Be your own Chief Sustainability Officer

After Climate Week wrapped in New York in September last year, Oliver Wyman and Climate Group spoke with climate practitioners from companies around the world to put together a report on how we can finally break through the barriers to corporate climate action.

Although parts are more tailored to larger corporations, if you want concrete ideas for how businesses can step up to the plate on climate it’s worth reading in its entirety. But I wanted to put the spotlight on what they call the ‘guardrails’ of their findings: “Own the problem — don’t offload it. And innovate the business — not just the technology.”

Both traits are core to what makes a good Chief Sustainability Officer, and are worth putting into practice for businesses of any size.

As an owner or manager, you spend the waking hours rushing between tasks. You’re manning the phones, being there for your team, redoing rotas after last-minute illness, checking stock, calling the electrician that still hasn’t come, engaging with customers, planning social media posts, unloading deliveries, and getting your hands dirty when the rush hits. And now, you may think, on top of all that you’re meant to be the CSO too?

For many, this would seem like yet another hat you’re expected to wear on an already extensive day of headpiece changes. But I’d offer that it may just be an opportunity in disguise. Being a successful CSO is as much about approach as expertise, and it’s easier than you think to embrace a bit of that mantle and put it to work for your goals and your business.

With that in mind, here are some qualities to embrace as you become your own CSO.

Be open despite uncertainty

You took the plunge and started your own business so as an entrepreneur you’ve already got this skill down. It’s a moment of real uncertainty for businesses pivoting to changes in legislation, economics, and consumer behaviour. Embracing a formula of ‘trial, adapt, learn and collaborate’ is not only a key to being successfully sustainable – but also just successful fullstop.

Take, for example, being open to new suppliers. If you can break out from that tunnel vision of the way things have always been done you’ll buy yourself some space to take a breath and look around. What’s happening next door? In the next town over? Across the pond? Are there new innovations in transport that could save you money and cut your carbon, or a packaging solution that’s being rolled out from a factory in the next county.

Being open to opportunities is maybe the most important part of the CSO mindset.

The devil is in the detail

As you sprint through your day, try to keep your eyes open and notice the hotspots in your business. What is causing those huge spikes in your energy bill and is there any way to make it more efficient? Is the process for dealing responsibly with your waste cumbersome and a last thought that gets forgotten by tired team members trying to get home at the end of the day?

But noticing the problem is only step one, you also need to do something about it. It’s surprising how often sustainability aligns with common sense. If something doesn’t feel right it probably isn’t. Act on those good instincts!

If you’re still not sure where to start, let us help. Drop us an email to talk about pricing and availability for a one-on-one consulting session with our sustainability expert and see if we can’t help kickstart your efforts.

Perfect makes problems

Tied closely to that last point is another small mindset shift. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress. This is especially the case in small businesses where the workload is heavy on a more compact team. Try to remind yourself and others that small steps are good.

They say there’s no such thing as bad press and that applies here too – any improvements are good improvements.

Good neighbours make good businesses

It can be hard to remember when you’re elbow-deep in a really challenging spreadsheet but you aren’t the only one out there dealing with this particular challenge. SMEs are a community of people all trying to make their businesses work, and being a good neighbour means helping others by talking about your successes and your failures.

Reports and research like the “Whole chain food waste reduction” carried out in collaboration with Wrap that dives into ready meals and fresh foods are a great place to start learning from the experiences of others. And if you’re finding them helpful, consider giving back to keep the cycle flowing. Join a small business community specific to your part of the industry or the big national body and take the time to respond to that survey request.

You never know who really needs to hear your story.

Yes, and

Perhaps the overriding benefit of having a CSO in your organisation is that they are always thinking about sustainability (I know, d’uh).

This role went from being a niche subset buried in the org chart, normally in the communications department – hello greenwashing, to a C-Suite god who can take a holistic view of your entire supply chain and see how the moving parts come together and where things could be improved.

To channel that main character energy start from ‘it might work with this’ rather than ‘how’ when you’re toying with a new idea or initiative. If you’ve ever done improv comedy (no, we absolutely haven’t either) you’ve likely heard about the ‘yes, and’ principle. Put simply it’s about embracing a new idea. When your partner in the scene puts forward a new idea you’re encouraged to accept it and build on it. “Yes, and…”

Bringing this improv into your business life can help stop you from discounting how sustainability could fit into a new project or idea and instead building a whole new way of problem solving.

Mehrnaz Tajmir is the Co-Founder and Chief Science of Greener