What’s the value of sustainability?

27 Jan

Often, we measure sustainability in quantifiable metrics, things like financial savings or carbon footprint. This is not a bad thing, and I encourage it for my clients. It makes things a lot easier when trying to justify investment. But I do wonder, what would happen if we measured sustainability in a completely different way? Would it mean that no one would take it seriously? Or could it mean that people would finally start taking it seriously?

The reason I pose the question is that I’ve returned from running a three-day workshop in the UK for my lovely museum clients who are learning to be sustainability leaders and champions at their museums. And though we focus on the figures, I routinely get awesome emails like:

Thank you for the life changing work you have done

and

I keep plugging away and I’m sure we will move forward

and

I cannot thank you enough for this opportunity

I find it so inspiring. It’s easy to get down in the dumps and think that the small work of one person cannot possibly make a difference. But then I remember that the whole point of sustainability is actually to make life better for people. So that they can achieve their goals and have a more prosperous future. I’d like to think that the work I’m doing is helping to achieve that, one small step at a time.

What do you think? What difference are you making? Leave a note for me in the comments!

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Tips for those new to sustainability

21 Dec

Sometimes getting started is the hardest part. It’s true of a lot of things, from learning to snowboard (as I painfully learned in 1999), learning a musical instrument, or learning pretty much any new skill. Once you’ve got some momentum built up, you can use it to power through the inevitable challenges that come with trying to achieve mastery.

When I’m talking to organizations that want to do more with sustainability, that see it as a tool for innovation, engagement and creativity, one of the hardest things for people to get their head around is this.

Don’t ask where to start, ask where you want to end

Yup, in a somewhat zen nod to Stephen Covey, what’s true for personal and organizational development is also true for sustainability. Begin with the end in mind.

A great way to get started is to start by asking, “what does sustainability mean at my company?” You need to ask this question because sustainability is not one size fits all. Although the larger principles of sustainability and corporate responsibility will remain the same across sectors and industries, the accepted definitions of sustainability are too broad to be of much use if you want to actually achieve something. You cannot buy an off-the shelf sustainability or corporate responsibility strategy. You cannot copy another strategy from a similar organization. You must pull together your senior team and decide what risks and opportunities sustainability can mean for your organization.

Here are the questions you need to ask yourself, organizationally speaking, order to figure out the end results:

• How does our core mission intersect with sustainability principles?

• What risks are posed to our success by sustainability legislative, supply chain, weather impacts, costs, etc)?

• What opportunities are available to us from a sustainable approach (e.g. cost savings, new customers,new programs, internal communication opportunities, etc)?

• What result do we wish to achieve from this initiative? (enhance reputation, engage employees, cut costs, create new products and services, enter new markets, reduce regulatory risk, etc.).

Once you have identified what sustainability means for your organization, you can begin to develop an achievable goal, and a plan to get you there.

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Going virtually green, just in time for winter

19 Dec

With harsh weather on our doorstep, this month I’ll explore some opportunities to work from home and avoid the mess on the roads. In the last few years there has been a surge the popularity of employees working from home. With continuous advances in internet and mobile technology, alongside the shifting lifestyle requirements of the modern workforce, it has become increasingly easy for organizations to adopt this flexible approach to their operations.

While there is little doubt that this move towards ‘virtual’ organizations is primarily cost driven, there is an added benefit for the environment. Consider the fuel saved if an employee does not travel in to a central office each day. Consider the benefits of not having to run, heat and power a large office to accommodate every employee. Consider the positive impact this can have on the environment.

For some types of businesses, however, a physical presence is not a luxury, it is a necessity, a fact that cannot be avoided. But just because it is not feasible to become a completely ‘virtual’ organization, this does not mean that it is impossible to transfer at least some of these philosophies into your business.

Ask yourself if there are any departments that can benefit from home working, even if this is for just a couple of days each week rather than on a permanent basis. Often  finance, marketing and other administrative roles are capable of working remotely in an effective way. These departments can communicate via email and telephone to achieve what can be achieved in work, but with the added environmental benefits, as well as cost savings.

Many organizations, especially in the public sector, are taking this a step further and are starting to adopt a ‘hot-desking’ principle. Do remote workers need a desk each? Can they come in to the office on alternate days and therefore use the desk space?

It is, unfortunately, not as straightforward as simply telling employees not to come in to the office. Employees will need to be re-trained to work from home. New management and supervisory practices will need to be put in place to make sure efficiency and accuracy is maintained when they are not in the office. In addition, equipment, such as laptops, mobile phones and internet access, will likely be required and this of course does mean costs.

