Sustainable Leadership

We all know that riding a bike is good for the environment, our health, and our pocketbooks, but here’s one more way it pays to bike – The Bicycle Commuter Tax Benefit.  You can get paid to bike to work. 

Well, hop in the saddle because  that is what many sustainable businesses across the nation are doing – becoming bike friendly businesses and paying their employees to commute by bicycle.  More than 500,000 American employees now work at a Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB), thanks to visionary leadership in the private and public sector. Just recently, the League of American Bicyclist announced 67 new Bike Friendly Businesses, who joined the ranks of the 412 local businesses, government agencies and Fortune 500 companies that are transforming the American workplace.

“These leaders are at the forefront of a movement to make American businesses more competitive, sustainable and attractive to the best and brightest employees,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. “An investment in bicycling enhances employee health, increases sustainability and improves the bottom line.”

Your two wheels are recognized by the IRS as a “qualified transportation fringe benefit” More specifically, the Bicycle Commuter Tax Benefit has been on the books of the Internal Revenue Service for the past three years, but it still goes quite under used. Any employer, if they chose to do so, may provide a reimbursement of up to $20 per month for bike-related expenses incurred by the employee. That’s an extra $20 in your paycheck.   Explained in our eco friendly consulting, that things like spare tubes, bar tape, riding gloves, eye wear, cycling clothes, commuter bags, rain gear, lights, gloves, helmet, cost of maintenance, even the cost of a new commuter bike, basically anything you can purchase at a bike shop qualifies for reimbursement. One point of discinction: this is a benefit offered by your employer, not something you can claim on your personal taxes. 

What are the benefits of bike commuting programs for businesses?   Aside from being part of a sustainable business strategy, there are countless benefits to employers in adopting a bike commuting program: 

• Increase worker productivity: Fit employees are more alert, more productive, perform better and more efficiently.
• Improve employee health.
• Lower health care costs: healthier employees can reduce health insurance costs.
• Reduce parking cost.
• Reduced carbon emissions.
• Reduce turnover: Employers who appreciate workers' personal needs have less employee turnover.
• Supporting bike commuting is less expensive than an in-office fitness facility.
• Improve work/ life balance: Bike commuting can be substituted for the gym, saving employee’s personal time.
• Community engagement: Bicycles can be produced and maintained locally by local bike shops contributing to local job opportunities as part of a sustainable economy.
• Improve company image.
• Expand eco awareness within the organization and community.
• Link wellness programs with the corporate sustainability plan.

Becoming a bike friendly office is easy. Click here for a list of frequently asked questions on the benefit. To learn more about green cycling and sustainability, visit us at Taiga Company. 

Since the introduction of the concept of the triple bottom line, supporters and critics have debated the ability to link business sustainability actions to business profitability.  Without a definitive financial incentive, companies have traditionally not been receptive to the idea of integrating sustainability concepts into core business practices.  Recent trends tends to indicate that the business world may be changing their view, but what are the results saying?

The GreenBiz article, What Puts Companies on Top of the Sustainability Leadership List, explores the criteria that define today’s business sustainability elite.  Originally intended to define the business leaders who excel at integrating sustainability into their business strategies, the post instead brings to light a concerning divergence in economic performance and sustainability action.  Leveraging the results from a 2012 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey, the post finds some gaps between performance and recognition.  

“Some of our clients get excited when they see the results of The Sustainability Leaders Survey. But others may be worried. In this year's survey, GE was one of a number of companies that saw a decline in the proportion of mentions, from 12 percent in 2011 to 7 percent this year. Walmart, the top-rated company in 2010, saw its proportion fall from 11 percent to 7 percent, while mentions of Marks & Spencer declined marginally from 8 percent to 5 percent. What do these falls mean, though -- are these companies standing still or headed backward on sustainability?”

At Taiga Company, we find highly effective organizations are creating business sustainability cultures to drive performance.  Rather than focusing on short-term metrics, our sustainability consulting encourages companies to drive true business sustainability through continuous communication and stakeholder engagement strategies.  In doing so, these organizations are creating a direct link to the company’s business sustainability plan and stable long-term and lasting performance.

More than 500,000 American employees now work at a Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB), thanks to visionary leadership in the private and public sector. Just recently, the League of American Bicyclist announced 67 new Bike Friendly Businesses, who joined the ranks of the 412 local businesses, government agencies and Fortune 500 companies that are transforming the American workplace.

“These leaders are at the forefront of a movement to make American businesses more competitive, sustainable and attractive to the best and brightest employees,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. “An investment in bicycling enhances employee health, increases sustainability and improves the bottom line.”

What are easy ways to become a bike friendly office?  Some business owners might argue that small business resources can be limited towards building a sustainable business; however, our sustainability consulting encourages employers to promote employee bicycling commuting as a great way to attract and retain those eco minded employees.  The post, Top 10 Benefits of Bicycle Commuting Programs for Businesses, explores bike commuting benefits to employers while the post, 10 Reasons to Bike Commute to Work, gives employees ideas and inspiration to ride to work. But what can a business do to promote and maintain a winning bike commuting culture?  Our business sustainability consulting advocates taking the following eco actions to keep bike commuting fun and safe for employees.

