Why is GRI so much of a challenge? – Ben Vivian
November 19th, 2010Over the past few years, I have moved from deeply cynical in my views towards Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), to an advocate and user of the guidelines, to now someone who sees its value but is depressed at how impenetrable it is, even for someone like me who is supposed to by an expert.
Many standards are written by committee and as a result can be dense and overly concerned with interpretation. This can be a function of the nature of the audience, the breadth of the intended users or the lack of a clear objective for the standard or guidelines. Many companies will try very hard to do the minimum in order to achieve the ‘standard’ or the ‘guidelines’. In which case they end up having to play with the language, interpretation and detail in order to meet the requirement, whatever it is. If a company wants to set standards, make a difference and deliver potential commercial value they must, absolutely must go way beyond the minimum requirements.
It is a commonly held misconception that laws and standards set high levels of acceptable performance and behaviour. They do not and are not designed to set these levels; they are designed to set the base level of acceptable performance, the lowest common denominator. So when seeking to work at this level companies are for ever prevaricating and playing word or data games to edge slightly above the acceptable level.
If a company goes beyond the minimum standard then they set their own direction, performance criteria and values. The standard or legislation is left behind and becomes an irrelevancy. Embrace the direction and spirit of GRI or any other standard and you don’t need to worry about the detail or whether an auditor or verifier would challenge your interpretation. Your own approach sets a new, higher standard.
So why is GRI so impenetrable and such a challenge? The answer is simple – because if you design anything to set the lowest acceptable level then precision of language is crucial because a word out of place could mean than a company playing close to the edge won’t meet the standard. So keep it vague or dense and it is difficult to interpret.
If you go way beyond standards then you can leave behind the game of individual word definition and move into a more interesting realm. A realm for GRI, for example, that leads one into a genuine dialogue with stakeholders to create direction and away from a fear of hearing unpleasantness from people you don’t know and who don’t understand, trust and respect you. Away from the practice of some companies that do their materiality assessment without talking to a single external party.
So GRI and other standards are a challenge because most seek to meet the requirements – it won’t be a challenge when one goes beyond, way beyond. Those that criticise these standards do so because they are not prepared to push the boundaries and so are preoccupied by the words and loose sight of the vision.
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It is fantastic to leave a seminar feeling inspired and full of practical ideas. Thursday’s oomph seminar did exactly that, Ben and Dan are naturals at putting an audience at ease which meant real participation from the group. As environmental professionals often form a one person team, it is fantastic to share a room with like minded individuals from local businesses who have faced and tackled similar challenges and can offer insight and advice. Eagerly anticipating the next installment of Oomph!
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