Embedding sustainability into cultural DNA in the workplace

The Network for Business Sustainability (NBS) looks at what it takes to embed sustainability into the “cultural DNA” of an organization. It finds that what’s required is “a combination of different practices, including those that are formal and informal, strategic and tactical, top-down and bottom-up” (page 7). The report compares the sustainability movement to the safety and ethical conduct movements of years past and highlights the best practices that helped those movements succeed:

• Safety goals were integrated into a company’s strategic objectives
• Responsibilities were embedded into roles, or new roles were created
• Formal safety policies were written and enforced
• Employees received regular education and training related to workplace safety

To get a sense of how those practices can help the sustainability movement succeed in the workplace, let’s look at Hydro One – Ontario’s largest electricity transmission and distribution company – which has partnered with WWF-Canada on the Living Planet @ Work program. We interviewed Stewart Sears, who leads Hydro One’s corporate Greener Choices team.
Stewart Sears: “I oversee a program called Greener Choices. We have a really successful external customer program to help customers save energy and use electricity wisely, and a couple of years ago a member of our Board of Directors challenged us on what we were doing internally to operate our business in an energy-efficient way. There are three elements to the Greener Choices program. Probably the most important is employee engagement – making sure staff has an opportunity to participate in projects that help reduce their impacts where they live and work. The other elements are Hydro One’s vehicle fleet and facilities, and looking at emissions reduction opportunities in those areas. We’ve been doing energy audits and retrofits and we’re already very happy with the savings we’ve been seeing.”

(c) Hydro One
The success of Greener Choices can be chalked up to what the NBS report calls “a portfolio approach to embedding sustainability.” We’d like to call out specific practices that helped drive the program’s successes. The first is the way the program leader’s role has been configured and who’s been tapped to fill it. Stewart’s been given a voice in corporate management, which allows him to engage senior leaders. One of the reasons he’s been given that voice (and is heard) is his commitment to a rigorous process of goal-setting, ongoing measurement of progress and clear lines of accountability.
SS: “I find that the more structured you make an initiative the more it helps, so we’ve built Greener Choices on that approach. If you follow it, nothing slips between the cracks and there’s a mechanism to deal with any situation. The team has seven priority areas – like employee communications and engagement, and business IT – and a designated line of business has accountability for each of the elements. We set objectives and targets for each, and from there develop projects or initiatives. Those are tracked throughout the year. Every couple of months, we review the status of the work plan and overlay it with considerations such as new regulatory developments that could have an impact, emerging trends, and feedback we’ve received.”
The NBS report looks at well-studied culture change movements of the past and how they embedded responsibilities into roles and enforced policies. That very formal approach to running a team is another big reason for the success of Greener Choices, and so is the way the team has integrated all Hydro One’s stakeholders.
SS: “The team was formed with representatives from every Hydro One line of business. That’s one of the strengths of the group. For us to be successful at advancing sustainability through the organization, we have to have buy-in from across the business. So the vice presidents all nominated a person to the team. We have people at all levels – from junior staff, who hear about concerns in the field, to directors, who hear about the company’s higher-level directions.”
The team’s senior members build support at the top level, gain access to resources and help overcome barriers, while more junior members meaningfully engage and connect with the general workforce. With that wide range of representatives on the team, it’s not surprising that, as Stewart himself notes, one of the keys to the team’s success is communication.
SS: “Everyone has to sense that we’re in this together. If you don’t hear about issues, or there’s silence for months on end, support or morale could suffer. We’ve set up very clear responsibilities for two-way communication. We have meetings every two months to talk about broader issues, and the role of every member is to bring information forward – something in their line of business that has been raised as an idea or a challenge. At the same time, the team has discussions about initiatives, and the member’s role is to take that back to their line of business, then disseminate it.”
Targets and accountability are also important to Stewart – and the NBS report agrees they’re critical to embedding an initiative into organizational DNA. One of the NBS specific best practices is integrating the initiative’s goals into the company’s strategic objectives. Stewart’s not-so-secret weapon there is metrics.
SS: “Getting approval for projects that may have a softer benefit is a struggle for many environmental leaders in industry. The challenge is always to get quantifiable numbers, so we take a business case approach. With energy audits and retrofits, for example, we’re looking at low-hanging fruit: what has a payback within five to seven years. There are opportunities to show significant savings with fairly minimal investment, and that’s going very well.  Some information isn’t as readily available as we would like, but that’s where awareness and engagement comes into play. The more people realize the areas we pay attention to, the easier it’s going to be to get help in tracking the numbers.”
Stewart’s awareness that change takes time – that there is no silver bullet – helps the team to thrive over the long term.
SS: “My biggest frustration is that I feel we could be moving a lot more quickly. I had to hold myself back and accept that this is a process; this is a big ship to turn around. It’s better to push gradually and steadily and not give up than to try one big push and not see any movement. I’ve had enough experience to know there are hills and valleys, and I’m optimistic that we are making positive improvements.”
What also helps, especially in a drawn-out process, is celebrating landmarks. The benefits of celebration are huge. Recognition leads to pride, and pride leads to a deeper engagement in the very activity that’s being celebrated. Recognition has an influence outside an organization, too. It showcases leadership and inspires other companies to take action, driving change throughout the business community.
SS: “When the Canadian Electrical Association named us as their Sustainability Company of the Year, I sent out an email to the team members right away, congratulating them and asking them to share the good news with their lines of business. When we had our year-end team meeting, we did a little celebration at the meeting – nothing too elaborate, just some doughnuts! But you need to mark these achievements. The successes and the discouragements – you need to acknowledge both and move on.”