While researching an article on corporate sustainability for the Baylor Business Review, I came across a framework for crafting sustainability strategies that also serves as strong guidance for GRC strategy-setters.

Nicholas Eisenberger, managing principal of GreenOrder, described his firm’s “CRED” rubric:

Credibility: Why should anyone believe us?

Relevance: How can we leverage sustainability to create value?

Effective Messaging: How can we translate complex data into compelling messages?

Differentiation: Do we have unique goals and achievement?

Substitute “GRC” for “sustainability” in the relevance category above, and the framework can help those leading GRC initiatives. “You have to think about communicating what you’re doing and why,” says Eisenberger about the importance of effective messaging, “in ways that people want to hear and can perceive value from.”

Cultivating credibility inside the company is vital for sustainability and GRC efforts – especially right now. As the head of compliance for a top computer maker embarking on a massive GRC effort told me last month, other functions and departments are overwhelmed with adjusting to the economy right now so the “argument for why [the GRC initiative] benefits them and the company has to be real and compelling.”

I’ll share more approaches on how to make that real and compelling argument soon.