Presentation at
the
California Resource Recovery
Association Conference
Pasadena, California
By Susan Burns
July 9th 2001
Intro
Good Morning. It's great to be here today. I spoke at the
CRRA Conference five years ago and, at that time, was introducing the sustainability
framework, The Natural Step. I was really impressed with this conference and the issues
you are all working on.
Thinking back, so much has changed in five years. I know
that many people complain that we are not moving fast enough toward a sustainable society.
But just take a look at what we see all around us today; Shell Oil recently took out a
double page ad in The Economist calling for action on climate change, at the same time
that Bush and Cheney are introducing their energy policy. Climate change was recently the
feature article in Time Magazine. We see the emergence of the fuel cell and the first
hybrid cars are buzzing around our streets. The recent Bill Moyer's PBS special
"Earth on the Edge" outlined to mainstream America that we are in the middle of
an ecological decline. Sustainable development is a common theme in major corporations
from Dupont to Home Depot. We can argue about definitions and timelines, but one thing is
clear, sustainability is becoming mainstream.
Framing
I have the good fortune, as a consultant, to peek into many
different organizations, and to help them to further sustainability. What I see through
this lens is what I want to share with you today.
Today, I realize that we are not longer at the point where
we need to define the ecological challenge, define sustainability, or explain why it's a
good idea. It is clear to all of us here today that sustainability is about securing 6
billion people's quality of life on this one planet. We also now have an abundance of
frameworks to work with including The Natural Step, Natural Capitalism principles, and
tools like environmental management systems. So, in a way, sustainability is inevitable,
it's just a matter of how and when, not whether it's a good idea. So, the question the
question today is, "How do we accelerate sustainability?" I believe that four
things are necessary.
Need For a Vision
The first thing that is needed is a clear vision of what we
are moving towards. Sustainability is a break from the past. It is different from
environmentalism. Environmentalism is describing what we are against. We are against
waste, pollution, species extinction, etc. Sustainability is about what we are for,
together. So, first, it is critical that each of us have a vision of what sustainability
looks like and that we communicate that to our customers and stakeholders. The best
organization that I have seen do this is Electrolux, the largest consumer appliance
company in the world. They demonstrate a thorough grasp of the ecological crisis, and what
parts of their operations may contribute to the problem. Then they describe a sustainable
society and how their products can help create a sustainable world. They describe where
they fit in.
This Industry's Role Is Critical
So the second thing that is needed is to see the role your
industry plays. It surprises me how resource recovery and recycling organizations don't
take credit for the pivotal role they play in the sustainability equation. I was made
aware of this during an engagement we had with a major waste management company. They were
seeing themselves as their opponents saw them and playing defense against those who
thought they were the evil garbage company. But if you understand sustainability, the need
for a cyclical society, where waste becomes food, waste recovery and recycling is a huge
part of the picture. If any group can make the principle "waste equals food" a
reality, it is the people in this room. I've never understood why more organizations don't
tell this story.
Your Role is Critical
The third thing that is needed is to accept your personal
role in accelerating sustainability. Given that there is a clear understanding of the
need, why isn't sustainability happening faster? It's because it's hard work. We'll always
need visionaries, like Paul Hawken and others, to give us new ideas and to light a path
forward. But now we all need to roll up our own sleeves, see our work as an integral part
of this larger revolution, and make things happen in the world. This is the daily work you
all do: getting your proposals accepted, getting citizens to participate in programs,
getting businesses off the ground.
There is an interesting thing going on with people: a sort
of minimizing what they do in the world. But the real work of sustainability is with all
of us. You are all here because you are taking personal responsibility for forwarding your
piece of the puzzle.
How can that be made more effective? How can you best
enroll others in your vision, or to put it more crassly, how can you get them to do what
you want them to do?
How to Enroll Others In Your Vision
And that brings me to the fourth and most important
ingredient necessary to accelerate sustainability. We've been working with sustainability
leaders, like you, to help them to forward sustainability and have found that, yes, ideas
and education are important, but what is more important now are people. How do you
communicate with people who come from different backgrounds, have different priorities?
