Your Green Review

One of the biggest issues small and midsized enterprises face when it comes to sustainability is a lack of clear direction. Developing a Sustainability Vision may seem a waste of time for SME’s, but how can you plan strategically for the future or expect employees to rally behind you without understanding where you ultimately hope to go and why?

One of my favorite Sustainability Vision Statements comes from TheGreenOffice.com: “Our vision is of a workplace where human and ecological health are the sole byproducts of operation.” Whether The Green Office ever reaches this goal is beside the point; imagining-and striving to create-a better world engenders a sense of community, innovation and continual progress in cultural and corporate fabric that fundamentally drives bottom line impacts (‘Green’ retailer or not).

Purpose before performance

Just like launching a new business, a successful sustainability program begins with a defined sense of purpose. Why do we do what we do? The Natural Step, an international framework for sustainability, prompts organizations to express their visions by asking “In an ideal future, how will you interact with the environment and your neighbors?” Breaking this overarching vision down into smaller pieces catalyzes a shift in organizational mindsets from “what can one person do” to “what can I do today?” by making the larger vision relevant in day-to-day activities. Your vision’s capacity to change behaviors outside of the office may not be certain but knowing where you want your organization as a whole to end up helps determine which steps are necessary to close the gap between your current reality and ideal future while building cohesion behind one central idea.

From Vision to Empowerment

Moving from vision to action isn’t always easy, but often all of the resources needed to implement such programs are hiding in plain sight. It might seem obvious, but we all want to work towards something we believe in. We want to work for a company driven by its values. By tapping into shared values and a unified sense of purpose, you empower people to become engaged around initiatives that align with their personal philosophies and also support your organization’s long-term success. A compelling Vision of Sustainability has the power to excite imagination, ignite innovation and lay the groundwork for its adoption without stifling creativity or passion. Central to this idea is having the capacity to harness passion by allowing new ideas to develop and flourish while keeping focus on those actions that support your vision.

Keeping on Track

Your vision for the future can act as your compass and ensure that the efforts you undertake move you consistently towards your desired outcome. Now, most would agree that trial and error are an inescapable part of developing a successful strategy, but too many ad-hoc projects can diminish organization-wide support by stretching resources thin and allowing efforts to become disjointed. Before undertaking proposed initiatives (for example, planting an organic garden), evaluating whether or not projects move you closer towards your Vision of Sustainability can help determine whether or not further investigation is warranted. As Cynthia Georgeson, director of corporate public affairs worldwide at SC Johnson, recently said in a Greenbiz.com article: the two most important components of a successful sustainability program are “focus, focus, focus, and consistency, consistency, consistency.”

The Message:

I love this excerpt from Alex Steffen in the book, World Changing:

“The bravest and most important thing any of us can do is to actively imagine a much better future: not to imagine it in the casual sense of daydreaming about it, but to imagine it in the way an architect imagines a house she is planning to build-to imagine it as reality, to try to see it whole, to lovingly dwell on its details, and to see ourselves walking through it one day”

Indeed, imagining a better future is undoubtedly one of the most important steps SME’s and individuals alike can take in the movement towards sustainability.