Developing a Sustainability Mindset
Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself, but it is also an important element of a successful sustainability program
Look across many organizations, and you will see varying degrees of statements. We are empowering our employees to be the best version of themselves. We are helping our team unlock their potential. We believe in investing in our people, or through our employees, our organization excels. These are positive outlooks on the importance of our employees, but shouldn’t we have a similar cultural focus on embedding sustainability in our organizations as well?
I have said, and I have heard many of my colleagues say, that if we do our job right, we really shouldn’t need anyone directing sustainability. Every action that our organization takes should always consider the implications of our actions on people, on the planet, and on profit. It should become embedded in our culture; it is just the way we should do business. The decisions we make indicate that we have a broad understanding of the implications and impacts of our actions and our inaction. It essentially is the lens through which all decisions are made. Some might call it a long-term view or holistic thinking.
As ESG rises in importance amongst both investors and organizations, it is accompanied by a call for transparency and even third-party verification or certification, even assurance. To meet these tests, organizations will not be able to talk one way but act another. It will be uncovered and potentially with great reputational harm, perhaps even economic harm.
So how do we prepare our organizations to meet this challenge? How do we embed the culture necessary to confidently address stakeholders that their ESG interests are considered?
This is where the sustainability mindset comes in. It is a purposeful strategy to foster outcome-based decision-making. To encourage leaders to consider outcomes, not only financial but environmental and social as well.
In the Jeanne Bell and Steve Zimmerman book, “The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map to Make Strategic Decisions,” the authors lay out a case centered around helping non-profit organizations to consider the impacts of exceptional impact and financial viability.
This is displayed through the use of a basic metric tool:
While the book focuses on non-profits, I believe there are lessons to be learned by all organizations. The first of those is to understand what your organization does. What is its mission? While many spend a great deal of time developing mission statements, are they truly reflective of what the organization actually does?
Secondly, the authors challenge us to consider the impact of that mission. While a non-profit may measure this in terms of impact on the community, are there not metrics by which we measure our own organization’s impact as well? Perhaps it is market share or some other metric, but typically we have some metric by which we judge if our organizations are accomplishing their mission. However, remember an organization cannot achieve its mission long-term at the expense of the environment and people; it is not sustainable. So the impact consideration must also consider the impact on resources, communities, and planet as well as people, both internal and external.
Profit impact is a natural metric by which for-profit organizations also track performance, and most organizations can determine the profitability of their decisions.
The Matrix Map depicted is then used to evaluate your sustainability initiatives or, to be more specific, ESG initiatives.
Take, for example, an automobile manufacturer considering planting trees as a strategy to demonstrate their alignment with environmental responsibility. Planting trees potentially has a high impact on the environment. One might argue that they could also be considered positive emotionally to people, as many find viewing nature to be calming or soothing. For argument’s sake, let’s consider planting trees as having a high impact. Yet, the organization does not profit from this activity, directly perhaps even indirectly. One might even argue that the act appears to be more of a pr stunt than actually reducing impact. At best, the action would be placed in the top left quadrant. While not a bad idea, it may not align really with the companies best interests.
Another example may be a lighting retrofit, again high impact from the environmental lens (reduced energy consumption) and better lighting can enhance the feeling of security for people, but in this case, the activity also has the effect of decreasing cost through reduced electrical cost, so it is also a high-profit activity moving it to the top right portion of the matrix.
We are building a robust business case for the sustainability project, but what we are also doing is teaching our leaders to align vision and values. This same strategic planning exercise can be accomplished with non-sustainability-focused projects, and that is the ultimate goal, that every project considers the factors of impact and profit.
This is only one example of a tool that might be useful in developing the sustainability mindset. As we think about ways to embed a sustainability-minded culture, it may also be helpful to reflect on why sustainability programs fail. To help dive into this topic, let’s reference an article by KJ McCorry entitled: GREEN: The Top 9 Reasons Why Sustainability Initiatives Fail. The reasons she provided are as true today as they were when originally written:
Lack of Management Support: One of the biggest reasons initiatives fail is from lack of top management support. If the executives don’t think sustainability is important, then why would the other staff? You not only need the upper-level executive team support, but it is critical to have the CEO engaged also. As with any initiative, management support sets the tone for success.