Hitting the Green Wall
In 1994, Rob Sheldon wrote an article called "Hitting
the Green Wall" which described a common occurrence in corporations; environmental
managers were seeing their environmental programs stalled again and again, even when the
programs saved money! Somehow the entire organization refused to move forward. The cause:
environmental managers were seeing the world though an environmental lens and weren't
speaking to their colleagues in a language they can understand. Environmental managers
lacked credibility because they weren't framing their message in alignment with the
business culture.
How Do Organizations Change?
I have observed that there are two ways that organizations
change; one is the Ray Anderson story Ray; had an epiphany, "a spear in the
chest," as he calls it. He is the rare CEO who suddenly realizes that he has done
wrong and is going to dedicate his life to changing his organization. The other kind of
change is based in sound business logic. It makes good business sense to change, it adds
to competitive advantage, etc. In reality both are almost always at play. People who are
personally committed to sustainability, even Ray Anderson, need to put initiatives into
sound business terms. Organizations are made up of many individuals. Sustainability
requires many people to change, some are green some are not. The rules of business still
apply even if the moral argument is strong.
Surprisingly, proving that an initiative saves money isn't
enough.
Once, we were creating a business case for sustainability for a team of senior vice
presidents at a major retail chain. Our analysis showed that if our client replaced all of
its light bulbs with fluorescent, that it could save $6 million per year in energy costs.
A no-brainer, right? Wrong.
Our client contact was not interested. It's not that saving
money and energy wasn't important to him, but we had not framed the argument in terms of
his major needs. This company was growing fast. What was most important to him was, one,
gaining more customers, and two, retaining employees. Improving the companies performance
on these two scores would mean a lot more than $6 million per year. Without addressing
these needs, the light bulbs would be just one more worry on top of his already crammed
list of priorities.
So we put together a business case, an argument, for
pursuing a sustainability initiative that achieved much more that cost and energy savings.
It was a comprehensive approach to its suppliers, its customers, its employees all
grounded in a larger vision, and oh, yeah, the light bulbs were an added benefit.
Seek To Understand Not To Be Understood
I see so many pollution prevention people and other
environmental advocates continually running into a frustrating situation. They prove that
something saves money and are confused when it's not accepted. They say, "But I did
put it in business terms!" We need to do a lot more listening and a bit less
convincing. Like Stephen Covey says, "It is more important to understand than to be
understood."
Getting to No/Know
We have been studying the work of Marshall Rosenberg, the
creator of a philosophy of relating to people called "Non Violent
Communication." Rosenberg says that often, when someone doesn't agree with our ideas,
we do one of two things.
Say you are trying to get your boss to implement an
environmental management system at your company. You know that this system would be
wonderful for the company because all environmental activities would be systematically
managed, the company would set goals and measure progress toward those goals, communicate
progress to stakeholders, and continually improve each year. But your boss doesn't get it
and does not act on the idea. Some of us would feel rejected: "What a jerk I was, I
guess my idea was stupid." Others would criticize the other: "Those idiots,
isn't it obvious that this system makes sense?" Rosenberg says there is a third way.
It's not that your idea was stupid. And it's not that your boss is an idiot. In fact,
everyone is doing the best they can to get their needs met. Your idea was not framed in a
way that met your bosses needs. Often we assume we know what people's needs are; but
assuming is not good enough. Environmental people don't know how much they don't know
about their audience. It is important to listen.
For this reason, getting a rejection is a good thing. It's
the only way you can find out what is important to the other person. We call it
"Getting to No." It is important to get to no as soon as possible and to not be
afraid of the no. Getting rejected is not a rejection of you. It is a way to get to know
the person you are working with.
In order to get to a no, fast, you need to make a specific
request. Often, when we present an idea, we give a long introduction, describe the
background, reasons why it's a good idea, and at the end we say, here's what we want.
But say you have a small amount of time with a very
influential person. You can get to no right away by making your request right up front.
