It comes as no surprise that strategic corporate sustainability management, in some variation, is offered as a degree course in more and more colleges and universities across the globe, as the subject is certainly expansive enough to warrant years of study. Such degrees explore everything from triple bottom line analysis, lifecycle assessment, Total Quality Sustainable Management (TQSM) and sustainable enterprise planning to environmental communication, energy techniques and legal issues of sustainability in business. It is no wonder then that many small businesses, whose core competencies do not revolve around the subject, shy away from it all together or that attempts to implement socio-environmentally sound practices are unsuccessful more often than not. Has sustainability become too complex for small businesses? Perhaps it depends on the approach.
Complex systems in business are nothing new. When Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) were introduced, many companies adopted the principles of such methodologies into their core strategic framework and implemented them cross-departmentally throughout their organizations. They did so for good reason: it made business sense and positively impacted processes, regulatory compliance, stakeholder satisfaction and ultimately the bottom line. Design for the Environment (DfE) and TQSM can be applied in the same manner with an effect on the triple bottom line, also known as TBL or 3BL, which consists of economical, ecological and social factors.
A range of aspects can facilitate the adoption of sustainability principles, but a few are vital and it is where small businesses encounter their greatest challenges.
- The vision must come from the top. If the executive team is not fully committed, the strategy will not succeed.
- Sustainability is more easily integrated into a flat or organic organizational structure than into a functional structure.
- Effective knowledge management and sharing is an essential component of continued improvement.
- Without metrics, a company will have no starting point to progress from and no way to benchmark its performance against that of competitors. Because metrics in sustainability are neither widely available nor easily established, businesses tend to avoid this step. But many crucial components of sustainability can be measured and it is easier to do so the smaller the business and the fewer the processes.
- While more companies now establish departments to manage socio-environmental issues, it is important to ensure that sustainability penetrates the entire organization at every level. Processes must be designed to include TQSM, employees must be trained and all stakeholders, internal and external, must be kept informed.
- There has to be a clear understanding of what it means to be a socio-environmentally responsible company and triple bottom line goals must be defined, so that everyone can work towards them.
- Assigning responsibility for sustainable practices to existing employees is neither conducive to a successful sustainability program, nor a healthy work-life balance for the affected employees. As mentioned in the introduction, strategic sustainability planning is a discipline in itself and requires appropriate attention and expertise.
When small business executives approach sustainability as an integral part of their overall practices, it is no more complex than the integration of Quality Management. The most important considerations are that implementation should follow a top-level executive vision, that communication is of the essence and that metrics cannot be circumvented if the strategy is to succeed.
At TBL 21 (www.tbl21.com) we know exactly what you are referring to when working with small companies. We have created a series of business practices that help these companies, owners and staffs get a hands on start at becoming sustainable within the Triple Bottom Line framework. This includes a TBL Tracker which provides the metrics which becomes the compass in this uncharted territory.