Education

• Offer regular safety classes.
• Provide lunch and learn opportunities for current topics and discussion.
• Share information on how to share the road.
• Participate in bike maintenance classes.

Encouragement

• Offer incentives to ride.
• Host a CEO led ride.
• Guarantee a ride home service.
• Create a company bike club.
• Celebrate bike to work day or month or create your own company mile markers and celebrate them.

Foundation

• Make bike parking safe and secure.
• Provide lockers, showers, and changing areas.
• Utilize car sharing programs like ZipCar for off site meetings.
• Provide a repair station with tools, lubrication, and tubes.

Review

• Get to know your employee's commuting habits: what's working/ what isn't and suggestions for improvement.
• Set goals: number of commuting miles/ week/ per employee.
• Appoint a bike coordinator: the go to person for everything bike commuting related.

Wondering how many Bike Friendly Businesses are in your city or state? Check out this helpful map to find out.  Zoom in on your community — and show your bike-friendliness by patronizing your local Bike Friendly Business!  Better yet, get your business on the map: Learn more about the Bicycle Friendly Business program.

Did you know? Just one tradeshow can have the same C02 footprint as one year of powering everyday office equipment and supplies? 

We all know that too much C02 in the environment is bad, how do we find out how much carbon dioxide we produce? 

Benchmarking success in green living or business starts with closing the gap between awareness and action.  Here's where the tried and true adage applies: "What gets measured, gets managed." While expressed more frequently in a business setting, it applies to our personal lives as well.  For instance, if you want to lose weight, first you have to know how much you weigh to benchmark your success.  Similarly, in living a sustainable lifestyle, you first need to know the areas of your environmental impacts to measure your success.  

Carbon calculators offer visibility to reduce emissions, but consistently taking eco action to reduce impacts can be overwhelming.  What if there was a quick, easy and long-lasting way to make a difference?  Is offsetting the answer?  From our sustainability consulting perspective, offsetting is not a substitute for reducing or eliminating emissions or other environmental impacts.  However, there is a time and a place for carbon offsetting.  

• Offsetting can be a partial solution that complements other approaches,
• Offsetting can be seen as part of maintaining the balance of life,
• Carbon offsets offers a path to eco action and raises eco awareness,
• Offsetting schemes can be used as an interim measure until other solutions are developed – efficient emission-free fuels and renewable energy sources.

What options are available for offsetting?  Introducing the Green Air Project.  GAP is a social enterprise that helps individuals and businesses offset their carbon footprints in the most sustainable and positive way- by planting trees.  As you know, at Taiga Company, we love trees!  

Why choose Green Air Project? 

• Business Sustainability: Green Air Project's offsetting of carbon dioxide by planting large numbers of trees is a viable option to a businesses' corporate sustainability plan. The program can also aid in increasing employee engagement and retention with employee participation. 
• Transparency:  Clients and other stakeholders have access to a businesses' sustainability strategies with a company-specific website and code to track how many trees have planted.
• Affordable: Businesses, individuals and families can all participate and benefit.  At $10.00/ tree, enough to offset the average American’s CO2 emissions for a month, the trees are professionally cared for including: tree- Lease and preparation of the land, professionally planting the trees, maintenance/weed control, making fire lines and maintaining them on the property, security, boundary maintenance, surveying of land and forestry service to manage the land. 

Green Air Project's offsetting of carbon dioxide by planting large numbers of trees is an easy to grasp sustainability concept for eco curious individuals and stakeholders.  Demonstrate your commitment to sustainability by taking sustainable leadership and eco action.  Visit Green Air Project website today to get started. 

A recent Forbes article, Why Great Ideas Fail, attempts to answer this question and offer guidance towards improved business innovation success.  Drilling to the heart of the issue, the post explains that it is not the idea but more often the culture that fails.  Instead of confining creativity to a closed-off lab, the concept of an open innovation model is being recognized and implemented within leading companies.

“Executives recognize that innovation is an essential component of organizational success, and may require shifts in mindset and culture. Create space for innovators to escape the daily grind. Help them unlock their creative potential by forgetting about the limitations of the existing business.” –CEB Views

Our professional consulting supports the belief that an open innovation approach  to business sustainability offers stakeholders the opportunity to become engaged in the future of a business. By recognizing that key stakeholders have a vested interest the success of the company, sustainable leadership can create openness to new ideas that promote business success and innovative ideas.

• Promote innovation as a competency:  Innovative companies treat it as just another core skill.

• Promote innovation as a competitive weapon: Innovative companies use innovation to differentiate themselves. 

• Promote innovation as a process:  Innovative companies don’t treat innovation as special, unique activity. They see it instead as an ongoing “stream of effort” along with quality, leadership, productivity, and other imperatives.

