Annual report secrets: helping relations with publics
By Craig on Mar 16, 2010 in Blog guests & critiques, interviews, Communication tactics, Public relations
In this, the first of a two part series, Laura Fayers-Pooley provides practical tips for using annual reports as communication good, not evil. The first part of this series looks at getting your annual report house in order. Part two will focus on how to make an annual report a great PR tool.
If you can get past the statutory and legal requirements, annual reports can be an extremely effective weapon in the strategic public relations arsenal.
But before you turn what is potentially a blight on the PR communication calendar for many in-house practitioners into this ‘strategic weapon’, discipline must be instilled amongst the troops, expectations articulated and seniority used as an motivational tool of serious strategic import.
PR professional, Laura Fayers
Mandatory annual report requirements
Regardless of whether you are based in a corporate, not-for-profit, or commercial in house function, annual reporting is something many PR pros will be required to contribute to, supervise or outsource at some stage in your career.
The first thing you need to do is find out the mandatory requirements and inclusions for your organisation. Don’t take it on faith that the person responsible for last year’s annual report (AR) did their homework correctly, or that the ground rules haven’t shifted in the last 12 months.
When I managed the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) annual report, I had to comply with a raft of Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet requirements for Australian Government agencies. These ranged from the physical size of the AR itself and inclusions such as a Ministerial letter, key performance indicators and financial statements, right through to our intended date of tabling in Parliament. ASX-listed companies, of course, have their own hurdles to jump through.
Every industry and organisation type will have its own essential requirements and your AR will never be a great publication in its own right unless you get these basics right.
There is no point having award-winning design and captivating writing if you deliver the wrong number of unbound copies to the Parliamentary Library or forget to include your corporate governance information.
Project plan and timeline
Devise a detailed project plan and timeline for compiling your report, including details of:
- how you will source information
- who is responsible for providing first drafts of material
- internal sign off responsibilities and timing.
Work backwards from the due date of your report and make sure you include time for printing, public holidays and a few days’ grace here and there to accommodate unexpected delays. Make sure you get senior management sign off and buy-in for your plan by seeking feedback, and support, on your approach.
I recommend finalising your draft plan three months prior to the end of your reporting year. Then kick off your first AR project meeting two months before the reporting year finishes. At ANSTO we had a 30 June end of financial year, so held our first meeting just after Easter.
Working with annual report suppliers
If outsourcing, select your contractors carefully. ARs are involved and time consuming. You don’t want to be left to select wallflower consultants from the best of a bad bunch because you left it too late. You’ll need to consider a number of issues and elements.
Writer or editor. In my experience, it is more important to employ a writer who is familiar with your industry than someone who is an expert in writing annual reports.
Designer. Write a comprehensive brief, ask for a quote upfront and ensure they have agreed to deliver the design according to your project plan:
- Double check they will handle print management and liaison, but check how much they’ll charge for this
- Make sure you ask how many hours of author’s corrections are included in their quote and what their rate is for additional corrections
- Ensure you’ve selected someone you can work with easily. It may even be worth using a small job as a test run. You’ll be spending a lot of time together over the next few months, so you need a good working relationship.
Printer. Use a printer experienced in producing annual reports. Your designer should be able to recommend several. Book your print timeslot ahead of schedule to ensure you make your own production deadline.
A good proof-reader. This can either be someone internal who is a stickler for grammar, or a professional proof-reader. At ANSTO, our AR writer recommended a great proofer on hourly rates. Don’t do it yourself or leave it to your writer – you need someone with fresh eyes and the ability to ensure that all the terms are understandable to the everyday reader.
An indexer who will also conduct a second proofing as a value-add:
- This job is a pain and should only be tackled by professionals
- The legal industry has plenty, and I found Puddingburn Publishing particularly good.
Be ruthless with deadlinesDon’t let anything come between you and making the deadlines on your project plan. Be ruthless. Escalate issues sooner rather than later.
You are relying on people who view the annual report as a tedious chore and one that is not meaningful to their role. Make their job as easy as possible and yours will be easier too.
Hold an introduction meeting and invite everyone involved in producing the report. Share your project plan.
Provide copies of text from previous years as a basis for updating (but not replicating!) their sections.
Avoid overwhelming people. Only send the information relevant to their section. Be crystal clear about deadlines:
- No matter how long they have had to supply initial content, send a personalised email reminder four days before the deadline
- Then chase people as soon as their deadline has passed
- Don’t be afraid to copy managers and executive into emails.
Get personal assistants onside. They manage their boss’s calendar and know senior management time demands. Their help will make sourcing information and acquiring sign off much easier.
Don’t let busy people hold off the sign off process. And make sure you cover yourself (i.e. your butt).
In ANSTO’s case, the only people who could really delay sign off were the highest levels of executive leadership and the Minster’s Department. With everyone else, an email request for a read receipt and the following phrase becomes invaluable: “Unless I hear from you by XXX date, I will assume you have signed off on this text.”
Summary
Employ these three golden rules of annual reporting and you will have built a solid foundation for a great report.
Laura’s next post will look at turning an annual report into a great communication tool, but until then it would be excellent to hear your tips for getting the basics right. Do you agree with what Laura said? Do you have any other perspectives on getting senior management involved and/or using them as a mechanism to frighten employees into compliance?
Laura Fayers-Pooley is an account manager at Fenton Communications. She manages clients across Fenton’s sustainability, infrastructure, justice and professional services specialisations. She knows about annual reporting because prior to joining Fenton she was Public Affairs Coordinator at ANSTO, where she managed the production of publications including the annual report and corporate social responsibility report.
PS. I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!
