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Snapshot on Sustainability and Organisational Change

“The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein”.

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Contents

• Steps on the journey: 3A. Vision, Strategy and Commitment 5B. Systems and Frameworks 7C. Bottom-up and Ownership 9D. Shared Responsibility and Values 11

• To Realise a Sustainability Strategy Staff Behaviour Needs to Change 13

• Behaviour Change is Achieved Through: Knowing, Wanting and Empowering 14

• Staff Engagement Ideas 15• References/ Read more 16

3

A. Vision, Strategy and Commitment

B. Systems and Frameworks

C. Bottom-up Approach and Ownership

Steps on the journey

D. Shared Responsibility and Values

4

A. Vision, Commitment and Strategy

Where do you want to go?How does this relate to sustainability?

5

A. Vision, Strategy and Commitment

• Develop a stimulating sustainability vision and a clear sustainability strategy connected to the company’s core business

• Be totally committed to the vision and strategy

6

B. Systems and Frameworks

How are the building blocks related to the sustainability strategy? And to the motivations of employees?

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Structure

System

Style/ Leadership

Staff

Skill

Strategy

Shared ValuesUnwritten Rules

The 7S McKinsey model

B. Systems and Frameworks

8

• Senior Management needs to develop systems and frameworks that enable sustainability

• Systems thinking needs to be stimulated• Build in reporting and measuring• Celebrate, reward and shame

B. Systems and Frameworks

9

C. Bottom-up approach and ownership

11

10

C. Bottom-up approach and ownership

• Drive a bottom-up approach• Respect/trust staff to give them the space/authority to

integrate sustainability into their normal work• Harness people’s enthusiasm and focus their attention• Respect what has been done historically

11

D. Shared Responsibility and Values

13

12

D. Shared Responsibility and Values

• To be successful you need a connection and input from everyone

• Use creative internal communication• Align sustainability programs with company’s values

and core business programs

1313

To activate your sustainability strategy, staff behaviour needs to change

Strategic Priorities

Target Groups: What behaviour is required?

Vision

Innovation

StaffChange AgentsManagers

Etc.

Team work

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Values

Based on ‘’Culture Trainings Workshop” Boer and Croon Oct 2003

1414

Behaviour Change is Achieved Through: Knowing, Wanting and Empowering

Mobilising Talent:Knowing, Wanting, Being empowered

Talent Mix: Recruiting, Retaining and Dismissing

Knowing •Does the organisation have clear strategic priorities?•Are these priorities clearly communicated? •Do staff understand what the strategic priorities mean for their daily work? Are they internalised in KPI’s?

Being empowered•Which skills and tools are necessary? •Do employees have correct and sufficient responsibilities? •Do the company’s systems and structure empower employees

to execute the strategic priorities? •Does the organisation have the right staff to realise the sustainability strategy?

Wanting•Do staff want to make the desired shift? •Are staff involved with the formulation of targets? •Do senior staff provide the right example? •Does the company’s culture support behavioural change? •Are staff rewarded in line with the priorities?

RecruitingAre staff recruited with the right values and skills at the right levels?

RetainingAre people retained within the organisation? (through material and/or emotional means)

DismissingIs the company dismissing people who are opposing the sustainability strategy?

Based on ‘’Culture Trainings Workshop’ Boer and Croon Oct 2003

15

Staff Engagement Ideas - examples from business • Ecological footprint calculations

Invited staff to participate for the past 2 years - there was a significant increase in participation the second year and the average footprint decreased - it was also a good measure for individual staff to drive change.

• Harvest dayStaff organised a harvest lunch where they asked all staff to bring in produce they had grown at home, fruit, vegetables, flowers. It was a successful way to encourage discussion about their gardens, worm farms, sharing of ideas and food and increase staff morale.

• Hired actors to do a skit about paper consumption in the office – this was a great engaging activity – element of surprise and even staff who missed out heard about it.

• Example of a disincentive for behaviour change After auditing over a month and reminding staff to turn off computers one evening a black balloon was left on the desk of any staff member who didn’t turn off their computer at night – the balloon represented a kilo of CO2 and followed a public campaign with a similar icon. This was an obvious disincentive for staff and the reduction in energy consumption was significant.

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References/ Reading more• Baker, Angela and Andrew Stanton. How Organisational Change is Contributing to a Sustainable Bushfire Program.

Nature Conservation Council of NSW. Feb. 2004http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cee/bakerstanton.pdf

• Dunphy, D., A. Griffıths and S. Benn. Organizational Change For Corporate Sustainability: A Guide For Leaders and Change Agents of The Future. London: Routledge. 2003

• Hechtman, M. Candidates now searching for greener pastures. The Australian Financial Review 29 Feb. 2008. p. 68• Hunting, SA and D. Tilbury. Shifting Towards Sustainability. Six Insights into successful organisational change for

sustainability. Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage. 2006 http://www.aries.mq.edu.au/pdf/InsightsBooklet.pdf

• Lyon, David. How can you help organization change to meet the corporate responsibility agenda?In: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. Volume 11, Issue 3 , 3 Sep 2004. P.133-139

• Schein, Edgar H. The Corporate Culture Survival Guide: Sense and Nonsense about Culture Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 1999

• Scott-Morgan, Peter B. Removing Barriers to Change: The Unwritten Rules of the Game. Prisim, Q4, pp.5-18, 1993http://internal-relations.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/unwritten-rules.pdf.

• Smythe, John. The democratization of strategy and change: headlines from a recent study into employee engagement. Communication World, March-April, 2005 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_2_22/ai_n13648076

• The McKinsey 7S Framework. Ensuring that all parts of your organization work in harmony.http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm

For more information please contact: Total Environment Centre - Green CapitalIrmine van der Geest/ Danielle Domone

+61 2 9261 3566