Is your business strategy eroding value?
In our previous piece we outlined the areas where sustainability can add value to a business and how important it is to own your story, messaging and strategy. The case for integrating sustainability into business strategy is clear and well understood.
However, what isn’t so widely talked about is how getting it wrong can rapidly erode or destroy that value. And it’s useful to spot the warning signs.
So in this second piece, we outline some of the main areas where having the wrong approach to business and sustainability can be counterproductive, with negative impacts.
Feel free to take this to your teams for an honest review. Does your business and sustainability strategy need a rethink?
| LEADERSHIP | Failure to recognise and respect people – affects productivity |
| Lack of incentivisation – leads to integration and buy-in issues | |
| Lack of understanding – available expertise, knowledge and needs | |
| Lack of vision, purpose and strategy = weak value proposition | |
| Lacking sustainability commitment – affects attraction / retention | |
| Sustainability messages lacking substance = impacts authenticity | |
| SHORT TERMISM | Conflict between immediate returns and long term performance |
| Focus on commercials at the expense of wider gains | |
| Incentives tied to unsustainable growth and quick results | |
| Leads to under-developed long term operational capabilities | |
| PLANNING | Ignoring supply chains – affects resilience, efficiency and risks |
| Lack of clear and authentic sustainability goals and direction | |
| Sustainability budget / resources – undefined and/or not integrated | |
| Sustainability strategy and business strategy not, or poorly, aligned | |
| IGNORANCE | Blindly continuing to do the things ‘the way we have always done’ |
| Complacency on changing habits, culture, tech and legislation | |
| Failure to engage stakeholders = missed opportunities and markets | |
| Maintaining out-dated sustainability policies and practices | |
| Taking a laissez-faire attitude that ‘tomorrow will be better’ | |
| CREATIVITY | Aversion to ideas and creativity – failing to innovate and invest |
| POPULISM | Focus in all the wrong areas – blindly copying from others |
| Piggy backing on the latest media story or popular social concern | |
| CULTURE | Lack of sustainability champions = challenges for integration |
| Politics and negativity around sustainability = disconnected efforts | |
| Teams unclear on goals and messaging = ‘failure to launch’ | |