• Promote innovation as both systematic and opportunistic:  The most innovative companies flex between different styles of creating opportunity.

The business world too often approaches sustainable development with traditional structured implementation processes.  In contrast, our professional consulting has observed that those who excel are those who step outside the traditional business structures to add and spontaneity to their long-term business sustainability plans.  At Taiga Company, we maintain an open culture as part of our core values, and our sustainability consulting encourages clients to include active engagement as part of an overarching business sustainability plan.  

When people ride bikes, good things happen.  Why?  Because bike commuting is a win-win for both businesses and individuals looking to reduce costs, embrace eco awareness, and adhere to business and personal sustainability programs.  

In recent years, the bicycle industry has stepped up to support bike advocacy and education programs like never before. Much of that leadership has come from Bikes Belong, the industry's advocacy and education organization.  In fact, just over two years ago, PeopleForBikes.org was launched with the goal of collecting one million pledges for a better future for bicycling.  As if the timing couldn't be better, May is National Bike Month and to date, PeopleForBikes.org stand 500,000 riders strong.

While only halfway to their goal of one million supporters, there is still time to get involved, contribute to making our nation a better place to ride, and to send a powerful message to our elected leaders, the media, and the public that bicycling is important and should be promoted.

At Taiga Company, we are no strangers to the bike community.  We have the opportunity to work with individuals and businesses to integrate sustainability concepts into the workplace and daily life.  We refer to it as green cycling and naturally view how bike riding and commuting benefits the needs of both worlds: business and individuals.  Clients commute to work; businesses provide resources and incentives for cycling commuters.  So, why is bike commuting so wonderful? 

• Bike commuting helps the environment by reducing your carbon footprint.
• Bicycles emit no pollution when in use; they require far less materials, energy and waste in their production than even the ‘greenest’ car. 
• Cycling offers a certain connection to the open air and the surrounding trees.  It's amazing how usual surroundings look different when on a bike.
• Cycling can be done by toddlers, teenagers, youngsters and adults as well.  It can be used as personal time to reflect upon your day or a means to unite friends for regular rides.
• Regular participation in a cycling routine naturally shifts your focus to include thoughts of the weather, areas in your community to ride, road safety, and traffic.  Thereby increasing your awareness of the link between the environment and your community.
• Enjoy the freedom your bike gives you- go places your car can't.
• National health statistics show that when you're more active, you decrease your risk for cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
• Bicycle commuting allows you to include your workout in your daily schedule and helps to meet fitness goals.
• Bike commuting saves you money:  reduce car maintenance, reduced gas bill, reduced parking cost.
• Cycling is a good exercise for overall fitness of the body.  It improves health and reduces stress and tension.
• Cycling contributes to a positive work/ life balance.
• Bicycles can be produced and maintained locally by local bike shops contributing to local job opportunities as part of a sustainable economy.
• Increased cycling commuting reduces air pollution generated from motorized vehicles.
• The bike industry is getting involved.  Check out Action Outdoor Bike Magazine for resources.
• Bike riding is FUN!

Express your passion and commitment to our two wheeled friends.  Please take a moment to visit the website and sign the pledge. It is quick and easy. You will help the future of biking and ultimately you will be enhancing the work of the League. All the campaign needs is your name and email address: www.peopleforbikes.org/signpledge

Creating a sustainable business involves more than defining a vision, building a consumer forecast, and bringing a green product or service to market. Business sustainability is a commitment to the social, environmental, and economic impacts of your business.  It includes a commitment to improving business process that challenges the internal capabilities of a company towards business innovation as it strives to meet the changing needs of the external business environment.

That sounds great. But so frequently, within our business sustainability consulting, we are asked, “How do you make that happen?"  Answer: Innovation, Leadership, and stakeholder engagement.

A common misconception is that innovative ideas generate from a select few; however, innovative ideas can spring up from multiple sources.  They can generate from within the company at the ground level, from the customers you service, or your suppliers.  

While management is ultimately responsible for creating corporate direction, business sustainability minded executives now realize that their stakeholders have an equally important leadership role to play.  Recognizing this shift, many companies are seeking to refine their business sustainability strategies, improve internal and external communication, and bring cohesiveness to their organization by promoting greater stakeholder engagement.

Within business sustainability programs, engagement is a critical focus.  What is engagement really?  Ultimately, it is value alignment.  Alignment of the corporate sustainability plan with key stakeholders.   The GreenBiz article, Why Corporate Boards Should Listen to Investors on Sustainability, explores the numerous factors affecting today’s bottom lines.  Leveraging a recent Ernst and Young whitepaper on the topic, the post highlights the influence investors have on critical business sustainability decision making.

