behaviours, leading to a more resilient and accessible
organisation. In some cases, the data may be real-time and vast, so it provides early warning of
issues and trends which can significantly impact on organisational reputation - Toyota used such an
approach to help it manage the reputational impact of a number of significant vehicle recalls
between 2009 and 2012. Such techniques have also identified strong correlations between
stakeholder perceptions and share value, and are increasingly being used by corporate investors.
5. 5
In exploring individual experience and desires, it helps shape more customised products and services
which, in turn, create greater stakeholder loyalty. This extended stakeholder ‘voice’ improves
employee engagement, customer satisfaction and shareholder relations, building stronger brands
and corporate reputation. Carefully managed, co-creation even allows organisations to react to
criticism and rebuild positivity based on individual perceptions and views, as in the case of Toyota.
Overall, co-creation enables organisations to benefit from the human and social capital of their
stakeholders and underline a listening, caring and individually-concerned culture.
Selected examples of co-creation techniques include: offline – brainstorming sessions, round tables,
conferences and focus groups to prioritise audience suggestions; online – participation via social
media forums such as Twitter, Facebook, Yammer etc plus organisational internet and intranet sites.
Organisations have also built specially adapted co-creation platforms, and specialist technology now
exists to help with analysing the huge volumes of data that can be generated.
2.3. Does sustainability (and responsibility) count?
The need for organisations to fully address their environmental sustainability and wider social
responsibility is pressing. Once again, this has been clearly underlined during summer 2012 through
a number of serious malpractices, some of global significance, in government, the financial services,
pharmaceutical and media sectors, and even with regard to public and national security.
Accordingly, the careful management of an organisation’s sustainability (and responsibility) is
increasingly viewed as essential – e.g. Ford Motor Company believes these underpin its own viability
as a vehicle manufacturer and its very survival. It is also a vital factor in maintaining and improving
many corporate cultures while ensuring long-term, organisational success – all areas of increasing
concern to governments, communities and consumers seeking improved organisational
trustworthiness and conduct.
Two-thirds of respondents to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) survey believed
sustainability was key to competitive success, up from 55% in its 2010 survey and representing an
annual increase of 10% (MIT, 2012). This viewpoint was shared by the respondents to our
questionnaire:
Senior Vice President for Sustainability at a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) organisation
Was “convinced sustainability can drive our growth”, stating that their sustainability plan
involves more than just goodwill, ethical and abstract motivations. This is demonstrated by the
importance they place on preserving the security of raw materials, which represents a
fundamental financial cost, and also a corporate risk if they are unable to guarantee sourcing of
these materials in the long term.
Head of Environment at a British media group
Described the primary concerns of the organisation as reputation and cost-efficiency.
Sustainability enables them to take practical steps which both improve the business and
promote its reputation as an ethical company to consumers. Fundamentally, it is driven by
“being in business for the long term”.
6. 6
2.4. Assuring sustainability and responsibility
There has been steady progress in the sustainability and responsibility governance area: for example,
the number of companies delivering annual CSR reports has now increased to 95% of Global Fortune
250 companies (KPMG, 2011). Furthermore, the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) have
been endorsed by 900 businesses, representing $30 trillion in assets. However, the need for
organisations – public and private sector and hybrid – to fully integrate sustainability principles into
their operational strategies is increasingly expected by all stakeholders. In addition, the failure to
fully embrace sustainability and responsibility can lead to significant costs and enduring reputational
damage. For example, Unilever has calculated that climate change is now reducing its potential
profits by €200 million each year (BusinessGreen, 2012), plus these costs will potentially increase in
the future, unless mitigated through careful management and innovation.
Nonetheless, there is still far more that organisations can and need to do here, as Ban Ki-moon
highlighted in his address at the ‘KPMG Summit: Business Perspective for Sustainable Growth’ earlier
this year: “We need corporate sustainability to be in the DNA of business culture and operations…
Corporate sustainability, as currently practiced, has yet to rise fully to the challenge. The principles of
sustainability have not penetrated business strategy, nor have we seen the depth of action that is
needed.” (UN News Centre, 2012). Clearly, the time has come to build on all the current effort and
cost of reporting, goverance and compliance procedures, and to integrate forward-thinking,
sustainable and responsible action into every organisational activity. This is exactly where co-
creation works best, as highlighted above.