Despite this, there are savings to be made. Cars can remain unused and lights, heaters and computers can be turned off for the day. The environmental impact of this is immediate, and the cost savings will balance out in time.

While virtual working is not possible for all job roles, and may not be relevant to all organizations, there are genuine cost and environmental savings to be made. The increasing number of companies in all sectors that are beginning to adopt this progressive and flexible business model are testament to this.

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How to succeed in sustainability without really trying

8 Dec

Gotcha! I bet you thought this was going to be another top 10 tips to quick and easy sustainability, didn’t you? Well, sorry, I don’t believe in that. I think that many sustainability consultants are doing their clients a disservice by holding out the “low-hanging fruit” as the holy grail of achievement.

It’s not easy being green.

Oh Kermit, you had me at hello.

Let’s dissect this with a bit more seriousness. A long time ago, I think we used to understand that big changes can be difficult, and that they take hard work, and effort, and groups of people working together. And then, at some point, we seemed to collectively decide that this approach was too hard for “ordinary people.” Collectively, the environmental field decided to focus on changing light bulbs and switching off computers.

Lest you miss my point, I’m all for low-energy light bulbs and switching off computers.

However, these actions and others like them do not represent the achievement of sustainability. They are engagement tools with tangible outcomes that should be utilized to grease the wheels for much more substantive change. And sadly, that substantive change is not happening on a large scale. Strategic thinking about sustainability is sorely lacking in every sector. Waste, in the form of cost savings not realized or wasted opportunities to grow sustainably, are literally everywhere.

The best thing any of us can do is to get on board and change that light, but realize that it’s the first step, not the last.

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COP XX: Oops I missed it again

6 Dec

This post was going to be titled, “Durban: Does anyone know or care?” But then I realized that I had in fact missed over half the event anyway. Plus, it’s not being covered in depth in any mainstream media. I only knew sort of what was happening because of my friends’ facebook posts.

This is truly lame.

It’s not that I don’t think international dialogue on climate change isn’t important. Of course I do. The problem I see is that these meetings don’t seem to be achieving anything anymore. And while this isn’t necessarily an argument to stop holding them altogether, I do see an argument for significant change in the purpose, size, scope and goals of these meetings. Sure, they are a lot of fun for people to go to. You get out of the office and get to meet other people who are interested in the same issues. These are good goals in and of themselves. But they are not the goals of the COP.

Diplomacy is not my strong suit (just ask my husband). But directness and honesty are. And honestly, I think the UNFCCC needs to rethink the results they hope to achieve through these meetings, because I don’t think the current plan is cutting it.

A Chief Sustainability Officer by any other name?

1 Dec

The latest addition to the growing cadre of sustainability-related positions is the Chief Sustainability Officer. The addition of “Chief” would seem to indicate that this is the highest level position within a company focused on sustainability that one could aspire to. Does a CSO do anything different than past positions such as Head of CR?

Just to demonstrate, here is a list of positions culled from the almighty oracle of the internet (e.g. Wikipedia)

  • Director, VP, EVP, or SVP of Sustainability
  • Environmental Policy Manager
  • Director of Environment, Energy, & Safety
  • Director of Social & Environmental Responsibility
  • Chief Officer of Environment
  • Social & Environmental Sustainability Manager
  • Chief of EHS
  • Certified Sustainability Administrator

Seriously, these are not reflecting the same thing. I have worked with many people in many companies, organizations, etc and the person in charge of sustainability is the one with the budget and decision-making ability. I don’t care what your position title is, this is the truth.

The sustainability decision makers I’ve dealt with have included the Global Head of Communications, the Chief Operating Officer and the Partner-in-Charge. Does that mean these are the new CSOs? No. But what it does mean is that companies aren’t really taking sustainability seriously unless they are allocating the same level of responsibility and budgetary authority as any other C-level executive, Director, or SVP.

Do you know your sustainability ROI?

29 Nov

If you are given a budget for sustainability, however small or large, how do you evaluate your investment decisions?

Could you take a quick poll?

My prediction is that most people use something like energy reduction or cost savings. At least I hope they do. If you aren’t sure how to evaluate the ROI of your sustainability investment, please get in touch to learn about how to do this before you spend another penny.

Anyway.

