We often tell you what you should and shouldn’t say when you communicate about CSR.

But that’s not all to consider – it’s also important to think about when to communicate.

In general, there are three possibilities for when to communicate:

Walking to talk

Taking this approach means that you carry out CSR actions first, and then you communicate about what you’ve done and your results afterwards.

This means that communication is used for reporting on past actions.

The benefit of this approach is that it gives you legitimacy - you don’t simply give empty promises, you achieve results.

The risk, however, is greenhushing.

Your results may not be acceptable, or you’re afraid of overestimating your results and being accused of greenwashing, so you stay quiet about your efforts.

 Talking to walk

The second approach does it the other way around.

Here, you communicate about your goals and initiatives first, and then you act.

Communication then becomes aspirational talk about future actions.

The benefit of this is that external forces may pressure and encourage you to be more ambitious than in the former approach.

But you also risk setting yourself up for failure, either because the goals are impossible to reach or because you have to push your employees or suppliers too hard.

Furthermore, authorities and the public focus a lot on companies that communicate goals without a plan for how they can achieve them.

If this is the case, you can be accused of greenwashing – promising to do better, but not really doing anything. 

T(w)alking

The final approach is “simply” doing it at the same time – saying what you do and doing as you say.

Choosing this means that your communication helps shape your actions, and your actions help you with what you can say.

The benefit is that you get the chance to give a context to your actions as you go along.

You can also adjust your goals and initiatives and explain why.

Most importantly, communicating consistently creates transparency and more openness, which will make you seem more trustworthy.

Communicating your actions and intentions to your stakeholders in the right way, at the right time, and in the right place should not be underestimated.

But it’s important to put your money where your mouth is.

So, to avoid accusations of greenwashing, it is a good idea to start acting before you declare your big and ambitious goals to the world.

Source: Schoeneborn, D., Morsin, M. & Crane, A. (2020). Formative Perspectives on the relation between CSR communication and CSR practices: Pathways for walking, talking, and t(w)alking. Business & Society, 59(1), 5-33.