Sustainability: What does it really mean for your business?
There is a lot of hot air talked about sustainability and while it includes the environment it is certainly not exclusively environmental.
There are many things that can cause a business to be unsustainable including human error and careless decisions. We even see very successful sports stars making their business of sport unsustainable because of their poor decisions (there is a prominent golf example at present).
The world is just emerging from a global financial crisis when some large corporate financial practices were found to be unsustainable and the impact went far beyond their businesses.
You would have to have been hiding somewhere very remote to have missed all the squabbles about how sustainability applies to global warming and what to do about it.
What a mix came together in Copenhagen!
- Climate change deniers
- Left wing radical greenies
- Activists from developing nations with their hands out
- Politicians with images to sustain at home
- And lots more
I don’t know about you but thank goodness I don’t have to try to balance all that.
So what on earth does it all mean to your business?
Climate change is simply another sustainability issue – just a giant scale of what each and every business faces in many areas, not just environmental.
Like building any workable management system the experts need to identify the risks and do risk analysis without all the noise and emotion. The negotiators then need to build a management plan and this includes:
- Overall objectives
- The targets that need to be met to achieve those objectives
- The resources that are needed
- Assigning firm responsibility and a set time line.
The resources needed will cost money and the developed world needs to help those who can’t afford to make changes and will also need to supervise those changes so that the money is not diverted. And it needs to be done so that the recipients still have dignity.
Inevitably also those wanting help will be unhappy because more would be better and those giving will be unhappy because they have had to make commitments and contributions then justify them when they go home.
It does sound like any other business. You need a well thought-out rik-based management plan. You then need feedback so that you know when mistakes are being made, can learn from them and avoid repeating them.
Sustainable business practices are what keep your business running profitably. These practices include:
- really listening to your clients so that they want to continue buying from you,
- building a good image and reputation so that you attract the clients you need
- looking after the health and welfare of your greatest asset – your staff,
- being aware of your legal requirements and making sure that your staff training and procedures prevent people accidentally breaching legislation,
- reducing waste energy and materials and avoiding other environmental damage
- proactively being aware of changing conditions, and of course they include managing your finances.
We have all heard the old adage ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’ – it is so true. The secret to building a sustainable business is to identify all your activities, assess where you have risks then plan to manage those risks. This way you can build resilience, prevent damaging errors and have a business that continues into a profitable future.