2.5. Applying co-creation to business issues
“There is so much duplication of effort and wasted resource when it comes to sustainability… We
need to make it easier for individuals, companies, academia and researchers to collaborate and share
best practice in order to create and adopt technologies that have the potential to solve global
sustainability challenges.” John Wilbanks, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos (The
Telegraph, India, 2010).
Let’s start with some examples of how co-creation has already been used by various organisations
for a wide variety of stakeholder engagement purposes:
Senior Sustainability Manager at a private healthcare organisation
Said that sustainability was incredibly important to the organisational ethos (ranked 9/10 out of
all reasons provided – see appendix A) as it steers the organisation’s future and development.
Added that it was driven by a “social purpose” – to ensure the overall health and wellbeing of its
customers, which extends into environmental factors having a direct impact.
Environmental Programmes Manager at a global automobile and engine manufacturer
Gave the importance of sustainability a 10/10 ranking (as above), reflecting the relevance of
changing economic and business circumstances impacting on the sector. The organisation is now
focused on providing mobility solutions in a long-term and sustainable manner.
7. 7
Assuming sound innovation, active engagement of concerned individuals and dynamic
communication are key to developing successful sustainability interventions, co-creation is likely to
offer an effective and productive route. Co-creation helps engage new partners and experts;
embraces emerging knowledge; and educates all stakeholders while creating awareness around core
organisational requirements. As such, if it works with new product and service development, it must
surely work here and help develop good practice, brand reputation and corporate values in the
(arguably more) important area of organisational sustainability and responsibility.
Our research revealed that co-creation is being used by some organisations to help improve their
sustainability. However, currently, the number of organisations using it long term on a large scale is
limited although, as more sustainability networks begin to use this approach internationally (such as
The Guardian and 2degrees), it is bound to increase. In fact, as Unilever has already shown (see case
study below), well designed and effective co-creation can help organisations identify and prove
quality sustainability solutions more rapidly. In our experience, one trailblazer in the FMCG area,
especially of Unilever’s standing and size, is likely to create wider activity which will then spread to
other sectors.
E-ON – Power to the People developed conversations with consumers around new products and
service propositions they would like to see. An online forum invited customers to post ideas,
develop and vote for them via an online community. Participants were awarded points for their
contributions.
Tesco – Seeking to improve the customer experience of its online shopping service, 150
technology developers were asked to contribute ideas to enhance its website. The developers
would benefit financially from any successful applications they developed and Tesco adopted.
KLM – Its Tile and Inspire campaign invited the public to submit their own Delft Blue tile, based
on a photo they had taken, which could then be put on the side of one of its aircraft. This event
resulted in 120,000 tiles being made and 600,000 campaign site visits, engaging a wide audience
including regular KLM fliers, and those who may not have previously been aware of the brand.
Unilever: co-creation for sustained value
Unilever launched its ten-year ‘Sustainable Living Plan’ in November 2010. It incorporated
sustainable values throughout its portfolio and addressed sustainability issues from raw materials
to consumer behaviour in order to halve the environmental footprint of its products. From the
outset, partnerships and co-creation were deemed vital, as CEO Paul Polman claimed: “Delivering
these commitments won’t be easy. To achieve them, we will have to work in partnership with
governments, NGOs, suppliers and others to address the big challenges which confront us all.”
In order to achieve its ambitious targets, Unilever set up the ‘Sustainable Living Lab’ – an
interactive and open, 24/7 web forum. Unilever’s stakeholders and sustainability experts were
invited to contribute ideas on improving sustainability and, in addition, 100 Unilever employees
were involved. 2,262 experts from a variety of backgrounds registered for the event from 77
different countries, contributing nearly 4,000 different posts, as seen in the pie charts overleaf.
Participants contributed many new ideas and concepts including new ways of communicating a
product’s environmental impact; the need for understanding of migrant worker abuses; setting
internal water prices, amongst many other issues. In addition to assisting Unilever internally, these
findings helped form its contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals discussed at Rio+20.