Craig- My congrats on hosting Laura’s blog on annual reports. I am a veteran of over twenty annual reports and her guidance is great- with one exception. I never outsourced the writing of it to an external, simply because outsiders never could understand the industry and my organisation’s position in it to a satisfactory level. As the annual report is the keystone of your stakeholder communciation, it is SO precious a resource that handing it over to a third party is fraught with danger. In my experience, organisations that did that ended up with “pretty books” that did not link in or reinforce the rest of the corporate communications strategy. As the annual report will be scrutinised by stakeholders for consistency with all the rest of the communication, outsourcing is a dangerous route- in my opnion. I teach second year undergraduates for five weeks worth of corporate reporting, culminating in their drafting of a Chairman and Chief Executive’s statements for the next annual report. This blog and its successor will be required reading!
Catherine Sweet | Mar 16, 2010 | Reply
Catherine, you are the only PR professional I have ever heard say the annual report is so critical to stakeholder communication. It would be great to hear you extrapolate on this, either in the comments section or in an entirely seperate post which I am happy to feature on this humble blog!
I have a feeling you might have some great insights and a unique perspective to share. Thanks for the comments.
Craig | Mar 17, 2010 | Reply
These are terrific guidelines to get the AR process off on the right foot.
I’d add one important aspect.
Many international companies need to produce their AR in two or more languages – a PR opportunity that should be leveraged. Reputations are not a monolingual affair!
Typically, the translation phase is tagged on at the end of the project. While weeks (months?) will have been spent getting the source text just right, adapting it to another language with its own culture, targets and objectives, rarely benefits from the same level of commitment. The end result is often sub par.
Bringing your translator(s) – better yet, your foreign language copy writer(s) – in at the start of the word food chain and integrating them into your project team is critical.
The benefits are clear and include:
- Native copy is superior to the best translation.
- A document’s “translatability” is no longer an issue.
- Translation pitfalls are avoided.
- Project phases are reduced, saving precious time (and thus money).
Patricia Lane | Mar 17, 2010 | Reply
Terrific value-adding, Patricia. This isn’t an aspect many communicators would think of so a useful lateral perspective. I wonder, do you think value can be added through the translation process, as well as making sure value isn’t lost? And if so, how?
Craig | Mar 17, 2010 | Reply
Absolutely! Good question, Craig.
I’ll bullet list some, if that’s OK — it’ll reign me in from writing a book on this
Bringing your linguist in at the start of the project ensures:
- Thinking “international” and “intercultural” from the outset, which:
a) Avoids the use of untranslatable terms and expressions
b) Ensures that the source copy will be well-received by non-native speakers of that language who are from another culture
c) Determines what needs to be adapted for foreign copy and what does not (mandatory local requirements differ – do you need to translate everything?)
d) Ensures the graphic design and visuals are appropriate for foreign audiences
- Allows your foreign language pros to have the same degree of understanding about the company’s stakes, goals, strategy,identity and *voice* as the rest of the team, which
a) Lets them see the big picture (“context” is a professional translator’s absolute favorite word)
b) Advise the company on the best way to communicate these key messages to foreign cultures and stakeholders whose communication styles and information requirements can differ significantly (ex: high context v. low context cultures)
c) Adapt the structure of the foreign language version to those foreign norms
d) Help the source language writers communicate clearly (often, a source text is improved thanks to the translator’s requests for clarification — when that happens at the tail-end of the project, then what? Let the source text remain unclear or reprint?)
- Reduces the number of project phases
Professional translators partner with their clients and play an important advisory role. Their deep understanding of both the source language and culture and the target language and culture enables them to add value to corporate communication endeavors and promote (and protect) a company’s image internationally.
Have you guessed? This is a topic I’m rather passionate about
Patricia Lane | Mar 17, 2010 | Reply
Patricia, thank you for your insightful suggestion and rationale. I will certainly include these ideas in my next post, which is coming soon!
I’d be interested to know if you agree with Catherine that, “the annual report is the keystone of your stakeholder communication”.
Do you think this is only true for publicly listed companies?
Laura Fayers-Pooley | Mar 18, 2010 | Reply
Great article Laura, and systematic good advice.
Having worked on ARs as an inhouse communicator and as a freelance writer success is about allowing plenty of time to get the key messages of each AR right, and to allow everyone involved in the process to understand these messages in good time.
In writing and editing as a hired gun, I know that a solid brief will do much to avoid the hazard of losing your organisation’s edge and differentiators.
Likewise it is critical that the AR project is fully owned by someone in the organisation. Too often it falls into a gap somewhere between comms, finances and executive, and ends up being a corporate hot potato rather than the essential document it is.
The benefits of having someone who is not as close to the organisation, who can see things with a perspective closer to that of shareholder, media, layperson, should outweigh the danger of an unsupervised outsourced writer taking the AR in new and unhelpful directions.
ARs are a lot of work but, done well, they are intrinsic to building successful organisations and have a much longer life than most other communications pieces.
Lea Carswell | Mar 18, 2010 | Reply
@Laura
I’m not sure there can be a clear-cut universal answer to your question! Whether an AR is the keystone of a company’s stakeholder communication depends on …the company: whether it treats an AR as a terrific tool or major headache, who is involved in and represented by the AR (“Message from the President” only or also key messages from the rank and file), what its overall communication strategy and mix are the rest of the year, whether the latter tie into and leverage the AR or not, and so on.
From where I sit (and I read a lot of AR when doing research on prospective clients — or to develop specialized glossaries), an AR can be a pretty accurate reflexion of a company’s culture. Does it mesh with the mission/vision statements? Does the company seem to “walk the talk”?
We may be in an era of instant communications with stakeholders through social media. But what is printed lasts.
Patricia Lane | Mar 18, 2010 | Reply