Sustainability is a relevant issue for more and more organizations. Whether it's about internal ethical considerations, customer pressure or legal obligations, the need is clear. Sustainability issues are generally impactful and complex issues for organizations. In this article, discuss Wietse Maathuis and Thijs Venneman, management consultants at Summiteers, why the realization of sustainability is not substantially different from other strategic themes, such as digitization. If you take sustainability seriously and want to integrate it into your organization, you should approach it as a strategy execution issue. Only then can you actually be successful.

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Sustainability as an integral part of the strategy

“We notice that sustainability is often approached differently than the more regular strategic themes,” says Wietse. “Responsibility is sometimes still placed separately, while the sustainability agenda often has an impact on various parts of the organization. We understand very well that it can be useful to focus on the subject by setting up a department for it. He can lead the way, draw attention, direct and that is very useful! Ultimately, the movement towards sustainability is an initiative that will affect the entire organization and is therefore also part of the broader strategy. And the responsibility for it therefore also lies throughout the organization. It is essentially 'ordinary' just like any other strategic issue.

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A sustainability issue is a strategy execution issue

“Every strategic challenge requires effective strategy execution, and that's often the crux of the matter,” explains Thijs. “How are you going to become more sustainable while simultaneously working on safety measures and cost reduction, for example? For that, you need a clear plan with a clear goal and taking into account the context of the organization. Most organizations are perfectly capable of turning their goals into a mission, vision, or other strategic document. But how do you translate such a strategic document into a concrete plan with actions that people really get to work on and achieve measurable results?

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Extra complex stakeholder field

“A sustainability issue is often even more complex than other strategies, such as digitization, for example,” Wietse continues. Sustainability comes with extra complexity, because your organization does not stand alone; you are dependent on other stakeholders around you. Not only should your customers want to buy your more sustainable products and services, your suppliers must also be willing to contribute their sustainable part and your shareholders must support your sustainability goals. So it's really about engagement throughout the chain, from start to finish. This theme requires more than just strategy development to be successful”. What can help enormously with this topic is the engagement of the employees. More and more people find sustainable working/doing business very important. That is a tool that you can use to make the change happen. It creates pull, people want it and think it's logical that things should go differently than “before”.

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Sustainability is like a trip

“As we wrote in an earlier blog, every change process is a trip, no destination; so does sustainability,” Wietse continues. “And like any trip, it's crucial to be well prepared for what you'll encounter along the way. Think about that carefully. What impact does this have on my stakeholders? How does it affect my organization's structure and governance? What does it require of my company culture? What effect does it have on the demeanour that I want from both myself and my colleagues? Ask yourself questions like these about all aspects of your business model.”

“Let's say first: we are not substantive experts in the field of sustainability,” says Wietse. “But if you take sustainability seriously and want to integrate it into your business operations, you have to approach it as a strategy execution issue to actually be successful. We help organizations integrate sustainability into their strategy in a way that delivers tangible results. We help to make the connection between the 'what', the 'how', and ultimately the implementation.”

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Need help with strategy execution?

We are Summiteers, we create movement, make something that is complex understandable again, something big achievable, a - vague - idea concrete and make something difficult succeed. Can you use help with this? Take contact with us.

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