8. 8
2.6. Employees and co-creation
Given the above evidence as to why sustainability is so crucial to the future success of organisations,
it remains surprising that such a limited number of employees are asked to contribute to their
organsation’s policy and idea generation in this area, especially as their livelihood and career may
depend on such engagement. A recent BusinessGreen report revealed that about 60% of employees
in general are either ‘not aware’ or ‘aware but not involved’ in mitigating their organisation’s carbon
footprint, which is just one simple sustainability measure (BusinessGreen, 2012a). This verifies that
considerable scope exists to involve employees in vital energy- and cost-reduction measures.
Co-creation would help overcome this issue by giving equal weight to engaging employees of all
roles, levels and types in the sustainability dialogue, as well as engaging further stakeholders. Some
organisations have also included employees’ families or retired employees in such dialogue.
(BusinessGreen, 2012a)
Darrel Webber, Secretary General,
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
commented: "I found the session to be a
novel approach to engaging with different
stakeholders. It has helped surface tough
questions that are valuable to take the
next leap towards sustainability." (The
Guardian, 2012)
Although Unilever conducts a variety of co-
creation projects in many different ways,
few organisations have focused on
sustainability to this degree. Unilever is,
therefore, to be commended and should
be encouraged to continue this dialogue in
order to capture even more ideas and
suggestions of high value to millions of its
consumers and thousands of its business
partners.
9. 9
Applied internally, co-creation is a powerful employee engagement approach, capturing the
knowledge, ideas and observations of the internal audience, i.e. generating great ideas from within,
through people who really know the operation and are motivated to help either directly or indirectly.
In our experience, employees often tend to be asked only annually and generically (the classic
employee survey) or when there is an issue or threat, plus little action seems to be taken based on
this feedback. So, co-creation with its wider accessibility and more solution- and action-focused
nature may be useful in overcoming the growing cynicism of employees towards traditional
employee dialogue. This factor is likely to be exacerbated due to severe cut-backs in employee
investment over the last five recessionary years, and the further demise of traditional employee
forums. The timing, as efforts to break out of the recessionary slump intensify, may also be ideal.
A 2002 GlobeScan survey revealed that eight in ten people who worked for a large organisation
believed that the more socially responsible their employer becomes, the more motivated and loyal
they become as employees (GlobeScan, 2002). These findings have been verified more recently by
the USA Environmental Protection Agency, especially among younger employees of lower tenure. In
addition, 41% of customers prefer sustainable products and services (MIT, 2012).
Our own research showed that 67% of respondents who had used co-creation claimed that it had
substantially increased the number of people involved in a project. In addition, co-creation raises
awareness and can be used as an educational tool, a facility that every respondent stated they
required within the sustainability field, especially for employees. In conclusion, we firmly believe
that internal co-creation will make employees feel more valued, as well as providing a more durable,
practical, focused and cost-effective way of facilitating organisational evolution.
2.7. Co-creation experience
The participant feedback from our summer 2012 research exercise proved that co-creation has been
used for various tasks and sometimes directly in enhancing organisational sustainability. The
benefits witnessed included, internally: more engaged employees through fresh dialogue; and,
externally: improved investor relations and enhanced partnerships with non-governmental
organisations. Many participants highlighted the role of co-creation in facilitating dialogue,
especially across international frontiers.
Here’s a selection of some reported experiences:
The value of co-creation
Senior Sustainability Manager at a private, global healthcare organisation
Referred to co-creation as ‘fantastic’. The respondent viewed it as particularly useful due to the
complexity of the sector, which means addressing many issues at the same time with the aid of
external parties to create the most suitable solutions. Co-creation enables it to “tap into the
wisdom of the crowd”, and allows it to benefit from numerous externally derived innovations.
During a global innovation contest on carbon reduction, it received many positive contributions,
while the process facilitated wider entry into this ideation process, often producing ‘outside the
box’ solutions. This also had a positive effect on employees, giving them ‘permission to
innovate’ while ‘removing internal stifling’. The respondent referred to co-creation as ‘not just a
process, but a cultural shift’ which warrants time to build and optimise.
Senior Vice President for Sustainability at an FMCG company
Reported that co-creation has improved investor:organisation relations by involving
stakeholders more widely in important decisions, helping to garner further investment.
