Understanding an executive’s motives is key when pitching your sustainability initiative
Last month myself and a lucky few Energetics consultants had the pleasure of attending the 2012 Australian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) Conference in Brisbane. This was a fantastic opportunity for us to meet with representatives from across the education industry and discuss with them their sustainability goals for the coming year and beyond. There was a great deal of enthusiasm at the conference which was good to see, many innovative sustainability initiatives already taking place at campuses across Australia and a number of interesting panel discussions with industry experts.
One panel discussion that stood out for us was focussed around ‘how to engage the executive’. At Energetics we are fortunate to have the opportunity to walk the talk with many companies and executives across Australia, many of whom turn to us to help them both devise and implement their sustainability strategies. One factor that we notice time and time again as being crucial to the success (or failure) of these strategies is the engagement of the senior management team and executive. As the panel highlighted, we’ve also learned from experience that it is important to align any sustainability project business case with an institution’s pre-existing mission statement. An executive team is often focused on fiscal issues, meaning that a sustainability business case with a very good payback and long term $ savings is a good way to start.
The challenge for any team tasked with sustainability improvements is to identify and then prioritise the initiatives that align with these fiscal objectives. To help with this we often use the One2Five Sustainability diagnostic tool early on in our engagement process. One2Five Sustainability works because it asks a series of structured Yes/No questions about the ‘status quo’ of an institution’s sustainability activities. Following the session we are able to generate a report that outlines the 5 key areas for improvement, along with areas where the institution may already be excelling in sustainability-wise. By getting this ‘hard’ data and feedback early on in the planning process we can save significant discovery time, target the areas that will show the most improvement and payback and provide the executive with some early measurable outcomes.
We’re still offering our free One2Five Sustainability trial to all ACTS delegates. If you did not drop your business card into our bowl, it’s not too late to register, just email me at lidia.rozman@energetics.com.au. If you’re interested in One2Five Energy, then there is a free trial available by signing up through this website. For all other enquiries, just click here and you’ll be directed to our contact form.
About Lidia Rozman
Lidia has many years’ experience in understanding and implementing opportunities for improvements in energy and environmental sustainability. With her passion for ecologically sustainable development within the property sector, she combines her technical, project and change management skills to engage staff at all levels. As a mechanical engineer, senior manager and executive Lidia has been responsible for the planning, design and delivery of high profile, multi-disciplinary projects. Lidia is the current Mechanical College Board Representative for the Women in Engineering National Committee.
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