“In 2012, investors will continue to spotlight sustainability issues in connection with corporate growth opportunities and risk management efforts.  A confluence of factors – investors seeking greater corporate accountability, particularly at the board level; growing attention paid by regulators to environmental and social topics; and heightened public scrutiny of corporation following recent financial, economic, political and environmental-related developments – are working to sharpen attention on the ‘triple bottom line’ of environmental, social and economic performance.” - Ernst and Young

Our sustainability consulting works with business leaders to define the unique links between sustainability concepts and business value drivers.  We provide information and professional consulting services which assist companies in building a strong platform for sustainable stakeholder engagement.  What form is sustainability taking in your business?

What is Karma?   Karma is a Sanskrit word that means "action." Karma has commonly been considered a punishment for past bad actions, but karma is neither judge nor jury. Rather, it is simply the universal law of cause and effect that says every thought, word and act carries energy into the world and affects our present reality. From a sustainability viewpoint, how does karma apply?  Many argue that business is best used as a vehicle to not only aid in solving today's environmental challenges, but also to help create a better world.

If so, then How do business leaders walk the delicate art of transitioning to more sustainable business strategies?  When you think about it, the requirements to maintain a sustainable business today are quite different than they were just ten years ago.   Companies on the leading edge are evaluating the economic, social and environmental impacts that will ultimately affect profitability.  Green business practices are becoming more and more the norm, as companies both large and small realize the value of integrating eco awareness and sustainability concepts into their operations and business strategies.   

For example, many organizations are developing strategies to reduce emissions.  These organizations are proactively implementing process improvements and new technologies to add value and reduce risk.  By focusing on and applying resources to a broad concept, a company can drill-down to more detailed sustainable actions to address:

•    Office Building Energy Consumption – evaluating the average energy use per square foot of office space and implementing best practices to reduce: energy consumption studies, efficiency practices, equipment modifications, etc.

•    Operations Efficiency – incorporating energy efficient process into their daily operations, evaluating peak hour consumption, and decreasing off-hour usage.

•    Supply Chain Efficiency: creating integrated processes with suppliers to improve communication, ensure common sustainable processes, and increase energy efficiency.

Masterful companies recognize that business sustainability is a mind-set change that should be consistent and in alignment with organizational commitment and continuous improvement efforts already in place within the company.  The critical elements to affective implementation include: executive leadership, consistent action, clear communication, and stakeholder engagement.

While eco awareness is important, demonstrating sustainability values through eco action is key.  "Like a beautiful flower that is colorful but has no fragrance, even well spoken words bear no fruit in one who does not put them into practice."  ~ Dhammapada, Sayings of the Buddha, Pali Cannon

In today’s global business environment, it is rare for a company to own an entire product or service value chain.  Business operations rely heavily on external sources exposing the supply chain as a critical component of business success.   Leading organizations are using the procurement function as a means to move towards a more sustainable business by forming "strategic relationships" with companies, large and small, who demonstrate leadership.  

With that being said,misconceptions of business sustainability as a passing trend are quickly falling by the wayside.  Larger organizations, traditionally mistaken as burdened with a primary responsibility as change agents in the water, carbon, environment and climate change solutions are now shifting the burden to include suppliers.  Walmart is one example.

Recently, Walmart announced that it will broaden its initial 15-question scorecard to 100 major categories, with category-specific questions, by the end of this year.   As the post, Why Walmart's better supplier scorecard is a big deal states, " When Walmart introduced its initial scorecard, tens of thousands of suppliers increased their investments in sustainability. This expanded scorecard promises to have an even bigger impact. Not only will it shift the landscape for Walmart suppliers, but it also could greatly influence supplier scorecard programs at many other companies.'  

To unprepared organizations, the business risks of carbon, water, and climate change disclosure takes many forms:

•    Potential increase in operating cost

•    Potential increase in supply costs

•    Potential disruptions to supply or loss of supplier relationships

•    Potential loss of revenue or market share

•    Potential to business reputation 

•    Potential inability to secure investment dollars or capital

Water, carbon, waste, and energy management is becoming a critical sustainable business strategy to address internal and external supply issues.  Creating supply chain management alignment through increased eco awareness, cooperative business relationships, and applied sustainability concepts can have immediate business impacts and reduce business sustainability risk.  Taiga Company provides professional consulting and business resources to business leaders seeking to make significant and sustainable improvements in their internal and external operations.

It can be argued that business sustainability and economic growth are the ultimate goals of most companies; however, new evidence shows that these efforts are not exclusive.  To achieve results, we have witnessed how leading organizations are enabling a stable work environment  with a rich innovation culture.  

Our sustainability consulting finds that successful business sustainability cultures focus on communication and learning.  We believe that by allowing for flexibility and promoting innovation across the value chain, an organization can capture the interests of current and future employees.  But what are others saying?

The New York Times post, Disruptions: Innovation Isn’t Easy, Especially Midstream, provides its own unique perspective on sustainable organizational development.  This article explores the characteristics of some notable pioneers in technology over the past few decades.  While reversed for their monumental business successes, there is an essence of simple idea generation.  It is this spark and the catalyst that our sustainability consulting chases.