10. 10
2.8. The potential downsides and mitigation
A number of respondents mentioned that co-creation often requires significant time investment to
create the desired cultural shift. While rapid innovation in sustainability (and responsibility) may be
desirable in order to adapt to pressing global needs, few alternative communication approaches may
be able to deliver results as accurately and quickly as co-creation. In our experience too, embedding
culture change is never a quick or simple process, but it can be accelerated by the managed
involvement of key stakeholders, and most notably employees. Hopefully, further long-term
international experience of co-creation and the open sharing of case studies will facilitate improved
approaches and learning.
Co-creation can also create an open forum for people to complain about or raise issues with an
organisation – for example, a recent survey showed that 65% of UK citizens believe social media are
a better way to communicate with companies than call centres (BBC News, 2012). In effect, co-
creation – especially when operated through social media – provides a simple way of surfacing
issues, some of which may be totally apparent, some not so. But, given the growing inability of
organisations to manage and even influence social media and public/media comment, and the speed
at which this now spreads, it may be preferable for a caring modern organisation to tease this
information out itself through co-creation, rather than let it fester or be broadcast without their
control. We therefore recommend that, before a co-creation strategy is even considered, an
organisation should investigate how best to react to any potential issues, negative or positive,
through detailed scenario planning. All information is important and some provides useful learning
opportunities as well as innovative ideas.
In addition to less-welcome comment, co-creation in the public arena can encourage participation by
communities that may not always be helpful. Intervention by competitors and lobby groups may
artificially skew results, or provide misleading data. Careful design of co-creation strategies should
The value of co-creation (continued)
Head of Environment at a British media group
Described how the organisation uses co-creation to create environmentally-friendly initiatives,
based on customer views. An example outcome is the partnership the organisation has with the
WWF to save an area of rainforest.
Private Sector Advisor to an international confederation of charities
Stated that co-creation helped refresh communication within its organisation. Co-creation
facilitated both formal and informal consultation with employees, and provided dependable
communication channels for fast and accurate idea generation.
Sustainability Communications Manager at a global bank
Used co-creation throughout a five-year climate partnership with a $100 million budget, which
resulted in collaboration between scientists and employees to create the world’s largest forest
research project. It led to an extensive database of research: 74 businesses and cities created
partnerships to drive low-carbon growth, and policy changes have been brought about in China,
India, Brazil and the UK. Furthermore, over 50 million people were involved through its parallel
publicity campaigns, 32 million more people now have access to cleaner water than before the
project, and three million hectares of forest have been protected. It was viewed as a highly
successful means of engaging a wide body of employees: 63,250 volunteered throughout the
partnership, and 2,267 employees are now Climate Champions, who have been trained to
minimise their impact on the environment and educate others.
- Finally, a global manufacturing company said it had used co-creation with customers to identify
improvements to its products and services, and an internal think-tank had used it to draft
research reports.
11. 11
minimise the potential for negative interference, and organisations might be best advised to start
from a more manageable, internal level. In addition, detailed analysis of feedback and sense-
checking should reveal most partisan views, and organisations can now use simple and inexpensive
data-mining technology to either review all social media reports about their activities and actions or
benchmark co-creation results.
One further potential criticism, which is balanced by the fact that it’s good to talk to the people who
know and care most about your organisation and its activities, is that co-creation may be ‘preaching
to the converted’, or only attracting those already interested in a particular topic. In certain
instances, however, the latter may be desirable if the organisation is keen to pinpoint an issue or
particular audience due its depth of knowledge, and to ensure high-quality input quickly. A good
example of the latter is provided by Unilever’s Sustainability Lab, which certainly benefited from
appealing for experts in sustainability to participate, and probably required less editorial intervention
as a result.
However, as the use and popularity of social media and its potential to influence organisational
behaviour and action increase, audience participation will become far more representative than any
equivalent form of market or stakeholder research. Data shows that 80% of all online users regularly
interact with social networking sites (McKinsey Global Institute, 2012) although the online presence
in emerging economies and developing countries tends to be less consistent. Therefore, it may be a
while before these techniques can be used effectively in developing countries. However, the
accelerating use of smartphones may help to alleviate this problem as they are more accessible to
people in developing countries than PCs; it is predicted that, by 2015, 50% of consumers will have
smartphones globally (McKinsey Global Institute, 2012).
