Corporate Strategy Management
CONNECT, ENCOURAGE
In the second of our five-part series ‘As If People Matter’, Michael Townsend explains how engaging people is vital in making a successful and lasting transition towards sustainable business and delivering tangible business benefits
“The biggest challenge in sustainability is engaging people and delivering the necessary behavioural change. This is all about how to turn a moment into a movement.”
Cristina Amorim
Vice president of global citizenship, Life Technologies
ast year was an incredible year for change. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Movement, people around the world have demonstrated the combined strength of their feelings, as they try and influ- ence a better world. It is at once amazing and inspiring to see how people can come together and strive towards positive change for the greater good. And yet it is also people that present one of the greatest barriers to change, too. Perhaps none more so than the powerful vested inter- ests, as they seek to retain the status quo. We see on many occasions how difficult it is to change our big picture in genuine pursuit of a sustainable and low carbon world, evidenced by the continuing saga of the climate change deal – the latest instalment played out so predictably in Durban. Machiavelli was right, “the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and only lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.”
L
But change can also be difficult at an indi- vidual level, too. Yes, we like the idea of going green, but are we really ready to make the sac- rifices that are necessary? Are we really ready to change our habits, our daily routine and our way of life? In a 2010 survey by Accenture,
24 | Sustainable Business | January/February 2012
93% of CEOs claimed that sustainability was important to the future success of their busi- nesses, while admitting that they universally struggled to integrate sustainability into their day-to-day operations. Real change is hard. One of the key learning points from the Global Research Project is that people factors and behavioural change are critical, but often over-looked or under-valued factors within any sustainable business change programme. Of course, one can find many examples of community-based initiatives, volunteer pro- grammes, and of commitments to equality and diversity, but it is less common to find companies that engage with their people right at the heart of business change, and even more rare to find companies that truly capture the benefits from doing so.
Engaging with people and influencing the right behaviour is a vital factor underpinning the successful deployment and lasting change. Whether directors, employees, suppliers, cus- tomers or investors, we all need to start think- ing and acting more sustainably, if we are to truly deliver sustainable business success. One of the key recommendations aris- ing from the Sky Future Leaders Study put improved employee engagement right at the top of its Five Point Plan, in order to create a culture that thinks sustainably. Two key ben- efits flow from this: firstly, better-informed and engaged employees are more likely to help implement sustainability policies and make them work; and secondly, that employees will have new ideas for change that businesses will be able to tap into. Simple.
Let us consider two contrasting approaches to people engagement within sustainable busi-
ness change programmes; one about how to achieve employee buy-in to delivering a new, more sustainable way of working in a small company, and another case looking at how to get people engaged in thinking and acting more sustainably in a relatively large business. Both examples provide transferable lessons for many organisations.
Enabling people to change in support of beneficial business change was at the heart of Apollo Motor Group’s radical shift towards a more sustainable business operation; in this case, very much focused on winning hearts and minds. Trevor Ferris, the MD of Eco Repair Systems (an ecological repair systems supplier to Apollo and the automotive indus- try), offered to come down to the workshop and engage with Apollo’s workforce, not only to demonstrate how to use the new technolo- gies, but also to show how the new approach would generate increased earnings for the repair technicians, as well as better returns for the business.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36