ACTION: Taking your first steps

Key questions that you should be asking yourself (ves) are:

• What organisation change is necessary and desirable?
• What management processes do we need to change?
• How will we communicate the sustainability message and changes identified?
• Are the links between words and action strong enough?

Who needs to be involved?

Senior and middle management, board members, sustainable development champions and/or implementation team.

Key activities

• Agreeing and implementing a sustainable development action plan, with timescales and milestones.
• Assigning roles and responsibilities for specific actions in line with skills and competence.
• Implementing sustainable development awareness and training programmes as required.
• Consulting and communicating on the agreed actions.
• Reviewing and refining corporate governance and sustainable development reporting arrangements.
• Identifying opportunities to influence external agencies e.g. community bodies, employers, trade organisations and suppliers in sustainability terms.
• Fostering linkages at senior and middle management level between those responsible for different areas of action e.g. estates and curriculum. See this report from London Sustainability Exchange (LSX) for ideas.
  
• Engaging with the community.
• Reporting on SD activity at management meetings and to governors or board members.

A selection of useful guidance here includes:

• SIGMA research & development report on Learning, Innovation and Culture Change. This report explores how organisations can initiate change in line with the principles of sustainable development.

• A useful SIGMA review of 20 standards and guidelines relevant to the implementation of sustainable development. It includes the UN Global Compact, EMAS, The Natural Step, Social Accountability 8000, Investors in People, Global Sullivan Principles, The Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code, Balanced Scorecard, the European Foundation Quality Model Excellence Model, The Global Reporting Initiative, AA1000 framework, Combined Code of Corporate Governance, ISO family of standards, the London Benchmarking Group, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, Caux Roundtable Principles for Business, Amnesty International’s Human Rights Guidelines for Companies, the Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility, Business Impact Task Force, UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy.

• Communicating Sustainability. UNEP. (2005) This guide shows how communication can be used to promote more sustainable lifestyles. It is designed to be read by anyone who wants to develop and implement awareness campaigns on these issues.

When do they start?

From the outset and ongoing.

Expected outcomes

• Record of sustainable development activities undertaken and their impact on performance.
• Sustainable development organisational chart showing roles, responsibilities, reporting and communication lines.
• Revised corporate governance sustainable development reporting procedures.
• New partnerships and collaborative activities with community and businesses on sustainable development issues.
• Organisational websites, prospectus and other communication devices make explicit reference to sustainability actions and impacts.
• Sustainable Development should inform all CPD programmes, and training should be incorporated into induction for new staff so the knowledge base is maintained. See the section on Staff Development for more ideas.
  

Recognise that cultural change takes time. Take time to explain change plans and identify benefits for those involved in the change. Learn from previous change processes what worked well and what was less successful?


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