Isn't it strange how people change when they go from the home to their workplace? Those who think about environmental impacts, recycling, turning off the lights at home, but forget about them when they get to work. There may be others who do this in the reverse.
I am sure there are lots of reasons why people do this, I know I used to step into my work persona when I went to work. When I work with businesses on sustainability, what I am seeking to do is work with the appropriate people in the organisation to understand what the organisation is about, what its aspirations are and what its values are. I may also look at the personal values of those I am working with. This will help to identify any conflicts and hopefully enable them to be addressed.
Understanding the values of the organisation I am working with, I will then set out an approach to sustainability which links with those values, prioritising the areas within sustainability that creates a best fit, while also challenging the organisation to address sustainability effectively.
In working with businesses on sustainability, I will begin by understanding what the business wants to achieve from the work. Is it an understanding that they will then turn into something they implement? Is it creating a sustainability strategy and / or policy for them? Or is it taking that and working with them to implement it into their organisation? Or all of theses?
Once I understand what the business is hoping to achieve, I then work with appropriate people to understant the values, and agree the sustainability approach. From there I will work on how to integrate it into the organisation.
"The policies of sustainability make change necessary...
The policies of well-being make change desirable."
Jonathon Porrit - Capitalism as if the World matters.
