Facilitating responsible solutions
| Summer 2003 | Vol. 13 No. 3 |
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Copyright 2003 AXIS Performance Advisors. If you use this in any way, please cite the source.
By Marsha Willard
Darcy and I recently found ourselves working with a client who was experiencing a very common problem. The organization had been talking about sustainability for some time; most people within the organization were knowledgeable about the issues and many were serious about taking the organization into a sustainable future. Still they were stuck. People didn't know what to actually DO; how their daily jobs should be different. Like many organizations they assumed that once a critical number of people "got it," that suddenly things would start to happen; processes would change, job tasks would evolve, and innovations would result. That this wasn't happening after a couple of years of talking about sustainability had our clients scratching their heads.
We all wish there was a magic sustainability wand that could transform an organization and all its members with one wave. But there isn't. In reality, the road to sustainability involves many steps with plenty of potholes along the way. To help our client get their organization moving, we began by describing our own evolution toward sustainability. Our story, as it turns out, is fairly common and illustrates the developmental growth people commonly go through in getting from here to "there." The story generated a number of ideas and strategies that we were then able to match to the stages of development our client's employees exhibited.
Our Story
AXIS is proud of its evolving and expanding efforts toward becoming a sustainable business. Though we are a small organization, we have made commitments to resource reduction, alternative transportation, green power and carbon credits. We have been a "climate neutral" business for over three years. The Oregon Natural Step Network recently added a case study on AXIS to its Tool Kit. We also transformed our business to help others make this same transition. Six or seven years ago, however, we were scratching our heads, just like our client, wondering what role we could play in the sustainability movement and what we could start doing differently. Our own experience has helped us develop create a diagnostic model that now helps organizations identify where in this developmental process they are and what they might do to move to the next stage.
While we acknowledge that no two organizations take exactly the same route to sustainability, we have discovered that there are three developmental stages that most organizations go through. Like toddlers learning to walk, there are three key stages. You must first build your muscles and coordination to stand up. Then you have to learn to navigate from a whole new position before you finally get to really cut loose in your environment. Within each stage are two or three particular hurdles that have to be negotiated before you can move to the next phase. The hurdles are expressed as the questions we grappled with in our own development. The story of how we answered these questions has helped us frame solutions for other organizations.
Developmental Stages and Associated Hurdles
Stage 1: Standing for sustainability |
Stage 2: Taking the |
Stage 3: Running with sustainability |
I don't understand what sustainability is I don't see a match to what I do I don't trust that this is real or lasting |
I don't know how to apply sustainability to what I do I don't have the tools or technologies to apply it. |
I don't have the latitude within my job to apply it I don't see the "market" for my ideas |
Long before an infant learns to walk, he has to learn to steady his legs beneath him. For organizations in this early stage of implementing sustainability the obstacles to full adoption have mostly to do with learning about something very new and unfamiliar and trusting that it is real. It requires, to some extent, a whole new orientation to the world. The basic strategy to help an organization through this stage is education and reassurance.
I don't understand what sustainability is
When we first heard the term six or seven years ago we were intrigued, but confused. We hadn't a clue what it meant so we started poking around, reading a lot and attending workshops and conferences. For many organizations a lack of familiarity with the terms and concepts of sustainability presents an initial obstacle. The normal starting place for most organizations is an introductory presentation or workshop on the basic concepts of sustainability. Sustainability is a vague term and one that is still assumed to mean financial or market sustainability to the uninitiated business person. How many people in your organization are at least generally conversant with concepts like Triple Bottom Line, Zero Waste, Natural Step or other common sustainability models and ideas?
What to do Education and exposure is the obvious strategy here. There are a multitude of approaches for bringing the concepts to people in your organization. The Natural Step Network offers free briefings to members to help them get started and several introductory full day public workshops throughout the year as well. Sustainable Northwest sponsors an annual three-day conference on sustainability in Portland. If you have the expertise in-house, you can conduct your own trainings or invite guests in for presentations.
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I don't see a match to what I do
After getting excited by the concepts of sustainability we found ourselves asking, "We're organizational consultants. What role can we play in the sustainability movement?" We began to realize that implementing sustainability initiatives would not be that different from implementing any of the other organizational change efforts we had been working on for the last 13 years.
The connection between your existing role or function and sustainability is not always self-evident. People may need help seeing the links. Sometimes others in your own organization can be models or you may want to look outside your company for examples. Last fall we orchestrated a series of site visits for the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department so that their regional developers could see the connection between sustainability and competitive advantage and pass that perspective along to the struggling industries in their areas.
What to do
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I don't trust that this is real or lasting
While this wasn't an issue for us at AXIS (we are totally convinced that sustainability is here to stay), members of your organization may be cynical members of the "flavor of the month" club and assume that sustainability is a fad that will go the way of whatever initiative was launched last year. Usually this attitude is rooted in a lack of faith that leadership is sincerely behind the effort. Or perhaps the members of your organization suffer from "change fatigue" and are simply resistant to anything that looks new or like something else they have to take on. These symptoms will take concerted effort to overcome. Consider the following strategies to breathe energy into your employees.
