An effective plan for long-term sustainability involves more than just defining a vision, creating a strategy, implementing sustainability concepts, and managing the on-going processes.  Our sustainability consulting has observed that leading companies are stepping outside traditional business structure to add spontaneity to their sustainability plans. These processes often involve methods that more effectively engage business sustainability stakeholders in the process.  In fact, our sustainability consulting finds that the best in class companies are promoting greater eco awareness and enabling innovative business cultures.

Researching further, we come across a recent Harvard Business Review post, Best Practices for Leading via Innovation.  Citing a Hay Group “Best Companies for Leadership” survey, the article discusses the actions of well-known leaders such as GE, P&G and IBM.  From these survey results, five practices are identified that any company can adopt to create a culture of innovation.

1. Create a safe space for innovation
2. Enable organizational agility
3. Broaden perspectives
4. Promote and reward collaboration
5. Celebrate success and learn from setbacks

While business and economic growth are most often the ultimate goals in business, there is value in the knowledge gained from success and even failure.  By allowing for flexibility and promoting innovation across the value chain, an organization captures the interests of its business sustainability stakeholders and increases the likelihood of their active participation in an aligned path forward.

At Taiga Company, we maintain an open culture as part of our core values, and our professional consulting encourages clients to include creative expression, exploration, and active engagement as part of their business sustainability plan.