By Kathy Miller, CEO & Owner, Miller Consultants
So you have completed your corporate sustainability strategy. Now what? Will your company take a collective deep breath and jump into execution? If you are like many other well-meaning companies, you will find that the presentation of the strategy is less than half the battle. Once the strategy is complete, the challenge becomes how to implement a line of attack that is flexible enough to adjust to the constantly evolving sustainability environment.
An organizational climate conducive to delivering a sound sustainability strategy isn’t necessarily the same as the one that enables it to succeed. On the one hand, strategy development tends to be a dispassionate exercise carried out by a few top leaders. It relies on clear-headed and logical analysis of data and context. On the other hand, execution of that strategy depends on a much broader base of support for hitting targets that don’t stand still. It is rooted in the messy reality of attitudes, perceptions, and mental set towards the way things get done. No wonder companies continue to struggle with the enormous challenge of closing the gap between their carefully crafted plans and actually implementing them.
How can you ensure that your organization is up to the task? For starters, take the following three critical steps to create the right climate for success:
1. Communicate the expectation that everyone should challenge the status quo
2. Encourage and reward innovation
3. Allow intelligent failures and learn from them
Read the complete article at Environmental Leader