“The challenge of creating something small and disruptive inside a large company is one that many face today.”

The ability to remain open to test new ideas and innovative strategies has proven to be a successful business sustainability strategy.  Businesses who continuously assess and reassess the needs of their internal and external stakeholders are often more adaptive to the dynamic landscape of today’s business.  Leveraging Innovation Excellence’s view, we get an inside look into how leading companies now perceive managed creativity.  These organizations:

• See innovation as a competency:  Innovative companies treat it as just another core skill

• See innovation as a competitive weapon: Innovative companies use innovation to differentiate themselves

• See innovation as a process:  Innovative companies don’t treat innovation as special, unique activity. They see it instead as an ongoing “stream of effort” along with quality, leadership, productivity, and other imperatives.

• See innovation as both systematic and opportunistic:  The most innovative companies flex between different styles of creating opportunity

The business world too often approaches sustainable development with traditional structured implementation processes.  In contrast, our professional consulting has observed that those who excel are those who step outside the traditional business structures to add and spontaneity to their long-term business sustainability plans.  At Taiga Company, we maintain an open culture as part of our core values, and our sustainability consulting encourages clients to include active engagement as part of an overarching business sustainability plan.  

Because most adults spend a majority of their waking hours at work, a sustainable working environment is critical.  The work site, organizational culture and working environment are powerful influences on behavior.   A component of increasing employee engagement has been wellness programs.  Traditionally, they have been used as instruments to address weight reduction, reduced stress levels, improved physical fitness, health, and well being.  Until recently, corporate wellness programs have been a "nice to have" program.  However, new trends point to wellness programs as "must have" programs as success evaluations of these programs are shifting.  

Traditional evaluations of wellness programs as part of employee engagement strategies have focused on ROI.  Yet to qualify the ROI for wellness programs has been elusive.  There are some notable metrics as mentioned by Elaine Cohen, author of the CSR for HR, “It is estimated that employers spend $13 billion annually on the total cost of obesity. Approximately 9.1% of all health care costs in the United States are related to obesity and overweight. Workplace obesity prevention and control programs can be an effective way for employers to reduce obesity. They can produce a direct financial return on investment (ROI) by lowering health care costs, lowering absenteeism, and increasing employee productivity.” 

However, because financial indicators  of success can be difficult to ascertain, many experts in the field are arguing that VOI (value on investment) is the more comprehensive and inclusive metric because it can be self-defined by the company to include attributes that are important to their own business success.  For instance, in addition to improvements in health care costs and reduction of healthcare claims, a VOI for a company might include recruitment and retention rates, measures of morale, quality-of-life indicators and absenteeism metrics. 

Worksite wellness and sustainability are linked: 

• Enhanced recruitment and retention of healthy employees
• Reduced health care costs
• Decreased rates of illness and injuries
• Reduced employee absenteeism
• Improved employee relations and morale
• Increased productivity 

In as much as worksite wellness is becoming more on the norm and less of the exception, so too is business sustainability.  By providing employees with wellness programs not only provides access to improved health, but it also demonstrates corporate social responsibility. Sustainable business strategies embedded in the core operations of a business captures the benefits a wellness program aims to make and more.   As with any successful program, leadership is critical as is participation and engagement.   Unite wellness programs with the corporate sustainability plan to engage your workforce. 

Napoleon Hill got it right! "First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.  We've all heard it before, "If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you always got."  In other words, you can't solve the problem with the same thinking that created it.  Such is the case with climate change, carbon, water, and other pressing world concerns.   

If our traditional thinking and approaches aren't cutting it, then what will?  Can the power of positive thinking make a difference?  Following are 5 ways to think your way to sustainability success. By focusing our thoughts, we can create powerful eco actions. 

1.  The video, "The Happiness Factor" by Shawn Anchor explores the mass conscious belief around success and how that is scientifically skewed.  Within the video, he states we can re-wire our brains to a new definition of success which increases happiness and productivity.  What are the suggestions for rewiring our brains?  Of the five suggestions, two favorites stand out: gratitude and random acts of kindness.

These findings are consistent with what we have blogged about previously.  The post, How Green Gratitude Pays It Forward  explores how gratitude matters.  It mentions,  "adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not."  From sustainability viewpoint, how does one express gratitude?  Consider the qualities of kindness, generosity and willingness.

•    Kindness in a sustainable lifestyle is not only being kind to our planet, but kind to each other.  Compassion for where each of us is in relation to the green path.

•    Generosity in green living is not only sharing eco awareness and eco resources, but also going above and beyond to inspire, promote, and encourage others on the green path.

•    Willingness in green living is demonstrating your values through eco action and generating results. 

2.  Another approach is appreciating nature.  The post, Nature: The Natural Mood Enhancer, suggest paying attention to the natural world not only makes you feel better, it makes you behave better.  As Albert Einstein said, "It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it."    Viewed from a sustainability perspective, that can take many forms.  As in, caring for the Earth's resources from a physical and material perspective, but also in how our individual thoughts of eco awareness and behavior shapes that caring.  

