Sing it! The risks of silence. The power of story.

GoodSense delivered the executive workshop ‘Sing it!’ on Tuesday 25th August 2026 at Sustainable Brands Ōtautahi. This post summarises the workshop process and content. We’ll shortly be publishing the workshop insights with Sustainable Brands.

The workshop was delivered over breakfast. While participants ate, GoodSense facilitators shared examples of greenhushing, asked participants to reflect on cases they may know of, then contextualised the session with the UN categorisation of climate disinformation, misinformation and with key findings from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue report presented at COP 26 on the sources of climate disinformation.

GoodSense also introduced Kantar Better Futures 2026 research that shows 87% of New Zealanders think businesses should take responsibility for their environmental and social impact, and over half think the way businesses talk about their social and environmental commitments is dishonest.

The risks of greenhush

This was tabled by GoodSense alongside a classification of the risks of green hush, developed by GoodSense and validated with participants at the Sustainable Business Network Masterclass in Communicating Sustainability, March 2026. This categorises the risks of greenhush as intrinsic; shrinking the social licence for brands, slowing change and compounding climate grief – and extrinsic; sacrificing sales, exposing Directors and compromising certifications.

Participants were encouraged to consider how this broader landscape might influence their internal processes, while the scientific imperative for strong climate action becomes ever greater.

The barriers to communicating

A few of the barriers to communicating sustainability raised by participants

Once the dishes were cleared, the GoodSense facilitators asked participants to note the barriers to communicating sustainability action each of their organisations or sectors faced. “What, for their organisation or sector, is getting in the way of saying more?” After individual work, participants shared the barriers they had noted with their table groups and discussed the overlaps and differences.

Committing to action

In the last section of the workshop, the GoodSense facilitators introduced their roadmap for developing an effective sustainability story for a brand, characterised as an ‘anthem’, made the case that for effective change not only must individual brands show progress but they need to work with allies to form a ‘choir’ communicating in tune for their sector. They then invited participants to commit to an action they would take after the workshop. “What will you do to develop a clearer anthem in your organisation?  Or to start a choir in your sector?” Participants shared their intended actions, an approach proven to improve the likelihood of them following through.  Participants were also invited to remove any comments they had noted before their contributions were handed over to GoodSense and to opt out of this summary.

The insights have been captured and synthesised by GoodSense Founding Director, Katherine Dewar. We’ll add a link to them when they are published.

Who took part

Participants in the workshop work in CEO, sustainability lead or operational roles across 25 organisations spanning 13 sectors; Agriculture, Fashion, Financial services, Food & Beverage, Health, Homewares, Conservation, Property, Science, Sustainability services, Technology, Textiles and Tourism.  Our thanks to the participating team members from the 25 organisations.

We thank mana whenua Ngāi Tūāhuriri of the iwi Ngāi Tahu for welcoming the hui to their land.

These insights were developed through the GoodSense workshop at Sustainable Brands Ōtautahi 2026, delivered by co-hosts Ōtautahi Christchurch and Latitude and made possible because of event sponsors Silver Fern Farms, HP, Tonkin + Taylor, Proxima, Future-Fit Aotearoa, EcoChoice, Aotearoa, Assure Quality, NZ China Council, Asia New Zealand Foundation and supporters &BLOOM, Great Journeys New Zealand, Sudima Hotels, Contented, KPMG and Manaaki Kaimai Mamaku.

Get in touch

To talk about any of the content or process above, or the issues raised please get in touch today. We’re here to help.