Corporate Sustainability: Developing Strategy for a Leaner, Greener Footprint

Moving your company to a more sustainable, “carbon neutral,” or “green” policy is a bold, cost-saving, and difficult shift for your firm and employees.  Several factors can throw your plan awry, including:

Unengaged employees resisting such a change.

A misguided or inefficient allocation of resources.

Poor communication throughout your organization.

If you and your company are serious about implementing a more sustainable business approach, you should treat this shift as a change in your company’s strategy.  View this changing dynamic as an opportunity to build value for your company–not as some austere measure that comes across as a punitive or limiting to your staff.

Corporate strategy, the subject–and its practitioners, the strategists–are fascinating, thought-provoking, overlooked, and oft-dismissed in the corporate world.  The strategist’s voice is often lost in the c-level suites and on the front lines, and the results show:  research through which I have perused estimate that anywhere from 30 to 50% of a strategy’s full potential value disappears during the organization and execution of the plan.

So how can your company ensure that a fundamental shift in business–in this case, a focus on sustainability–succeed for your firm?  Let me share the following pointers:

Analyze your employees’ preparedness for this change.  If your firm undertakes regular employee evaluations and gathers engagement data, you are off to a strong start.  Mine this information and save the company, time, money, and resources.  Do your employees really believe that management listens?  Do they think your company’s policies are fairly implemented?  Can your crew really work together?  Understand the dynamics throughout your organization so you can pursue these changes smartly, staying aware of any potential pitfalls that could impede your organizations’s quest for sustainability.

Identify the key managers and employees who are most likely to resist or even attack this change.  Incorporate a process such as a “constituency analysis,” which can assist you in customizing your “carbon footprint reduction” message to this group.  Meanwhile, you should be working with other employees who are most receptive to this plan in building broad support.

Communicate this new “green” message incrementally in small peer groups. At the functional or peer level, and give customized presentations for various departments or divisions throughout your firm.  How many times have you received a blast email from your CEO or SVP?  And how often did you remember the message, say, 10 minutes later?  Email and firm-wide voicemails are a great tool, but can also just add to the cacophonous messaging that frequently plagues organizations.  By enlisting supporters for your company’s green initiatives, you can tighten and modify this new plan as needed . . . while imparting to employees that their participation and impact are valued.

Don’t overlook the middle managers.  I have seen this often:  the CEO wants change, the front-line employees get the message, but your managers and directors obfuscate the goals–not necessarily for nefarious reasons.  Your managers are crucial.  You cannot merely broadcast the “what” in your new agenda:  articulate the “why” and “how.”  Outlinine the reasons why your past policies need to change–and reveal alternative options that were not followed.  Frank, upfront, discussion about the “roads not taken” can build trust while revealing insight into how the executive team arrives at important decisions.

Clearly the scale of taking on such an initiative will depend on the size of your company.  My purpose is to give you ideas on how to move your company forward on the sustainability track–the path companies like Google, eBay, and Walt Disney, Nokia and Wal-Mart arguably have taken.  How you plan and communicate your new sustainable policies at the beginning will affect the ongoing and final results.  Transforming your company’s operations, vendors, supply chain, and properties can potentially cause chaos for your employees and stakeholders.  Nevertheless, investing in a solid plan will make this process less painless, more profitable, and in the long run, engender a justifiable sense of pride throughout your organization.I would appreciate hearing from anyone involved in this process, from the Chief Sustainable Officer to that recent new hire.  Please share your challenges and successes!

by Leon Kaye

Follow Leon on Twitter