3.  A third option: the post, 15 Random Acts of Green Kindness explores how kindness and sustainability are intrinsically linked. And, we talk about the The Karma of Personal Sustainability and how our thoughts are shaping our world.

4.  Use the power of words to create a culture of sustainability.  Language can be effective in managing organizational change.  Referencing, the post, Consider Consequences Of Language In Organizational Change, Kevin Barge, professor of communication in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M, states that our experiences regarding change are influenced largely by the words that we say and the impact of those words on our coworkers. According to Barge, "if people are conscious of the effects their words can have on others, they will be more likely initiate successful change efforts and build productive organizational relationships." 

5.  Finally, focus your thoughts.  “Whatever you focus on expands.” – Christopher M. Knight.   At the heart of sustainable living and sustainable business strategies lies a foundation of innovation; refreshing new approaches that deliver unprecedented results.  While the media and mainstream may be populated with stories of mishaps, failures, blame, and make wrong, have you ever stopped to count the millions of blessings, successes, and things that are going right in our world?  

Whether you share in social networking to connect to people and organizations of like mind and spirit focused on positive eco actions or support others taking leadership responsibility for our global society, respecting nature, promoting universal human rights, advancing education, and supporting social and economic justice, we can all participate in creating a culture of peace by focusing our thoughts and actions.  

What you focus on expands.  Energy follows thought.  Attitudes are contagious.  Why not focus our collective thoughts on the innovative, inspiring results of sustainability success?

Consider the following findings from the Hay Group: Research conducted worldwide shows that leadership contributes to 70% of corporate atmosphere, while corporate atmosphere contributes to 30% of corporate performance. Therefore, leadership can exert direct influence on 21% of corporate performance.   

Sustainable business leaders are evaluating new markets, new products, and going after the most innovative people.  In addition to executive management playing a critical role in the success of a company, business sustainability requires leadership across the entire organization.  While management may ultimately carry the responsibility of sustainable business results, employees have a part to play in the definition and implementation of the company’s business sustainability programs.  Whether led by a sustainability executive or traditional management, a sustainable organization has many teams and key roles for individuals seeking to become leaders.

Enter the role of supply chain professionals. Software Advice's latest blog post, 5 Questions to Start the Sustainable Supply Chain Conversation poses 5 key inquiries: 

1. How can we better measure sustainability?
2. How can we instill sustainability into our suppliers?
3. How can we design more sustainable products?
4. How can we avoid socially-negligent suppliers?
5. Who can we trust to drive sustainability?

The recent emergence of sustainable supply chain management has provided companies with the opportunity to review processes, materials, and operational concepts from a different perspective.  It incorporates the role of the environment in supply chain value creation.  Encouraging you to read the full post here, it explores the five conversations that must occur within supply chain leadership for sustainability to become synonymous with reduced cost, risk mitigation and a socially-responsible business.  How is your organization improving the sustainability of its supply chain?

How do we maintain a competitive advantage in today’s increasing complex business environment?  This is a question business sustainability-minded executives are asking their peers and professional consultants.  As you might guess the answer to this question can vary greatly; however, one common characteristic inevitably makes the top of the list: Leadership.  But what are the differentiating qualities of today’s business sustainability leaders?

By reevaluating traditional definitions of leadership and the manner in which leaders are identified and developed, many leading firms have already broken new ground in sustainable leadership development.  Our sustainability consulting believes that a critical component of today’s effective management strategies is the enablement and facilitation of stakeholder innovation.

“The best ideas for new innovations don’t always succeed. Sometimes they don’t find an advocate. Other times corporate bureaucracy may slow down or even stop project development. To be successful, companies need strong influencers who are ready to take action.”

This quote was taken from the Forbes article, How to Keep an Innovation From Getting Stuck.  Speaking directly to answer the post’s own title question, the contents of the article describe leaders as business sustainability and innovation ‘champions’.  Moving away from a traditional management mentality, effective leaderships seek to enable resources.

By encouraging rather than discouraging this internal power, a company can create grass-roots leadership to initiate and drive business sustainability action.  Our sustainability consulting encourages clients to reevaluate their internal resources and the manner in which the company identifies true leaders. 

To meet the growing demands of business sustainability and maintain a competitive advantage over the competition, leading companies are taking a much harder look at their talent pool and the skill sets that will be required for future success.  Because having the ‘right’ people in place will be essential to corporate stability, our professional consulting deems ‘sustainable’ talent management top business priority.  But what are others saying?