Finally, we would observe that the more organisations take up co-creation and for longer, the harder
it will be to manage the downstream process as it is likely to become increasingly complex and multi-
channel. We would comment that, only by being early adopters – taking careful steps to explore co-
creation’s potential and undertaking detailed monitoring – will organisations build the capability and
experience to optimise this approach to dialogue with stakeholders. Professional communication
and marketing trade associations and academia should also be encouraged to take an active interest
in co-creation to ensure it remains optimised.
3. Conclusions and recommendations
Organisational sustainability and responsibility are complex subjects which require careful
management and communication. However, they both exhibit a strong fascination for a wide range
of stakeholders, especially customers/service users and employees. There is now strong evidence
that these key audiences want to participate in shaping and optimising the organisations they care
about, possibly work for too, and especially in the important areas of sustainability and
responsibility. This research endorses all these factors and shows co-creation to be a highly effective
and appropriate approach to engineering a community engagement model for tomorrow’s
organisations.
Co-creation harvests high-quality, relevant ideas, as their source is well aligned with the subject
need. Co-creation is differentiated from many other stand-alone research and communication
approaches through the sheer number and variety of stakeholders who may be included in this
dialogue about processes, products/services, behaviour and standards; it also illustrates the
spectrum of potential subject matter. Usually customers, and at times employees, have the
strongest input in co-creation. However, sustainability, due to its multi-faceted nature, needs many
more partners to be involved.
There are potential barriers and objections to effective co-creation, but many negative aspects can
be made positive through careful planning and management, as shown in section 2.8. Cost is not
likely to be an obstacle but more detailed cost:benefit and return-on-investment data is required.
And, if many organisations and experts believe sustainable action might plateau due to the lack of
individual engagement, this argues for pursuing co-creation sooner rather than later…
12. 12
4. Suggested next steps
We trust this report will encourage you to start co-creating for sustainability (and responsibility)
across your organisation, or at least investigate its use further. We believe co-creation will help
many diverse organisations create, share and test new concepts and innovative solutions to further
their sustainability quickly and with measured effort. Here are our suggestions on how you can make
co-creation work effectively for sustainability:
A. Join and participate in the emerging co-creation-for-sustainability communities and learn from
other early adopters. Share your thoughts and concerns to practice co-creation now!
B. Take simple steps – start with straightforward subject matter and try your best to delineate
your audience. Use co-creation as an education and awareness-making tool, as well as a way
to capture new ideas for your organisation: this way everyone benefits from participation.
Consider synthesising the different subject areas into an evolving, online resource for
participants.
C. Work out your overall objectives, desired outcomes, budget and timeframe carefully and set
up the right project team. Think through your media utilisation strategy – what do you have in
your hand, what might you access, develop? Face-to-face communication is always more
effective internally; if you desire greater contact with your customers or suppliers, online
communication might be more effective.
D. Invest in sufficient resources for the scale of your ambitions: co-creators might not be so ready
to get engaged in the future if their ideas have been ignored for no stated reason. It may be
that you pledge to take only three of the best ideas forward. If so, communicate to your
participants who won, what their idea was and why it was more suitable than others.
E. Plan the scenarios that may emerge and how you might handle the dialogue – positive and
negative. You can build on criticism and use it too to inform your strategy.
F. Engage the right people. Think outside the box about who has a vested interest in helping you
develop your sustainability strategy and activities. This might include competitors or non-
governmental organisations that you may have previously considered a high-risk partner –
make sure senior decision-makers know what you are planning first and consult the right
colleagues internally upfront. You may also need to work with a partner organisation (or
competitor on an industry-wide issue or solution?) to generate greater awareness of the
project and depth. Sustainability is a challenge which all organisations (and individuals) face,
so sharing your experiences with a concerned community might enhance all the outcomes.
G. Understand what motivates your people to get involved in co-creation exercises. Is it
developing an enhanced organisation, better-aligned culture/behaviours, a stronger
community interface, or what? Build on this.