Lack of Change Considerations: Sustainability involves making changes; changes to business operations, changes to the culture, changes to the way decisions are made. It is important to recognize that these are changes that not all staff may feel comfortable with and might even avoid or sabotage. Develop some sort of strategy or plan on how to integrate the changes into the company culture. Make sure your staff is informed and engaged in the sustainability program.
Short-term Planning: Sustainability can’t be incorporated as a short-term project. It needs to be considered an ongoing program within an organization in order to build momentum with employees. There is merit to having a short-term sustainability plan to ultimately get initiatives going, so long as there is the intent that embedding sustainability within the organization is a long-term strategy.
Lack of Accountability: There needs to be someone (i.e., a sustainability officer, director, or manager) or group (i.e., Green Team) designated within the organization to be held accountable for the company's sustainability practices. However, it is important to engage the entire company since no one person or group can do it all. However, if there is not someone accountable to the sustainability program and goals, realistically, it just won’t happen.
Giving Up if Failure Occurs: There are no perfect solutions or processes when it comes to sustainability. There will be mistakes, challenges, and sometimes failures with sustainability initiatives. SunChips introduced a 100% compostable chip bag in 2009 that created quite a stir with consumers because it was ‘noisy.’ SunChips didn’t give up and went back to the drawing board and re-introduced another 100% compostable bag that was quieter. With any new sustainability program, it is important not to expect that it will be perfect the first time. Don’t give up! Take time to address and review the challenges to improve the processes.
Non-Performance Related: A top motivator for most staff is their annual performance appraisal. Performance appraisals provide staff indicators of what is expected, valued, and needed in an organization. If you want to have a successful sustainability program, then it is important to align sustainability goals with employee performance. Once this is integrated, employees then understand the importance and expectations surrounding sustainability within the organization.
Lack of Internal Communication: Often, sustainability initiatives reside in a few departments and don’t necessarily reach other areas of an organization. Therefore, the rest of the staff don’t understand the initiatives or perceive value in the sustainability undertaking. Take time to inform internal staff of the sustainability plan and goals of the organization. Making sure everyone in the organization knows about sustainability not only informs your staff but encourages conversation and dialogue to build momentum and buy-in to the sustainability goals.
Lack of Stakeholder Engagement: Stakeholders--whether that is your customer base, suppliers, investors, or local community--provide key intelligence on sustainability trends and concerns. Find out what these stakeholders are doing in regards to sustainability and how they see your company involved. They can be instrumental in the sustainability initiatives that are chosen as well as providing crucial support during implementation.
Time: In today’s busy world, there is never enough time for any major strategic initiative. One reason sustainability doesn’t happen in more organizations is the time competition for other priorities in the company. It is important to recognize time is a challenge and create a realistic expectation of what sustainability goals can be achieved. With time and resource restraints, there can be limits on what can be achieved in a certain timeframe.
I hope you’ll continue with me on this journey into the Sustainability Mindset this month, and please remember can help reduce the impact of the built environment by sharing this blog with your peers. Together we can impact the 39% of greenhouse gasses attributed to the built environment. It starts with awareness, and we succeed with teamwork.
Stay well & Happy Holidays!
Chris Laughman is the ThirtyNine Blog author, a blog dedicated to reducing the impact of the built environment. When not blogging, Chris is helping the real estate industry reduce energy and water impact as the Vice President of Sustainability for Conservice, the Utility Experts. Whether Multifamily, Single Family, Student Housing, Commercial, or Military, we simplify utility billing and expense management by doing it for you. Our insight into your utility consumption provides an opportunity to identify risks. Leveraging innovation and experience, we ignite solutions with real impacts and track performance to ensure the trendline stays laser-focused on the goal. At Conservice, we have developed a true bill-to-boardroom solution to help truly make a difference. We have before us a tremendous opportunity. Standing shoulder to shoulder, we will get this done. Contact me at claughman@conservice.com for more information.
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