Sustainability in business, just like any area of business really, is saturated in jargon. Now pair that with the ‘all or nothing’, imposter syndrome culture surrounding the topic, and you have a pretty intimidating prospect.
It’s not that difficult and it’s not that serious. Granted, the planet is not in good health and yes, we do need to do something about it; but constant judgment and criticism, as far as I’m concerned, is extremely counter-productive and is currently preventing many people from taking an active interest. After all, no innovation was achieved without failure and learning. We need the owners of businesses to feel free to experiment, without the fear of attack and we need them to know that imperfection is okay.
I tend to focus on small businesses, which includes any company with up to 250 employees (the word ‘small’ is rather subjective); after all, they form up to 99.9% of privately-owned companies here in the UK.
So, I’m a sustainability consultant; and I love to simplify sustainable business with my clients. It needs to be exciting, it needs to become their new language in order to sew it into the very fabric of their brand. Now, I can spend an average of 50 hours working on a strategy for clients. You’re here reading this, so I think you’re great but I won’t be spending that sort of time with you I’m afraid; but if you read my articles, you should be able to pick up quite a bit.
I’m a huge believer in starting with the basics, leaving all judgment at the door, forming a decent foundation, and moving on from there; so let’s crack on with that!
What is a ‘Sustainability Strategy’?
A sustainability or corporate responsibility strategy is a prioritised set of actions. It provides an agreed framework/blueprint to focus investment and drive performance, as well as engage internal (colleagues, management, investors, etc.) and external stakeholders (supply chain, customers, local residents, etc).
The starting point for any strategy needs to be why your company exists? A vision, mission, and values provide the building blocks on which to plan your future and direction.
Next, a process of ‘materiality’ (I warned you about the jargon) is essential to identifying the issues that matter most to the company. Essentially just a long brainstorm on what everyone involved cares most about, and what aligns most with the ethos of the brand. For example, if you’re a clothing company and want to make your impact a positive one; you may place a lot of focus on reducing waste and ensuring producers in your factories are being paid a fair wage and treated well.
Great strategy involves not just prioritisation, but deciding to really focus on certain issues. The general rule of thumb is to never cast a wide net.
Although all the choices can seem complex, the best strategies converge on a few priorities. The elements should be united into a framework with clear targets and key performance indicators (KPIs) for each aspect. A ‘KPI’ is basically a metric for you to measure performance. Same with monitoring CPC (Cost per click) or ROAS (Return on ad spend) with Google or Facebook ads.
Becoming more environmentally and socially sustainable is often seen as an emotionally driven, empathetic way of running a business, but it requires the same meticulous approach as you’d give to running your accounts, or monitoring Facebook ad spend. It’s all about measurable steps forward.
Effective implementation involves plenty of guidance for employees and regular audits, reviews, as well as external feedback. Developing a sustainability strategy is an ideal opportunity to engage external stakeholders, your customers and employees across the business. Basically, a brilliant PR campaign and opportunity to get real-life feedback from potential and existing customers. Winner.
It will also identify measurable benefits — alongside long-term risks and opportunities. I can vouch for it creating real value for the company and society in general.
In a nutshell, without strategy, we’re all just fumbling along and hoping for the best. We waste resources, energy, time and don’t really make much progress. As soon as you add proper planning and organisation, you can see some powerful results.
Sustainability is no longer associated with being a liberal tree hugger with no financial viability; it’s the future of business.
Why do you need one?
Every business needs to prioritise. For corporate responsibility and sustainability professionals, a strategy sets out the priorities and strips the fat. It provides an agreed framework for deploying resources, creating an impact and communicating results. When done effectively, the process of developing your strategy — as well as the resulting framework — can help to:
Build faith amongst colleagues.
Determine your resource allocation and investment into the areas that are most important.
Engage external stakeholders in a meaningful dialogue.
Drive performance by stretching the company to achieve goals.
Many companies find themselves in a situation where they have a lot of programmes and interests, but teams and budgets can feel stretched. Practitioners working in these companies often feel like they are doing so much, but lack the tangible evidence to show for it. Communicating progress can be challenging. Reports often end up taking the form of lacklustre case studies; companies in this position lack a clear sustainability strategy.
Without a proper strategy, integrating any exciting ideas and aligning them with business priorities is really difficult.
More and more companies are starting to address sustainability issues. One illustration of this is that more than 10,000 companies around the world produce a report on their impacts. Some of these organisations have a strategy, but for many these reports are an account of their activities.
The difference between activities and a strategy is fundamental:
Activities are a series of initiatives, often illustrated in reporting by case studies. Basically a list of things the company is doing fairly well at. Better than nothing but also not exactly groundbreaking.
Strategy is the agreed priorities that form part of a longer-term plan, demonstrated in reporting by performance data. This builds greater customer loyalty and shows transparency in future plans. It displays commitment to the cause.
Developing a sustainability strategy provides an opportunity to review your progress to date and take a fresh look at the risks and opportunities facing your business.
It provides the framework to review, adjust, and focus activities into an authentic form that is unique to the company and can differentiate you from competitors. Finally, it provides a clear framework for reporting and communications, allowing for a meaningful dialogue with stakeholders and a consistency of focus that makes reporting more robust.
Whether you are developing your first strategy, or refreshing an existing one, the task can seem a little daunting. There is now such a wide range of different standards, initiatives, processes, and examples for companies to follow.
Even the very concept of sustainability continues to evolve with companies being asked to address more and more issues. Strategy needs to provide focus – not a shopping list of activities. A good strategy is unique to the company, recognising its specific strengths and culture. Standards can be an important reference point, but ‘off the shelf’ solutions never make for effective and authentic strategies.