Communication Strategies and Sustainability in Organizations

This report explores the critical link between communication and sustainability within organizations. It emphasizes the importance of effective communication channels, both internal and external, in fostering sustainable practices. The report discusses how communication builds relationships, encourages innovation, and builds effective teams. It highlights the role of transparency and fairness in building trust with consumers, which is essential for long-term sustainability. The report examines how organizations communicate sustainability activities, including the use of social media and formal channels like annual reports. It stresses the need for companies to adopt sustainable communication strategies, be transparent, and focus on positive aspects to maintain employee morale and customer loyalty. The conclusion underscores the significance of appropriate and effective communication channels, particularly social media, in reaching a broad audience and winning stakeholder trust.

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Aspects of communication that relate to sustainability
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Introduction
The question of sustainability in organizations has become a norm where most
organizations aspire to base their operations on sustainable levels to minimize unnecessary losses
that can occur due to communication loopholes. Siano et al, (2016) observe that communication
is a vital tool in ensuring that a company operates at a sustainable level. The choice of a
communication channel used during the process of communicating sustainability also needs to be
sustainable itself. Further, Siano et al (2016) identify that organizations have seen the need to
embrace digital communication platforms in order to determine a better evaluation of what
communication strategies to implement in order to ensure that it encourages sustainable
operations of the organization.
Genc (2016) states that communication, as far as sustainability is concerned, plays an
important role. For example, in order to plan and develop sustainable sustainability approach, it
is necessary that individuals express themselves both internally and externally by employing the
use of appropriate communication modes. Therefore, in order to build an effective
communication base, managers in an organization need to streamline the reception of any
communication to the receiver in an understandable manner which is considered simple, direct
and precise irrespective of whether it is orally communicated or written down.

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Why communication is important in a sustainability approach
Australian Institute of Business (2014), in their blog, note six reasons why
communication could be considered important in a business as far as sustainability is concerned.
Effective communication is a building block for relationship boost in the organization. It
encourages positivity between people even as they interact in the organization. A positively
interacting workforce is a motivated staff capable of upholding the company's aim at heart and
working to ensure that the main goals are achieved in a manner which is beneficial to the
organization, sustainable.
Secondly, an effective communication channel is a great facilitator of innovation. As
mentioned above, a motivated workforce will embrace innovation and come up with innovative
ideas that will make the company achieve goals and objectives sustainably without encouraging
losses of any nature.
Thirdly, effective communication builds an effective team which is all-around involved
in the company's undertakings without detraction. Australian Institute of Business (2014) note
that if open, clear, precise and concise communication is encouraged in an organizational setting,
it will encourage an eruption of a more adhesive workforce ready to work with each other to
ensure that the organization meets its aims sustainably.
Effective communication also is a base for managers to manage their teams effectively.
Being able to pass any relevant information to a team you manage or by assigning tasks and
responsibilities in a timely manner through proper communication channels will make your staff
to clearly understand what is required of them and not do the contrary. In response, managers
will have a good base for also giving feedback to their immediate staff regarding the

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performance of the task assigned and if possible determine an appropriate solution to the
deviations from the tasks. This is the beginning of a sustainability approach.
Australian Institute of Business (2016) also note that in regards to effective
communication, a company's growth is imminent and easy to evaluate. Consider marketing
strategies such as advertisements, if the channel of communication to the external partners is
inefficient, marketing will be affected, a good communication will ensure that what goes out in
terms of marketing reaches the target audience in the right manner. This will boost the customer
base and confidence hence the growth of the company to sustainable levels.
Lastly, effective communication encourages transparency and fairness. A regular
communication of relevant information to an organization's partner encourages transparency and
the company would also remain transparent. Consumers are keen about this, it helps the
company to build trust and to sell more products. Increase in trust and volume of sales is a step
towards sustainability.
Communicating Sustainability
Yeomans (2013) in his article “Communicating sustainability: the rise of social media
and storytelling” identify the critical role organizations are faced with when communicating their
sustainability activities, and the role social media plays in all. Yeomans (2013) further assert that
communicating sustainability is no longer a smallholder business affair but big companies are
coming in and seeking ways of communicating their sustainability approaches in an engaging yet
compelling manner to their large audiences.
Companies use the smart editorial approach in communicating their sustainability.
Alongside editorials, some companies have come up with games, applications, and maps in their

