Sustainability is vital to the future of business, and can no longer be viewed as a separate effort. It must be critically aligned with your long-term business strategy and integrated into all business functions.
Tad Radzinski, PE, LEED AP, SFP
As the global economy continues to evolve and competitive pressure grows, traditional business models are becoming increasingly obsolete. Organizations across industries are being challenged to transform their long-term corporate strategies to succeed in the changing business landscape. The waste and recycling industry, like others, is feeling the force of these change drivers and must continually evolve to stay current and competitive. Leveraging sustainability to support key corporate objectives delivers widespread organizational and financial benefits. This is especially true in the waste and recycling industry, which plays a unique role in sustainability, both at a core business level and as vital service providers within broader supply chains. Sustainability will enable waste handlers and recyclers to effectively prepare for the future, but even a well-designed Corporate Responsibility program can fail without effective implementation.
There are many factors that affect the outcome of sustainability initiatives, and properly managing these factors ensures optimal performance and return on investment. It is crucial to engrain sustainability into the overall corporate strategy. Sustainability must be critically aligned so the goals of your program do not conflict with your core business plan; but rather, are an integral part of its success. In order to gain momentum, support for these initiatives must come from all stakeholders—employees, shareholders, executive management, customers and suppliers; however, the process starts internally. Strengthening internal support can seem like a daunting task, but there are some effective, but actionable, approaches to engage even the most resistant stakeholders.
Action Plan for Strengthening Internal Support
#1: Building Urgency within Your Organization
As long as sustainability is regarded as merely “nice-to-do”, and not as critical to meeting business objectives, it will never receive the attention and commitment needed. Building urgency throughout the organization is vital to gain and maintain support for your sustainability program and initiatives.
One of the most powerful ways to build urgency is to identify and demonstrate customer demand and the competitive advantage of sustainability. In the age of information, consumers are more knowledgeable and discerning when making purchasing decisions, and there is an increased focus on selecting and supporting responsible companies. As a result, sustainability has been expanded throughout supply chains—from retailers, to manufacturers, on to raw material producers. Even service providers are being called upon to meet sustainability requirements in response to sustainable supply chain initiatives. The opportunity to meet customer demand and increase revenues will motivate stakeholders to focus efforts and resources on a sustainability program.
On the other hand, highlighting competitive pressures can secure management commitment and increase organizational support. Typically, integrating sophisticated business practices, such as sustainability, bolsters brand recognition and establishes a presence as a market leader. If your competitors are accelerating their sustainability program, it is crucial to understand the drivers behind it. Whether it is to satisfy customer needs, distinguish themselves in the market or reduce operating costs, your organization does not want to be left behind. Assessing the competitive landscape provides insight into untapped opportunities for growth, as well as potential market and financial risks.
Finally, if you want to build urgency, there is no better way than to demonstrate the financial benefits of your program. During the process of developing and initiating your sustainability program, you should have benchmarked operations and identified opportunities for improvement. Typically, these analyses reveal low- and no-cost measures, which can be implemented immediately. By prioritizing your initiatives, you can use these quick wins to showcase fiscal returns and corroborate the long-term value of your program. One challenge frequently faced when implementing a sustainability program is a lack of funding. Starting with initiatives that provide short-term paybacks allows you to establish a system of compounding returns, where cost savings from one initiative are used to fund further progress. Showing quick financial successes builds excitement and fuels organizational commitment to fund sustainability with sustainability.
#2: Leveraging Collaboration
Collaboration, both internal and external, is needed to fully integrate sustainability throughout an organization—and can be a main driver of progress. Internal collaboration stems from engaging and empowering employees. Getting everyone involved helps cultivate unique perspectives and innovation to meet organizational goals. External collaboration can include working with suppliers, customers and yes, even competitors. These partnerships help to advance far-reaching sustainability objectives and can have a measurable impact.
Internal collaboration fosters cross-functional sustainability support and consistent organizational goals. Whether taking a top-down or bottom-up approach to integrating sustainability, it is necessary to create a sustainability team that includes members from every sector in the organization. Active participation at various levels in the management hierarchy and across business sectors—including upper-management, operations, logistics, sales and marketing—allows your sustainability mission to disseminate throughout the ranks. Tapping into a diverse group of contributors also allows for diverse perspectives and innovative solutions. This is increasingly important in organizations with autonomous business units. Often, managers and employees are either not concerned or not informed regarding other business units, but sustainability can be used as a tool to break down these barriers and benefit the organization as a whole.
External collaboration enables sustainability goals that stretch beyond the organization itself. A common example is sustainable supply chain initiatives. Spreading sustainability throughout the supply chain requires extensive collaboration and communication with suppliers as well as customers. As the shift toward a sustainable economy continues, external collaboration is becoming more prevalent. Cultivating these collaborative relationships can lead to mutual benefits and continuous improvement. This shift has even brought together competitors in order to collectively advance their industries.
#3: Employee Engagement and Education
For sustainability to be truly embedded in the corporate culture, it is important to engage all employees. In large organizations, gaining total employee engagement can be difficult. As with many widespread corporate policies, training is a key tool for instituting this organizational change. Employee training is often used to implement new programs focused on safety, IT and even diversity, but this can also be invaluable in rolling out your sustainability program. Educating employees on the company’s sustainability goals, how the goals fit into the business strategy, and their role in meeting these goals, empowers them to find creative solutions that can often be overlooked. It is important for employees to understand that everyone has a role in the success of the business and that sustainability is a key component of that success. Based on day-to-day experience, employees often recognize inefficiencies and can propose realistic solutions.
Training employees will help drive progress, but keeping them engaged throughout the process is essential to maintaining long-term commitment. Developing an internal communications platform to highlight program goals, successes, progress reports, upcoming events, tips and even roadblocks keeps the sustainability message at the forefront and assimilated into the corporate culture. Selecting an appropriate communication vehicle will help maximize involvement and continued support. Some successful tools for keeping employees informed include newsletters, blogs, chatrooms, e-mail blasts or bulletins.
Critical to Your Long-Term Strategy
Sustainability is vital to the future of the waste management industry, and can no longer be viewed as a stand-alone business effort. It must be critically aligned with your long-term business strategy and integrated into all business functions. Strengthening stakeholder support for sustainability initiatives is not only necessary for the short- and long-term success of your program, but is critical to the ongoing viability of your organization.
With 30 years of practical experience, Tad Radzinski, P.E., LEED AP, SFP, is a leading expert in corporate responsibility and environmental management. Through consulting, training and speaking, he has provided hundreds of organizations the insight and tools to revolutionize their business through successful sustainability strategies.Tad is co-founder and president of Sustainable Solutions Corporation (SSC) (Royersford, PA) and provides consultative services to companies in a wide range of global industries. Tad is an adjunct professor at Villanova University and was instrumental in the development of Villanova’s Master of Science Degree in Sustainable Engineering. He also serves as the Chief Certification Officer at GreenCircle Certified, LLC, providing third-party verification of environmental claims. Formerly the EPA’s Waste Minimization Program National Expert, Tad has been a trusted advisor for numerous Fortune 500 companies. He can be reached at [email protected]. For more information call (610) 569-1047, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.sustainablesolutionscorporation.com