embedding sustainability in organizational culture - Network for ...

Chapter 1: 5: Introduction Building Momentum for Change
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In another case, the organization was most successful when mixing short and
longer term goals and then allowing employees flexibility in how they achieved
these goals. Employees were also given resources that allowed them to test and
evaluate ideas. This approach provided management control over the process while
also building a culture of free and creative thought. Had management been more
prescriptive, it is unlikely that as much progress would have been made (Smith &
Brown, 2003). Sharma and Vredenburg (1998) found that proactive companies
created an environment that fostered experimentation and new ideas related to
sustainability by allowing managers to use their discretion and by encouraging
employees to respond to new opportunities. This resulted in both a change in culture
and organizational capabilities.
In the innovation literature, Stopford and Baden-Fuller (1994) illustrate how a
learning culture was fostered by setting an innovation challenge for the organization.
Employees were encouraged to conduct many experiments to meet the challenge
and more importantly, the failures caused the organization to shift strategy in order
to overcome the dilemmas standing in the way of meeting the challenge.
The journey toward sustainability will require new and different ways of doing
things. The studies reviewed here suggest that welcoming, supporting and
encouraging experimenting can help create a culture of sustainability and
innovation. Organizational leaders need to encourage new ideas by being supportive
of trial-and-error and experimentation and allowing employees a certain degree of
freedom in deciding how to achieve sustainability goals and targets.
assessment: Supported
re-envision
Periodically, organizations should step back from everyday operational issues and
think holistically and prospectively. Re-envisioning involves determining what
sustainability means to the organization and how this impacts the next steps toward
embedded sustainability. It also involves developing a new conception of how the
firm could or should operate or imagining an ideal future state for the organization
and allowing this vision to drive current actions. The practices covered here are
defining sustainability and back-casting.
dEfinE SuStainaBility: develop an agreed-upon definition of sustainability
for the company
• Involve multiple stakeholders in defining sustainability
• Ensure that the definition of sustainability is consistent with the
organization’s values
• Regularly re-assess whether everyone has the same understanding of
what sustainability means for the organization
Many people have expressed frustration at the ill-defined concepts that surround
sustainability. It is important to decide exactly what sustainability means to a given
organization and ensure that all employees and other stakeholders have a common
understanding.
Encourage discussions between managers and senior leaders to agree on a
conception of sustainability (Colbert & Kurucz, 2007). Solicit input from internal
and external stakeholders to establish an agreed-upon definition of sustainability
that is relevant to the business (NBS, 2010). Choose a definition of sustainability
carefully, because it can shape and influence employee behaviours (Hagen, 2008).
One organization suggests continually asking whether sustainability is defined well
enough and whether that definition is interpreted similarly by all (NBS, 2010).
While the value of collectively defining sustainability was proposed both by
practitioners and researchers, we found no research that explicitly explored its
impact on embedding sustainability.
assessment: proposed but not tested
Back-caSt: Envision a different future and identify the actions required in
order to reach it
• Imagine a desired future in which the organization is ‘sustainable’
• Work backwards from the future vision to determine the necessary
steps to get there
• Set distinct milestones to help construct the path to the future
Many of the books written for practitioners suggest that back-casting is useful
practice to ensure an alignment between what the organization is doing now and
where it ultimately wants to be. It is about building a logical set of stepping stones
from the future back to the present.