Sustainability Has Its Sticking Points

For years, our professional consulting has worked with business leaders who get stuck in a continuous loop of business sustainability implementation. These companies often have great ideas but become overly focused on the actions, strategies, and next steps in the process. In many cases, change management becomes a sticking point that can not be overcome.

While stakeholder engagement may seem easy, it is often the most difficult yet critical component of successful change management. Many great business ideas have come to live and die by the acceptance or rejection from a company’s key stakeholders.

In Nokia’s ‘We Champion’ program, the company is driving its sustainable development through its stakeholders.   Nokia is empowering its employee passions to drive sustainable change within their organization.

Companies often get off on the path of implementation before their employees have an opportunity to engage. In a recent post, Tips to Facilitate Sustainable Change, we discussed the difference between selling change and engaging people in the process. Through active engagement in the change management process, companies are aligning business sustainability with the needs of their employees. Leading organizations are taking specific action to:

•    Incorporate sustainability concepts into employee development.

•    Promote employee discussion of business sustainability opportunities.

•    Encourage feedback from stakeholders about change management processes.

At Taiga Company, our sustainability consulting works with businesses and individuals to recognize the value in early involvement to avoid sticking points.   Our small business resources utilize processes and tools to engage key stakeholders early in the organization’s sustainable development strategies and actions.