Immediately the person's needs will rise to the top and you can spend the rest of the time
addressing these needs. Otherwise, you may get a polite, "I'll get back to you."
You all know how often this is a no disguised as a yes!
Marshall Rosenburg tells a story that illustrates this. He
was approached by a former San Francisco gang member who wanted to start an after school
program for at risk youth. The gang member wanted Marshall to set up a meeting with the
head of a foundation who could potentially fund this program. Marshall spent a lot of time
setting up this meeting and briefing the former gang member on the foundation, etc. When
the big day finally came for the meeting, the gang member walked into the office, sat
down, looked the foundation representative in the eye, and said, "Where's the
money?"
Marshall was horrified at his friend's manners and wondered
if he'd lost credibility with his foundation friend. But after the gang leader asked,
"Where's the money," the man from the foundation said, "What money?"
Then the Gang leader said, "the $20,000 I need to start an after school program for
at risk youth." Then the foundation representative asked another question, "Will
this program really make a difference? Can you prove this?" And the gang leader
replied, "Oh yes, we have found that the program reduces crime by 65%," and so
on. The foundation representative was able to get his needs and concerns on the table
immediately and to decide in a short amount of time whether he was willing to fund the
program, which he did.
So, next time you have a proposal to present to someone,
don't be afraid to make a specific request and then to ask, "What do you need to know
from me in order to make a decision?" You are not demanding a commitment, you are
simply allowing a person's concerns and needs to come to the forefront.
Reorganizing for Sustainability
Not only does sustainability require that we have better
communication skills, often sustainability requires environmental professionals to be
completely retrained and for whole departments to be reorganized.
One of our clients, Baxter Health Care, is a good example.
Two years ago, a small team of people within Baxter's Environmental Health and Safety
Department began to meet to talk about sustainability. Baxter's Environmental Health and
Safety Department had done a wonderful job of quantifying, in business terms, the
department's value. In fact, every year they calculate the costs of the environmental
program (in terms of salaries and capital costs) and the benefits and savings, including
the cost savings from pollution reduction, energy efficiency savings, and avoided
liabilities. The benefit of the environmental program adds up to millions of dollars each
year; because of this, the department enjoys a great deal of credibility within Baxter.
While the company had received great benefit from the EHS
programs, the sustainability team knew that so much more was possible. The EHS department
wasn't engaging the core of the business, the marketing people, the customer relations
people, the R&D people. Baxter's products could be designed better; the manufacturing
of the product could be improved. So they held a series of forums (which we facilitated
for them) where they invited people from all over the company and asked them what was
important to them. At the end, the EHS people knew a lot more about how to serve the needs
of the other departments. Finally, they got up the courage to meet with the President,
Harry Kraemer, and explained how sustainability tied into his objectives, and made a
specific request: to adopt sustainability as a company-wide initiative. Now the
sustainability initiative is no longer centered in the EHS department; an executive team
that works closely with Mr. Kraemer handles it. Harry Kraemer is so involved in
sustainability now, that he was recently the keynote speaker at this past CERES
conference, talking about business's role in meeting the sustainability challenge.
We also worked with a Bay Area biotech firm who's EHS
department realized that in order to really effect change they needed to see the rest of
the company as their clients. This department was organized (like many regulatory
agencies) around media (air, water, waste, asbestos, etc), instead of around the way the
business is organized (R&D, manufacturing, marketing). So it needed a new
organizational structure and new skills in order to serve the needs of the different
departments better. Once the department was reorganized, it started to see changes in how
products are manufactured at the company.
Conclusion:
So my initial question was: How do we accelerate
sustainability? First, we need a clear vision of what sustainability is. How do we secure
6 billion people's quality of life within the means of this one planet? Second, we need to
know how our industry fits, and third, that our individual role is part of a larger
movement. And fourth, and most importantly, we need to understand other people's needs,
make clear requests, and welcome their feedback especially if their answer is no. This is
where we learn the most and can create the most change. |
