The hardest steps can often be the first ones. Whilst many leaders know that their organisation needs to start addressing sustainability more seriously, lack of knowledge, understanding and skills can prevent real action.
In our experience, the first step may be to sign up to a scheme to get started, but when the passion passes, if there is no real commitment, nothing really changes. A company may engage with a consultancy to look at an area of the business but the proposal sits and gathers dust with the sense that no one can really do this for you.
The truth is that like anything worthwhile in life if you want to achieve something you need to commit time, effort and resource – but with the right support, direction and focus a lot can be achieved. A real vision and sense of direction can soon lead you to reducing your organisation’s environmental impact, improving how you look after your staff and community for many wider business benefits.
Understanding what sustainability means to your business, your clients and your staff can be the starting point. These business connections may well be in the same boat as you and will appreciate the start of the conversation and the honest dialogue. There are approaches and frameworks that can support your sustainable business journey, but to make sure the efforts and investment in time do not go to waste it is important to use the journey to upskill your team and embed longer lasting change.
Sustainability is not an add on, something else to do when you have time. With a true commitment, it can become something that sits within everyone’s function so that all your team can be making a positive contribution in their everyday roles. That certainly helps boost their sense of achievement and wellbeing and lead to greater job satisfaction.
My advice would be to start a conversation with other leaders who you trust or have seen on a journey and learn from them. Listen to podcasts and read journals or blogs on how to start. There are some excellent books for inspiration my favourite would be Net Positive by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston. Alternatively, get in touch to see how our team could help mentor or advise you on your journey. We can’t do this for you – no one can – but we can help make the change happen in a way that lasts.
