Introduction
Many companies around the world have discussed development of socially and environmentally responsible strategies and initiatives to both facilitate a more tightly-knit community connection as well as help their bottom line. William R. Blackburn, author of The Sustainability Handbook, states that once an initiative “or other key indicator is set, organizational and stakeholder support is garnered, and the administrative details are planned, the goal or indicator can be rolled out for implementation. But just as care must be taken in developing a goal, it is also essential for its rollout. Indeed, that care can be the difference between an organization’s success and failure in achieving its own objectives and pushing toward sustainability.”[1]
Follow-up Checklist for Action: Selecting Goals and Indicators
Blackburn has developed a checklist to help companies that have developed initiatives toward sustainability. This list of five things that companies should be mindful of during the implementation stage of an initiative includes: 1) resolve what terminology to use to cover objectives, goals, metrics, indicators, and related items. 2) Include discussion of indicators and goals in planning meetings. 3) Planning teams consider indicators and goals appropriate for key objectives. 4) Planning teams and management assure the clear assignment of responsibilities noted in figure 7.10 for developing, measuring, and reporting on identified goals and other key indicators. 5) Reevaluate effectiveness of goals and other indicators in follow-up planning sessions.[2]
NEEFUSA
According to the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) based in Washington DC, “in response to the threats of climate change, water scarcity, and other pressing environmental concerns, companies are prioritizing sustainability as a core business issue. Companies have learned that environmental sustainability initiatives offer competitive opportunities, improved efficiency, and access to new markets. This study provides new insight on how managers can increase the likelihood of having successful sustainability initiatives by considering company culture in the initiative planning and implementation process.”[3] In a report compiled by the University of Michigan, the implications of which are detailed below:
IMPLICATIONS
These findings have implications for practitioners involved in planning and implementing sustainability initiatives:
- A company’s sustainability initiatives are more likely to be successful if the initiatives are developed and implemented in a way that is consistent with the company’s culture, particularly its level of collaboration.
- Cultural dimensions should be considered when designing and implementing sustainability initiatives. Study findings point to the importance of companies first understanding their culture, and then designing and implementing sustainability initiatives accordingly.[4]
Case Study
The ERB Institute for global sustainable enterprise sites an anonymous case study. “Company X is a multinational chemical company. The 17 U.S.-based employees that rated the company’s culture and sustainability initiatives represented diverse corporate functions and business units. Respondents scored the company culture highest in the Compete and Control quadrants, as is often the case in large companies. The more successful initiative (rated 6.88/7) sought to grow revenue from products that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, driving towards an ambitious revenue target. Participants scored this initiative similarly to the company culture, emphasizing the Compete and Create quadrants. In contrast, the relatively less successful initiative (rated 5.29/7), which provided employees with information on how to reduce and offset their carbon footprints, was strong in the Collaborate quadrant and much weaker in the Control and Compete quadrants. This initiative was not implemented in a way that matched the company culture, as demonstrated by the chart on the previous page. Based on the findings from this study, this type of initiative may have been more successful if it had incorporated competitive and process-oriented elements that characterize the Compete and Control quadrants.”[5]
Conclusion
Developing a company-wide initiative can be a large and complicated endeavor for any organization. While sustainable initiatives require specific planning, they not any more or less complicated than any other. Such initiatives should neither be viewed as overly daunting or excessively easy. Blackburn’s checklist for successful implementation of sustainability initiatives is not only a good benchmark to assess goals for implementation; the checklist is an additional measure of transparency. Successful implementation of any sustainable initiative requires transparency. For companies that are founded on sustainable principles, this is rarely a concern. However, for companies that are more traditionally ‘bottom-line’ based this refocus on sustainability and by proxy added transparency can be an additional challenge. It is important to note that transparency in this case, does not simply mean financial transparency or transparency to shareholders. Successful transparency and implementation of a sustainability initiative also requires effective and complete transparency to managers, supervisors and all employees in a company.
[1] Blackburn, William R. (2007). The Sustainability Handbook. London, England. Earthscan. Page 254. [2] Blackburn, William R. (2007). The Sustainability Handbook. London, England. Earthscan. Page 254. [3] http://www.neefusa.org/pdf/culture_sustainability.pdf [4] http://www.neefusa.org/pdf/culture_sustainability.pdf [5] http://www.neefusa.org/pdf/culture_sustainability.pdf
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