Mallen Baker considers some communication pitfalls, and how to avoid them

Corporate social responsibility is best told in stories.

That's what a case study is - a story based on something good that has been done.

Companies tell their own stories in their CSR reports. Others tell them about others to promote their consultancies, or to simply encourage best practice.

But most case studies fail.

They fail because they neglect some very basic rules that prevent them from working as stories.

Below is a list of some of the most common things that are often done, that you really should avoid in writing case studies.

1. General claims as to the company's ethics. For example: "Company X sees CSR as central to how it does business". I read such sentences with impatience and irritation. Why? For a start, it is almost never true as written. It is a platitude. And it is lazy case study writing.

2. Companies making decisions. For example: "Company Y realised that more needed to be done, so it decided to implement a new community programme". No, it didn't. Real people - flesh and blood human beings did. I am so much more interested in case studies that talk about how Joe, the site engineer, realised that money was being lost and set about persuading the site management to implement changes. He had to overcome some resistance, and this is how he did it.

Such case studies are so much more helpful for the Joes of the world to gain sense and inspiration from others that have helped to create change in their organisations.

3. Giving the most general descriptions of what was done. The whole point of case studies is to inspire others to possibly learn from best practice, and to have a go at doing it themselves. If you don't tell them what you actually did, that's pretty unlikely.

4. Covering up all the mistakes. OK. Maybe you're perfect. Maybe you got it right first time - every single aspect. But I doubt it, because that would make you so much more remarkable than any other organisation I've ever worked with. The fact is that people will learn better from case studies that are open about what obstacles had to be overcome, and what mistakes had to be learnt from. Getting this kind of really useful information from companies can be frustrating to say the least.

5. Neglecting to mention the outcome. So, how do we know that this is a case study of best practice, as opposed to a case study of a colossal waste of time? The two look identical, unless you can show some concrete evidence of success. How did the company set goals for what it was about to do? And what are the figures that show that it has met those goals?

6. Finishing the story with a full stop. Most themes relating to a company's CSR are open-ended - the journey never stops. Why write case studies on the basis that it's all finished and done? Why not try to engage the reader in what comes next? Make them interested enough to want to know what happens next. Or are you afraid that the next step won't deliver?

7. Speaking in corporate jargon of any sort, or using dense academic language. A case study is a story. If you want it to be read, and acted upon, then keep the language simple and don't put barriers up in front of your audience. Use a tool like the Gunning Fog Index to check how complicated your language is. The Economist aims for a score of 12 (which represents the reading age you would need to be to understand that text). CSR case studies usually kick in at anything between 15 to 25.

In summary: The kind of narrative that makes for a tedious case study.

"Company X thinks that xxxx is an important issue. Therefore it decided to take action, and has implemented a community programme. It did xxx things in the community, and lots of employees were seen to be getting involved."

That may sound ridiculous, but compare it structurally to case studies you most often see.

First published on Mallen Baker's blog at http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/post.php?id=300. Reproduced with kind permission.



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