“Flat organizational structures and legacy career plans that focus on technical skill development make it difficult to provide mid-career professionals with the leadership and execution opportunities they need to advance.  Leading R&D organizations differentiate between education and experiential learning. They make business rotations a core part of R&D employee development and develop compelling career paths for both technical and managerial roles.”  -Corporate Executive Board Views

Building upon these comments we turn our attention to the Harvard Business Review post, Bring Back the Organization Man.  Focused on both talent acquisition and development, the article offers insight into varying sustainable talent management approaches around the world.  Where one model may work in the US, there may be other considerations in other parts of the company.

Our sustainability consulting believes that the ability to identify, select, develop, and retain quality employees can set an organization apart.  We find that progressive companies are developing specific business sustainability strategies to attract and manage their top ‘green’ talent.   These organizations are utilizing an expanded view of talent management that encompasses alternative skills and less traditional lifecycle of an employee’s career.  Leading ‘green’ talent organizations are responding by addressing the challenges of:

• How to determine the characteristics needed in a sustainable workforce?

• How to differentiate and attract top talent?

• How to develop, engage, and retain top performers and sustainability leaders?

• How to conduct effective employee retention and succession planning to ensure a diverse sustainable leadership pipeline for the future?

The ability to plan and take action to address resource demands has long been a defining characteristic of a successful business.  Our sustainability consulting works with companies to understand the value of the ‘right’ talent as part of an overall business sustainability plan. 

In business, every function has a purpose and every job requires a unique set of skills in order to fulfill on that purpose.  When it comes to defining roles for a sustainable business future, what skills and leadership qualities will your business leaders require to meet its purpose?

More companies today are looking to ‘sustainability’ leadership as a competitive core competency.  Defined formally by some as Sustainability Officers, these leadership roles are often tasked with a singular purpose: identify and manage potential environmental, social, and economic risks.  While this may sound straight forward, these concerns can vary greatly across industries.  However, the skills required for change management and implementing a corporate sustainability plan spanning the full spectrum across an organization rest not only in Sustainability Officers but all all levels of the organization. 

So, what do employees want to hear during change? 

• Vision: A high level vision of the outcome that will result from the change.  
• Passion: A passionate, heartfelt point of view about why the change is needed for the organization's continued success.
• Support: This goes with passion and is about leaders showing continued support for the efforts needed to make the change.
• Benefits: Tell them what is in it for them and the company as a whole. 
• Acknowledgement: People want to talk about this and be told their feelings about the change are valid. 
• Specifics: Details about what the changes are, when they will happen and what they need to do to make it a success 
• Updates: A commitment to planned communications at regular intervals to inform them of the progress of the changes.
• Declaration of Completion: They want to know when it's done. If it is a positive change, a celebration is always welcome. If it's a change that is difficult, tell them it's complete so they can breath that sigh of relief and move forward.

Leveraging these examples, there is a clear relationship between purpose and need. Sustainability leadership should be aligned with the business sustainability goals and objectives of the organization.  In seeking to define required competencies of your own sustainability officers, our sustainability consulting provides information and resources to companies seeking to redefine traditional business sustainability strategies by aligning business purpose with sustainability leadership across all areas of their organization. 

While business sustainability and economic growth are the ultimate goals of most companies, evidence shows that these effort are best served by a strong and stable work environment.  Our sustainability consulting finds that successful business sustainability cultures focus on communication and learning.  We believe that by allowing for flexibility and promoting innovation across the value chain, an organization can capture the interests of current and future employees.  But what are others saying?

The Innovation Excellent post, What an Innovative Culture Looks Like, provides its own unique perspective on sustainable organizational development.  This article focuses on leadership’s role in the process.

“An innovative corporate culture is one that supports the creation of new ideas and the implementation of those ideas. Leaders need to help employees see innovation in the right light.”

The ability to remain open to test new ideas and innovative strategies has proven to be a successful business sustainability strategy.  Businesses who continuously assess and reassess the needs of their internal and external stakeholders are often more adaptive to the dynamic landscape of today’s business.  Leveraging Innovation Excellence’s view, we get an inside look into how leading companies now perceive managed creativity.  These organizations:

• See innovation as a competency:  Innovative companies treat it as just another core skill.

• See innovation as a competitive weapon: Innovative companies use innovation to differentiate themselves.

• See innovation as a process:  Innovative companies don’t treat innovation as special, unique activity. They see it instead as an ongoing “stream of effort” along with quality, leadership, productivity, and other imperatives.

• See innovation as both systematic and opportunistic:  The most innovative companies flex between different styles of creating opportunity.

The business world too often approaches sustainable development with traditional structured implementation processes.  In contrast, our professional consulting has observed that those who excel are those who step outside the traditional business structures to add and spontaneity to their long-term business sustainability plans.  At Taiga Company, we maintain an open culture as part of our core values, and our sustainability consulting encourages clients to include active engagement as part of an overarching business sustainability plan.  

Is there a reason to do employee engagement right?  In fact, are there dangers of a disengaged workforce?  Some would argue low employee morale, broken culture, loss of productivity and unmet performance objectives as symptoms of a disengaged workforce.  Engagement begins with what an organization values.  Where do employees rank among business sustainability stakeholders? Who is ultimately responsible for their engagement?  And how do they directly contribute to your business success?

