Why the Sustainability Movement Needs More Strategy Activation

Sustainability is one of the largest collective shifts that companies will make in the next century. Companies are experiencing pressure from all sides--investors, industry organizations, customers, employees, and vendors. They can use this energy to their advantage to:

1. Increase employee engagement 

2. Unlock new business opportunities 

3. Generate more revenue 

4. Prepare for imminent regulation 

Or the flipside:

1. Follow business-as-usual and lose more employees 

2. Miss potential revenue opportunities 

3. Be ill-prepared for unavoidable regulations 

4. Lose money from increased costs due to climate change

Successful implementation of sustainability initiatives requires bridging the gap between strategy and implementation. To bridge the gap, companies must align the C-suite and activate employees’ ability to own initiatives for long-term viability. 

Sustainability consultancies are uniquely positioned to help solve this problem. Third Eye Sustainability helps companies meet emerging demands from planet, employees, and their communities by implementing pilot projects in alignment with both leadership, employee, and community needs.

The services that Third Eye Sustainability offers include:

Analysis and Assessment of Impact

• Carbon Accounting

• Waste Audits

• Return On Investment of Pilot Projects
  

Implementation/Pilot Project Roll-Out

• Creating small, sustainable pilot projects with measurable impact to meet ambitious sustainability and impact goals

• Breaking down siloes and bringing employees into the sustainability conversation using story-telling, visuals, and small group dialogue

• Integrating sustainability metrics, goals, and updates into current project management software
  

Culture Change Through Skills Building

• Imbedding sustainability into the culture of the organization through updates of job descriptions and up-skilling workers to meet demands

• Imbedding sustainability into team success metrics

Assessment

• Integrating sustainability into annual employee wellbeing surveys and other administrative activities to track progress

Over the past year, I interviewed more than 30 sustainability professionals (consultants and CSO’s) and change managers seeking to understand the disconnect they were experiencing between strategy and implementation.

Story 1

One sustainability consultant from a top consultancy explained to me the “lack of continuity of sustainability strategy across the company,” “siloed sustainability departments,” and projects running out of budget due to the lack of alignment with leadership’s agenda. Third Eye Sustainability and other consultancies have the capacities and people to solve these problems and reduce the risk of sustainability strategy falling flat. Third Eye Sustainability can be a uniting force across the entire supply chain, boosting morale, engagement, and productivity.

Story 2

A Chief Sustainability Officer for a commercial cruise line, expressed the frustration she was feeling when her insistence to bring in eco-tourism practices into on-shore excursions for guests was met with mystified looks from staff, and questions like, “why are we doing this?” There are massive disconnects between centralized sustainability departments and employees creating kinks in the flow of information. Third Eye Sustainability's services have the ability to change the way employees engage in sustainability initiatives.

The Bottom Line

Sustainability departments and teams are being given a seemingly impossible task: to lead the company towards a zero-carbon future. 3, 2, 1, GO! No wonder they aren’t making their targets. What if Third Eye Sustainability could make that easier, more fun, and profitable? There is an opportunity to help make sustainability a long-lasting part of companies business activities to reduce risk, increase employee retention, and productivity leading to more profits.