H. Encourage participants to use their own knowledge of energy, water, raw material and other
resource use/management, safety, health and environmental factors and general perceptions
of their work-, home- or business-space. Work out how you can use this information to your
mutual advantage and maintain the dialogue through pilots and project renewal – perhaps
mutually agreed targets? The individual has the detailed knowledge which you wish to surface
– great ideas come from within and can often be spectacularly obvious. Make it clear that you
will value and action all contributions, even if one action is only to show why a certain solution
is a non-starter.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank everyone who contributed to this research for donating their time and sharing their
expertise and experiences. Every effort has been made to guarantee the personal and corporate
anonymity of participants and non-participants. Thanks to Good Measures for the opportunity to
conduct this research, and a huge thank-you to Katherine, Tom & Tim and for all your help and
support with this fascinating – and sometimes challenging – project.
Catriona Brady, St Andrews, Scotland – 10 October 2012
13. 13
Introducing Good Measures
Good Measures is a sustainability and corporate social responsibility consultancy specialising in the
use of new tools, methods and technologies to assist our clients with the development of new
solutions and innovations to engage their people. We primarily focus on employee engagement, the
research and communication of sustainability & responsibility and measurement technology. This is
why co-creation particularly interests us.
Our overall aim is to develop world-class employee-led CSR and sustainability strategies.
We work with our clients to improve their overall sustainability and responsibility performance and
maximise the potential that exists for cost reduction and enhanced employee engagement. Working
alongside our clients’ in-house teams, we seek to ensure organisation-wide buy-in to achieve five
critical benefits: smarter processes, reduced environmental impact, reduced costs, more engaged
people and an enhanced brand. Equally important, to ensure a successful outcome, we help you to
develop programmes which fit your organisational culture and ambitions.
Our work often involves the development of intelligent communication techniques, including co-
creation, to engage internal audiences and wider stakeholders. Recognising that all organisations
comprise people who actively support sustainability and responsibility, as well as many who are less
committed, we have developed communication methods to address the whole spectrum of
employees with a view to creating a more engaged workforce. We use practical solutions, often
based on personal action plans (PAPs) which may use technology in their delivery, or be physical
activities taking place in the workplace. Using co-creation techniques, we listen and talk to your
stakeholders and maximise the use of their knowledge and ideas to enhance your sustainability
programme. We also engage wider stakeholders using these techniques or through the use of
crowd-sourcing. Our aim is to make everyone around your organisation see sustainability and
responsibility as part of their day-to-day commitment and role, not just that of the sustainability
team.
If you’d like more information, to contribute feedback or participate further in our work on co-
creation for sustainability, please contact Tim Roberts, Katherine Rusack or Kevin Spring:
email: info@good-measure.com
London office: +44 (0) 20 7836 5732
US office: +1 612 396 3873
Twitter: good_measures
www.good-measures.com
41 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9HG
United Kingdom
14. 14
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15. 15
Appendix A – survey methodology
An integrated methodology was used for this study. Data was gathered by setting up an online
questionnaire, interviewing key figures from a range of industries by telephone, and analysis of
tertiary sources. The online questionnaire was set up on a public domain and circulated to strategic
contacts with a request to be passed on. This snowball sampling strategy was aided by publishing
several online articles about the research project on public sustainability forums. These respondents
represented 79% of the total. Phone interviews, representing 21% of respondents, were carried out
with strategically selected and prominent figures in a variety of industries, and usually experts in
sustainability.
The response rate for the questionnaire was just under 10%, with the response rate for phone
interviews less than 5%. A total of 22 organisations, representing over 1,040,000 employees globally,
gave detailed responses to either the online questionnaire or telephone interview. The period of
research gathering was five weeks in June - July 2012. The low response rate may, in part, be
attributed to the short research phase conducted during a busy summer period which coincided with
a number of major events in the UK – in particular, the Golden Jubilee and the London 2012
Olympics. Although the total number of organisations surveyed is lower than originally hoped, the
depth and detail of questioning, quality of information provided and wide variety of industries
researched strengthens the value of the results. There was also considerable consistency in the
information and views harvested.
The organisations participating in this research were drawn from a wide variety of sectors and
industries including legal, industrial, NGOs/non-profit research, local government, media, financial,
retail, high-technology, consumer products and medical care.