What to do
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Karl Henrik Robert, primary author of The Natural Step framework for sustainability, understood from the very beginning that no one can achieve sustainability all at once; "It's called the natural STEP, not the natural LEAP," he is fond of saying. You get there one step at a time. Like a toddler taking his first steps, there are plenty of things to trip over. Our own experience and the experience with many of our clients have uncovered two primary obstacles. As people in your organization come to understand sustainability they begin to puzzle over how to apply it. They are like children who have learned to ambulate vertically, but haven't yet mastered the intricacies of their environments. Getting the principles of walking is very different from navigating stairs or slippery linoleum. In this stage it is important to give people opportunities to try out new things in a safe environment and to provide them the tools and support they need to do them.
I don't know how to apply it to what I do
So, at AXIS we got that sustainability was important and were convinced we had a role to play, but wondered exactly what that role would look like? We wondered what services or products would we could offer that would make sense to our clients? We conducted dozens of interviews and created a mind map relating our services and expertise to various issues of sustainability. We began to retool our products and realign our services. One of the first results was our Sustainability Series of how to booklets. They were a result of our asking ourselves, if we got a call tomorrow to help a client implement a sustainability initiative, what would we do? The question focused us, helped us expose our knowledge and skills gaps, pointed us to the people with whom we should form strategic alliances, AND resulted in a marketable product. We think everyone stuck at this step could benefit from a similar analytical approach. If you can envision a sustainable version of your job, then you can begin to see the actions necessary to move you toward it.
What to do
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I don't have the tools, methods, technologies, etc. to apply this to my work
When the task is clear, then the tools and technologies you need become evident. It was clear to us after writing the Sustainability Series that we needed either to learn about or link up with people who could conduct energy audits, perform life cycle assessments, do eco-charettes and the like. Information resources and references regarding sustainability are propagating like rabbits. If your Google search results in an overwhelming number of hits, try starting at our own web site for a manageable sized list of good books and other resources. www.pacifier.com/~axis/publications.html. (Click on suggested reading list and download a file organized by topic.)
What to do
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Even after developing a level of sophistication around sustainability, employees can get frustrated by the limits of their internal and external environments. Imagine an active child who is ready to run, jump and climb, but can't get to the playground. In this stage the most helpful thing and organization can do is to break down the barriers to performance and support the creative ideas employees generate.
I don't have the latitude within my job to do what I think needs doing
When your organization has only two people in it like ours, you can be pretty nimble. Likely yours has more employees and is a little harder to redirect. This was the case with our recent client. People wondered how they could pursue their ideas about sustainability when their job descriptions and performance expectations made no mention of it. Would their managers really allow them to reprioritize their responsibilities so that they could begin to reshape their jobs? This obstacle absolutely requires leadership support. This is where management's walk has to match the talk.
What to do
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I don't see the "market" for my ideas
Once we at AXIS got clear about what we were offering, we started looking around for the clients with whom we could work. Let's just say that in the first year or two customers didn't exactly break down our doors. But over time, we built our reputation. Now the sustainability portion of our work takes up the majority of our time. You may find yourself in a similar situation. What if your customers aren't asking for a greener product? What if they don't care that you are a carbon neutral service organization? How do you justify your efforts if there is no apparent pay off?
Every market leader has faced this dilemma at one point or another. The good news about getting out ahead of your competition is that you are primed to be an industry leader. The bad news is that you get there often before the customer does. But the smartest companies don't wait for their customers to ask for something, they anticipate their needs and then sell the customers on the benefits.
What to do
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Identifying Your Stage of Development
We're guessing that as you read this article you recognized members of your own organization at one or more of the stages described. Diagnosing the point in your development is important to choosing the strategies necessary for moving forward. Doing the right thing at the wrong time will have little positive impact. Training people over and over again doesn't help them if they are at one of the later stages. While each situation and organization is different, we think many of the strategies we've shared here are a logical starting place. Adapt these as needed to fit your situation or use them as a jumping off place to generate other ideas.
If you have other ideas, we'd love to hear them. Or if you want feedback on something you'd like to try, we'd be happy to chat with you about them. If you think you need more help, consider one of the workshops listed below.
The organizations that are most successful in reaping the benefits of sustainability are ones that harness the passion and commitment of all employees. Once exposed to the concepts of sustainability, most people agree that it is worthwhile. However, many people struggle to figure out how to translate the theory into action, into their everyday jobs. This workshop makes that connection, linking individual passions to organizational strategy, often unleashing a host of valuable new ideas that can enhance the organization's effectiveness and also fulfill employees' desire for meaningful work.
Use this workshop to...
What will you get out of this in-house workshop?
For information contact Darcy Hitchcock @ darcy@axisperformance.com
To help people learn about how to apply sustainability principles, practices and organizational change, we are collaborating with Portland State University on a professionalcertificate program entitled Implementing Sustainability. It is intended for people who are trying to implement/apply sustainability inside their organizations but it would also be helpful for environmental and OD consultants who want to expand their practices to incorporate sustainability. There are four core classes:
Then pick 2 of the 4 electives:
Classes are a full day separated by a two weeks so that you can apply
what you learn in your organization. $1500 for the full certificate program
(6 classes). Individual classes are $275. The first run of the series will
start in Sept.-Dec., 2003. For more information, go to http://www.SUSTAIN.pdx.edu
or contact Darcy Hitchcock
.
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