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A big challenge: Being a Sustainability / CSR professional at Shell

January 27th, 2010 - 5:21 pm

Imagine you are working for Shell in the Sustainability / CSR department and you really want to make a difference by showing that Shell is a responsible company. Todays post is about the challenges someone working at Shell might face. This is all from the viewpoint of a normal Shell stakeholder such as myself. I have also included a video response with some additional aspects to consider.

The Sustainability / CSR professional working at Shell as far as we can tell is facing the following situation at the moment:

Worsening reputation: Shells reputation with regards to Sustainability / CSR is not good. After being seen as leaders some years ago they are now being perceived as just putting a lot of money in their communication

shell logo A big challenge: Being a Sustainability / CSR professional at ShellLack of Sustainability / CSR innovation: Over the last few years Shell have not really convinced on the content and implementation side through innovation at all. This might be the consequence of not being leaders anymore combined with a lack of aspiration for bringing their reporting and best practice onto the next level. But where has this enthusiasm for innovation gone?

Perceived indifferent corporate culture: From what we can see outside as a stakeholder is that the corporate context and culture itself at Shell does not fully go hand in hand with their Sustainability / CSR messaging. I have no prove of that obviously but from we can interpret from press releases, other communications and article about Shell this seems to be the case. Here are three examples which just show how conflicting Shells messaging is at the moment:

So what should or can this employee do to change things for the better?

I believe that these following points are some aspects the Sustainability / CSR professionals at Shell need to consider to kick start their Sustainability / CSR innovation process again:

  • Stop shouting so loud about what you do. More PR does not mean that you are being perceived better in the long run. Less is more for Shell at the moment in my opinion.
  • Only communicate when you have something to say. This might be an obvious point but there is nothing more damaging when you have message and this message is being perceived as green-washing.
  • Spend at least 80% of your time now lobbying the senior management to increase the importance of your department and for you to get more leverage for future policy influencing.

I have also prepared a short video response on what I think Shell could do better:

Shell has been one of the innovators in the Sustainability / CSR field in the past and they can be again. Others like Centrica, Timberland and Intel have taken that position now. What happened to the Shell we saw several years ago?

As always please let me know what you think and whether you agree or disagree.

Related posts:

  1. Think outside the box: The question of Sustainability and CSR Innovation
  2. Social Media and Stakeholder Engagement: The times are changing
  3. Elements of Trust for the Sustainability and CSR professional on the Web
  4. The Top 5 Sustainability News Stories This Week – 02.09.2008
  • Milan
    Thanks Fabian for your insight. It seems that Shell has a big mouth, like other oil majors (work for one).
    Are you aware of Shell Center for Sustainability at Rice University, and do employees know about this center? I was wondering if the center is only Shell's tool in marketing campaign.
  • Thanks for the comment. I am not so sure whether employees know the center. This is the link to their website: http://shellcenter.rice.edu/

    It looks as if they only provide the money for the center not more really. Which is a shame.
  • They main issues are really around Shell's core operation and the differential between what they are saying and what they are actually doing. Their comms feels a little desperateand shallow at times, which could actually be a negative result of passionate people trying to over-compensate poor practice by pushing strong emotional content.

    Passion is a double edged sword as it can blinker logic and common sense (another scarce commodity). Like yourelf Fabian, I too am all for encouraging passionate employees to stimulate productivity and creativity, but like everything else in life it's about balance.

    Companies with predominantly extractive operations will face increasingly challenging operational conditions as the supply of finite resources such as oil, coal, gas and minerals begins to diminish.

    From oil sands, Nigerian communities and to Artic drilling rights. Their controlled communication messages have recently been at odds with their uncontrolled, widely reported actions.
  • Thanks for the comment David. I like your concept about balance. I did not think it about this in this way so far. Thanks for sharing this viewpoint.
  • Thanks for your comments James and Mark. Here is my response.
    @James: I like the devils advocate stance. Makes it even more interesting. I believe that passion is what keeps people motivated and innovative. Without passion we would all just stay at home and be only half human. If even that. This is even more important in the Sustainability / CSR sector. I think then your points of sincerity, authenticity, responsiveness and agility are just consequences/results of your passionate work.
    @Mark: I absolutely agree. Slogans and spin can actually harm a companies Sustainability / CSR activities very badly in my experience.
  • Your second point above is important Fabian, as companies often create CSR campaigns as though they were marketing campaigns. They settle on a message and go to work, rather than waiting until they truly have something important to say.

    I've always felt that a strong brand is one that has something to say, rather than simply relying on the repetition of slogans or stories full of spin.
  • Katelyn
    Well, what about the companies that do socially responsible work as part of their core operating rhythm and mentalities. I feel a strong brand is one that has something to say, but doesn't do CSR for the sake of "having something to say".
  • Good point Katelyn, CSR should not be contrived to placate the public and form the basis of a PR campaign, but instead should exist at the core of how a business operates.
  • jamesfarrar
    Fabian .. good blog post and like your integration of a short video add on. I wanted to play devil's advocate on this one -- why is it so important for Shell or anyone to be 'passionate'. Personally sometimes I also prefer the dispassionate as well as a strategic approach to sustainability.

    If I have to choose priorities -- above everything else I want transparency and I want sincerity & authenticity and I also want responsiveness & agility.

    With those three conditions in place ALL stakeholders can engage and orient their relationship with the company. Passion alone doesn't necessarily empower or engage me as a stakeholder.
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