Happy New Year, and welcome to 2009! Green is great, but if it is not aligned within an enterprise wide strategy, green is just a random act. Taking “random acts of greenness” and building enterprise sustainability strategy is not a trivial matter. It requires commitment and alignment from all levels of the corporation.
The year 2008 has left a huge wake on all facets of the economy and in every industrial sector. The housing, credit and financial markets have dramatically impacted many of the corporations. In late 2008 and now into 2009, companies are continuing to cut costs amid financial worries and uncertainties in the marketplace. While the financial crisis continues to impact most corporations, there is still a need to push forward through these trying economic periods. And often, new growth and opportunity is uncovered
during times of constraint.In trying economic times it becomes a priority to optimize efficiency, reduce unnecessary expenditures, and cut non-critical programs. Challenging times are also a time to rebuild strength in operations, brand, products and personnel. There is no doubt that industry is on the cusp of a profound transformation. The “go green” movement of 2008 is continuing to advance into 2009, and President-elect Obama has outlined his key priorities for economic recovery and growth which include, among other initiatives, increasing renewable energy production and rebuilding the nation's highway and education infrastructure.
Market indicators and signals continue to show that consumers are seeking “more green” products and services, albeit at competitive prices and continued high quality and service. Existing and emerging policy and regulatory indicators show that government is advancing clean technologies, renewable energy, and also focusing on “going green” through its own operations and practices. From a corporate perspective we see many companies taking the time to slow-up amid all of these new initiatives to define what “green” and “sustainable” means to them in the context of business strategy and growth. For many companies “going green” remains synonymous with corporate communications and branding.
Communicating corporate sustainability efforts is essential (see December 8, 2008 blog on “Communicating Your Corporate Sustainability Story”) however it needs to be grounded to measureable initiatives that are centered on an enterprise-wide corporate strategy to have the greatest impact on financial performance, and recognition as legitimate claims from the external world. Too often corporations are “going green” so quickly that they don’t fully define their goals and objectives, leading to “random acts of greenness”. These random acts get attention, and sometimes make great headlines and sound bites, but ultimately they are short lived exposure that doesn’t build
better brands, stronger reputation or long-term shareholder value. And, in a worse case scenario, random acts of greenness backfire on the corporation as the external world sees through the glitter and buzz only to find a shell of substance and true commitment toward “going green” or business sustainability.Here are seven questions to ask, and to inform and enhance your organization’s sustainability efforts in the New Year:
1. Do You Have Reactive or Proactive Strategy Development?: Would your characterize your firm’s corporate sustainability efforts as “Random Acts of Greenness?”, superficial “go green” activities caught-up or trapped in the moment, or in reaction to the severity of market conditions, but also not tied to any type of corporate strategy to yield long-term value, reputational enhancement or shareholder value? Proactive strategy development that involves senior leaders and those in charge of profit and loss of business units and line operators is required for moving beyond Random Acts of Greenness toward a comprehensive and unified sustainability strategy. The simultaneous top-down and bottom-up approach yields internal buy-in, elevation of bright ideas, and often uncovers inefficiencies.
2. Does Your Firm Exemplify Strategic Alignment or Turf Warfare?: Who owns sustainability in your firm? Is that an issue? Turf battles over new growth initiatives often emerge and can be the detriment of a well orchestrated strategy. The reality is sustainability is a goal, objective, future state, a journey and a business principle. It is not something that should lend itself to turf disputes within the corporation. Ask yourself; Has your firm established corporate sustainability principles, values and goals? Are your sustainability principles, values and goals communicated and understood at all enterprise levels of the firm? What are the internal and external integration challenges and issues associated with your sustainability principles, values and goals?
3. Do You Have Performance Measurement or Data Collection Jitters?: Are there existing tools to monitor sustainability performance, track performance and report out through the use of corporate sustainability metrics?
4. Are Your Green Efforts Focused on Telling a Story or Storytelling?: No enterprise strategy for sustainable business growth is going to be 100% on the mark right out of the gate. It will require proper conditioning, support from senior management, line operators, suppliers and vendors and customers. Temper the urge to appeal to all stakeholders through storytelling as they will ultimately see through the fiction from the non-fiction. Instead focus on building the story, its characters, its theme and storyline, and then acting it out across time. This will result in the ability to tell your story versus the perception that you are only storytelling via green washing or random acts of greenness. Ask yourself; Has an individual person or team of individuals been established to conduct performance monitoring, tracking and reporting across all facets of the organization? What efforts are used to communicate performance? What tools and processes are in place to ensure continuous improvement occurs
over time?5. Are You Undergoing a Cultural Transformation or in Denial?: Taking on new business principles and values cannot exist superficially. It has to transcend the corporate culture and day-to-day corporate behavior of all employees. As yourself; Has your firm established a mechanism (e.g., use of performance metrics, business unit performance goals, establishment of an executive or operating unit guiding coalition/council, or other means) to facilitate a cultural and operational integration of sustainability principles, values and goals? What can you do to facilitate cultural integration of sustainability principles, values and goals?
6. Is Your Firm Navigating a Course of Action or Afraid to Explore Unchartered Territory?: Any new journey can be overwhelming. And, achieving business sustainability is a journey. Spending the time and necessary resources to properly plan for your journey will enable a safer, perhaps less risky, and more enjoyable experience. Ask yourself; has your firm mapped out its journey with key strategic goals, tactical objectives, and achievable milestones across time? How is this roadmap diffused throughout the organization? Do all essential employees know their role in the journey? Is the roadmap oriented and aligned toward other business goals, or are they divergent?
7. Do You Benefit From Competitive Posturing or Still in the Dark?: Experience tells us that the smartest and most effective companies know the playing field. They benchmark with their peers and accept humility when they are not the leader and pride when they demonstrate strength. This ebb-and-flow of business performance and benchmarking is critical to building a strong sustainability initiative within your firm. Don’t catch yourself in the dark when it comes to what others are doing on business sustainability. Seek out opportunities to learn from other leaders. And don’t be afraid to fully engage as a participate in corporate sustainability benchmarking sessions. What you will find is a room of collegial peers that are experiencing the same thing as you; but also a support group and network that can convey incredible business insight and experience to provide insight to shape the design or improve the execution of, your corporate sustainability strategy. Ask yourself; Has your firm benchmarked your enterprise sustainability strategy with corporate peers to understand what they are doing, how they are doing it, and the value they derive from their efforts?
So, in this New Year take the time to think through your business growth efforts in the context of sustainability and create a strategy, a long-term plan, for instituting green growth initiatives across your enterprise in a tempered and deliberate way. As you do so, begin to communicate internally to foster commitment, support and recognition. Also communicate externally to demonstrate how your efforts are leading to a stronger company whose sustainability efforts will yield consequential business results toward your corporate goals.
Mark C. Coleman
Senior Associate & World Inc. Case Leader, AHC Group, Inc.
Mark@ahcgroup.com
Want to get real about the future of energy, natural resources and capitalism, go to www.ahcgroup.com and www.worldincbook.com to learn more on how leading companies are reinventing the future of business through social response product development and social response capitalism.
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