In an attempt to answer these questions, our sustainability consulting focuses it attention on the post, Employee Engagement: Why Do It If You Can’t Do it Right?.  Contained within, an Environmental Leader guest writer and professional consultant explores the relationship between employee engagement and company success.  

“Leaders who are embracing employee engagement as a tool for supporting their sustainability efforts would be well advised to think through why they desire employee engagement, what they are trying to achieve, and how they intend to carry it out.”

Providing us with some insight, a recent GreenBiz article, 5 Companies, 5 Different Takes on Employee Engagement, discusses the many faces and complexities of a stakeholder engagement strategy.  Specific to employee engagement, the post cites are a number of motivating factors which drive today’s companies.  Some of the noted examples in the article include:  

• Encourage a Public Commitment: Motivate personal sustainability practices in support of a business sustainability pledge.

• Define a Shared Vision:  Encourage specific business sustainability action.

• Provide Personalized Data: Help employees understand their individual sustainability opportunities through personalize participatory information.

• Expand a Corporate Initiative: Foster personal development opportunities through specific business sustainability programs.

• Nurture a New Method: Create energy and enthusiasm in the workplace.

As our sustainability has frequently discussed, business sustainability presents the unique opportunity to increase profitability, gain and maintain a competitive advantage over the competition, and create meaningful work in the process.   This belief is supported by the above stakeholder engagement strategies which find a common thread in value alignment.  When you consider what other businesses have achieved through employee-inspired and driven leadership, can you foresee opportunities within your own organization?  Our professional consulting at Taiga Company works with clients to enable employees to leverage their eco awareness and take inspired business sustainability actions for the benefit of the organization.  When employees feel educated, inspired and empowered, the real magic can begin.

As consumers, employees, businesses, communities, and non government organizations increasingly question business actions on climate change, they want to see transparent, more credible information on the responsible actions companies are taking to address their social and environmental impacts. Social media is a medium that offers transparent, always on engagement facilitating the probation of sustainability communications.

Our newest product, Social Media for Sustainability Professionals  is an online, self-guided course that will deliver practical information you need to:

• Develop and promote your brand
• Establish credibility and improve online visibility
• Promote thought leadership
• Engage with interested stakeholder groups
• Drive targeted traffic to your website or blog
• Develop direct relationships with prospects, clients, influencers in the sustainability / CSR space

Need help in deciding if the course is for you?   Perhaps these additional post can offer guidance or give us a call, ask questions on twitter or catch up with us on Facebook.   

• Sustainability Professionals: How to Express Yourself with Social Media  
• Green Websites that Inspire Eco Action form the Inside Out 
• Who are the Tweeps Tweeting for A Better Green Brand?  
• Twitter, Facebook, and Blogging: The Three Pillars of Sustainability Communications? 
• LinkedIn: Powering Sustainability Professionals and Revolutionizing Volunteerism 
• Conversion: Using Calls to Action to Promote Sustainability 
• 8 Ways to Use Sustainability News and Distribution Networks to Promote Sustainability 
• Beyond the Social Media Basics: Sustainability Communications on YouTube, Google +, and Foursquare 

Traditional M&A assessments would tell you to focus primarily on a company’s financial statements, assets, and internal resources.  But what about the company’s supply chain?  Today’s sustainable companies must be able to effectively evaluate the risks and rewards of a complex framework of supply channels foreseen in an upcoming merger or acquisition.

“Far too often, M&A fails due to lack of synergy, related party conflicts, clashing cultures, or information technology issues.  A strong foundation cannot be built with just one piece of the M&A puzzle; you need to look at the full supply chain picture.”

A quote taken from the CEO of Tompkins International in the article, Mergers & Acquisitions Can Be Risky Business Without Supply Chain Due Diligence. This post offers some interesting perspectives and advice on sustainable supply chain considerations when pursuing growth through acquisition.

• Define supply chain baseline. Gain a high-level understanding of the supply chain to capture leadership’s view and document performance. 

• Define relevant benchmarks. Establish present performance levels for targeted areas and compare them to relevant benchmarks to see where opportunities, challenges, constraints and risks exist, if the acquisition were to be made. 

• Define supply chain opportunities and challenges. Perform a gap analysis and gap analysis assessment to reveal opportunities to grow revenue, as well as the risks associated with the M&A candidate’s supply chain. 

• Define and document supply chain initiatives. Connect the opportunities and challenges with prioritized supply chain initiatives so that they can be addressed given that the merger or acquisition occurs.

The growing focus on supply chain management as a strategic function within the organization has proven there to be opportunity to reduce cost and add value to the bottom line.  Expanding  on internal efforts, organizations are looking to replicate the same business sustainability successes in their external processes and business relationships.  This includes sustainable supply chain qualifications taking a front-seat in today’s mergers and acquisitions.