Aspects of communication that relate to sustainability 5
sustainability communication endeavor. Social media usage is also on the rise as it offers a big
base of meeting many consumers of the sustainability information.
Reilly and Larya (2018) identify that communication of sustainability activities to
external forces vary significantly across many organizations. There is variance in the use of
communication channels, the content to be communicated, and the frequency of such
communications may also vary. The variance in the channels, content, and frequency reflects on
the resource allocation and utilization priorities, the culture and the style of leadership in the
sustainability realm of that particular organization (Guziana and Dobers, 2012).
A company may choose to use both formal and informal channels of communicating
sustainability activities. The use of annual reports as an example of a formal channel is dominant
even though companies have started embracing the use of informal channel such as social media.
Twitter and Facebook form part of the largely used social media outlets. von Kutzschenbach and
Brønn, (2006) note that communication of sustainability requires a well-organized approach
which is systematic where all the activities of communication are directed towards the
achievement of high standards of understanding between the organization and the relevant
stakeholders about the reported issues. Finally, Genc (2017) further identifies that horizontal
communication of sustainability may take various forms such as interpersonal one-on-one or
face-to-face communication to controlled levels of mass communication.
Sustainability of the organization’s communication activities
Companies should focus effort on long-term communication activities that promote
sustainability while being able to sustain the chosen communication strategies (Rowe and
Bansal, 2013). Organizations should, therefore, be mindful of the choice of communication

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strategy it seeks to use in communicating its sustainability activities. The communication
channel in question should be one which relays information to the expected consumers of that
information in a simple, precise and understandable, yet remaining cheap in the long run.
Rabin (2018) proposes that a company should be timely in its communications both
internally and externally. Untimely communication activities where there is no particular
structure and base for communicating any activity will prove expensive in the long run hence
rendering the communication process unsustainable.
According to Graham-Rowe (2010), companies that seek to communicate sustainability
need to embrace transparency in doing so. The choice of a communication channel is critical in
doing so. Both the formal and informal communication channels need to be considered while
communicating sustainability activities. Of importance though according to Graham-Rowe
(2010) is the transparency in the means with which the communication is passed across. Failure
to be transparent while communicating sustainability activities will render the whole process of
communication expensive since wrong information shared to the partners both internally and
externally may not represent the true nature of the organization hence affect its operations. In so
doing, it shall have made the communication process inappropriate and expensive hence the
company shall not have ensured the sustainability of the communication activities.
Graham-Rowe (2010) also notes that for sustainable communication activities, managers
tasked with the act of communication process should ensure that while communicating
sustainability activities, there is need to engage and dwell on the positives of the sustainability
aspect and not the negative. Negative reports on sustainability approach kill the morale of the
internal environment which constitute the workforce. When demotivated, the workforce or staff

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will have a negative attitude towards their work and processes that in the long run will affect
output thereby affecting sustainability activities. For the external partners, negative reports will
kill the trust and particular affect customer loyalty which in effect will translate to say low sales
volume per unit of the organization's product or service. Communication sustainability will be
affected in the sense that; the company will stand the test of restructuring its communication
efforts to recommunicate the positive aspect of its sustainability activities which will need a
further adjustment in the available capital to carter for the re-communication of the sustainability
activity in a positive manner.
Conclusion
In conclusion therefore, it is vital for an organization when considering to communicate
sustainability activities to both its internal and external partners, to consider using appropriate
and effective communication channels that are sustainable in the long run and those that will
enable it to reach out to a large population of its partners for example social media platforms.
Also to consider is the act of remaining transparent and positive while communicating
sustainability activities as these will enable the organization to communicate relevant
information to the partners including its consumers and to win trust of all stakeholders without
having to run the loss due to inefficiency in relaying the information thus making both the
process and the actual product unsustainable.

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References
Australian Institute of Business (2014). 6 Reasons Why Effective Communication Should Be a
Focus in Your Business. [Blog] Australian Institute of Business. Available at:
https://www.aib.edu.au/blog/communication/6-reasons-effective-communication-focus-business/
[Accessed 23 Sep. 2018].
Genc, R. (2016). The Importance of Communication in Sustainability & Sustainable Strategies.
[ebook] Science Direct. Available at: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S2351978917300719/1-s2.0-
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2018].
Graham-Rowe, D. (2010). How to communicate sustainability. [online] the Guardian. Available
at: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/how-to-communicate-green-business
[Accessed 23 Sep. 2018].
Guziana, B. and Dobers, P. (2012). How Sustainability Leaders Communicate Corporate
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Rabin, E. (2018). Inside Out: Sustainability Communication Begins in the Workplace. [online]
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Reilly, A. and Larya, N. (2018). External Communication About Sustainability: Corporate Social
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Siano, A., Conte, F., Amabile, S., Vollero, A., and Piciocchi, P. (2016). Communicating
Sustainability: An Operational Model for Evaluating Corporate Websites. Sustainability, 8(9),
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