Measuring return on investment in financial terms is a good start. It’s way better than having no measures or some sort of “we feel better” measurement with nothing behind it. However, pure financial measures don’t tell the whole story. They never do, whether we are talking about sustainability, or business strength, or quality of life. But they are easy to measure in many cases. However, sustainability is an interesting area. There are benefits that are not directly measurable and there are benefits that are amplified by certain actions. I’d encourage you to have a look at my case study on Creating Sustainability Leaders in the Museum Profession, which describes in more detail the results that can be achieved by implementing strategic sustainability initiatives.

Save $500,000 or Raise $500,000?

24 Nov

Happy Thanksgiving! While you’re waiting for the turkey, here’s some brain food for thought.

The economic news seems to go from bad to worse these days. Budgets are being cut, government funding and grants are disappearing, and organizations and businesses are feeling that cuts are the only way to go. Organizations are cutting staff, programs, operating hours, travel, and more. In the non-profit world, some organizations are re-doubling their fundraising efforts, working ever harder to bring in a smaller pool of funds.

But there is an untapped resource that many are ignoring.

It’s the money being spent to keep the building functioning. And many times, that cost is a lot higher than it needs to be.

Have you ever sat down with your electricity bill? Let’s say it’s $5,000,000 a year. This is not an outlandish number. Most of my clients have electricity bills that are 5x this figure. Anyway, let’s say you have the choice to either cut this bill by 10% to generate $500,000 of new income, or do a fundraising effort to raise $500,000. It’s likely that most people would choose to raise the $500,000 because it’s what they are used to doing. But to save the $500,000 could be far easier. Most of my clients have done that with very little effort or investment– just through due diligence and paying attention.

So think about it. You are already spending the money. It’s already in your budget. Couldn’t it be put to better use?

Seduction by Stickers

22 Nov

What do you do when your budget is shrinking faster than you can plug the holes? You start looking for places to save money, right? You start looking for small to no-investment projects that can very quickly start saving money. And that’s when problems can start. Because, just because something is free or very low cost does not mean it is very low effort. In fact, low-cost solutions require as much if not more planning and implementation support as very high cost solutions.

Why am I mentioning this now? Because last week someone (who shall remain anonymous) told me something that I could not believe. It was a “jaw to the floor” moment.

Them: We spent $5000 on stickers

Me: What? You spent how much? On what?

Them: Well, we were told that they have a very quick payback period, you know, for switching off lights and equipment.

Me: So what happened?

Them: Well, a lot of people got angry that we started putting stickers on their light switches.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time I’ve heard some version of this story, however it is the most dramatic. And it very clearly demonstrates the need to plan, engage and implement. Things like stickers, posters, blogs, newsletters, etc are all tools in a well-strategized and well-planned campaign to change some sort of behaviour. But they are not strategies on their own. You cannot just throw them up on the wall (or light switch) and hope that things will get better. Cheap isn’t always better, and it’s not always the answer. It can be part of a strategy, but not the whole thing.

In order to implement successfully, you need the following three elements in place for people:

  1. Context. Tell them why you are asking them to change
  2. Incentive. What’s in it for me? People need to know and see the benefits this change will bring to them.
  3. Results. After you’ve run your campaign, you must tell your people what actually happened.

If you don’t do this, you will either get nowhere, or you will have a one-shot deal that doesn’t last.

Why are simple ideas difficult to implement?

10 Nov

You’ve heard it before:

Common sense isn’t quite so common

Ideas that are simplistic and clear hit us like a lightning bolt. “Why didn’t I think of that??” we ask ourselves. There are so many ideas floating around that many of us seem to believe that if something is to be taken seriously it must sound academic, boring and well, just plain confusing. In addition, there are loads of things that we know we should do that we just simply don’t.

I see this a lot with my sustainability-focused clients. I even wrote a newsletter article about it, entitled “why is recycling so hard.” That particular article is in my top ten of all time for page views. The reasons I found were interesting. For the most part, recycling is hard because people think it is.

At client sites where recycling was considered “the way we do things around here,” where everyone understood the financial impact of recycling waste vs. not recycling waste, where the system was clear and easy, where there was no other alternative– these sites had great recycling rates.

But the interesting thing was, there were plenty of sites where everything was the same, except for the mindset. And the difference could be 20% recycling rate at one location, and an 85% rate at the other one.

This doesn’t just go for recycling.

So many companies and organizations spend money to implement systems that are supposed to do something, only to be stymied at the last hurdle by staff members who don’t understand why they are being asked to change behaviour or what benefit it might possible have. That’s not your staff’s fault, it’s yours.

So here’s a simple idea. Try asking your colleagues if they know why they are supposed to follow a procedure. You might be surprised by the answers you get.

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