Ever thought that sustainability is like football? No? Think about it, a good game plan is the basis of helping you win. If players were running in all directions performing random actions on their own a team would not stand a chance! The same concept can be applied to your sustainability plan. Magnin uses football as a metaphor to present a 5-level approach for your sustainability plan. This framework can be very useful for gaining perspective and having structure as you analyze an organization, write a report, answer questions, and help people avoid picking random actions from a list of best practices. Having a game plan will establish a course of action that is more effective with the resources available in order to make maximum progress on a sustainability journey.
Time to Do More Than Talk
Have you encountered a CEO or employee who totally believes in the value of sustainable efforts, but also thinks it’s basically someone else’s problem? Unfortunately you aren’t alone. A recent feature in the Harvard Business Review noted that while many organizations these days are happy to talk about sustainable changes, they aren’t really committed to implementing those efforts.
Example? While carbon emissions continue to grow, only 1/3 of the 600 largest US Companies have taken steps to put systematic sustainability oversight in place at the board level. So how can we motivate companies to take that next step and actually walk the walk when it comes to making sustainable changes?
After interviewing more than 100 people ranging from CEOs to shop floor workers, CB Bhattacharya found that most companies fail to help the members of their team — at all levels — take ownership over these changes. In order to successfully implement sustainable solutions everyone has to believe that this is OUR problem, not someone else’s. So Bhattacharya developed a 3-step model that will help companies move away from just talking and into action.
Incubate
In this first phase requires examining your company’s goals and determining how your business impacts the world. In this step, businesses often gain perspective on ways they could make sustainable changes through action, but typically need further help to move their plan into place.
Launch
During phase two, the sustainability plan must be presented to stakeholders which helps set the element of ownership into motion. You need to determine what will be the strongest selling point for your team to get committed — focusing on financial benefits or the positive feelings of making a difference. Most likely you will need a bit of both to encourage the feeling that these efforts are for the long-term betterment of your company and the community.
Helping members of the team see that their efforts have a real impact can make a huge difference to their willingness to commit to changes.
Entrench
Once people have really gotten on board with the plan and sustainable changes are in place, they will (hopefully) become routine. Making sure to measure the impact of your changes so you can report back will make it clear to everyone what a difference is being made. Being able to really see the changes — say water use reduction — can be highly motivating, instilling pride in the good work and inspiring people to want to do more.
In Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value, Bhattacharya and fellow authors Sankar Sen and Daniel Korschun note that the social and environmental responsibility movement doesn’t seem to show any signs of fading away. As more and more companies commit to making real changes, there are also indirect effects of the efforts — employee retention, customer loyalty, and investor reaction and support.
If you can get your team to go all in with you, we know the benefits will be worth the effort.
Well Designed AI Can Maximize Supply Chain Sustainability
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a thing of the future nor is it the AI of feature films, reigning terror on its human creators. At least not yet. But among its current capabilities, AI can help maximize supply chain sustainability.
What’s more, according to the Harvard Business Review, human workers are not going to become obsolete. Instead, “… the technology’s (AI) true power is in augmenting human capabilities – and that holds true in the supply chain.”
So, let’s put the fear of massive job loss behind us and figure out how we can better use AI in order to maximize supply chain sustainability.
HBR discusses the traditional supply chain model as “inflexible and slow” and, ultimately, inefficient. Working in tandem with AI, humans can help to create a more flowing and flexible chain that better meets the needs of customers while saving time and resources.
As these systems change and render certain positions useless, human workers and businesses must continuously adapt to find their niche. This can include internal commitments to “reskill and move people to other areas of the business where they can add value,” according to HRB.
AI is also more efficient in making forecasts and inventory management. One major consumer goods company utilized AI for a formerly manual process resulting in 80 percent less time to complete the task. Human workers were re-tasked “to provide valuable market intelligence.”
There are a number of great reasons to pair humans with AI to maximize supply chain sustainability, so let’s talk about some things you should know about AI.
1. It’s relevant for all industries.
We all know there are things that computers are simply better at. For some industries, like technology, it is obvious that AI is central. Take some time to explore how your organization could be more efficient and better use the skills of your people if you incorporated AI.
2. Human rights and ethics are important
Green Biz emphasizes the importance of utilizing the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights when developing and deploying AI. Be prepared to ask some hard questions and act with a focus on a human-rights.
3. Environmental issues are important
Powering AI can be expensive and inefficient. It is important to consider the cost of utilizing it and ensuring energy needs do not spike as a result.
4. Don’t forget research, development, and marketing
It is easy to forget these areas when it comes to AI, but they must be focal areas. In 2017, they were not at the top of business leaders minds’ when asked which were the most important functions to achieve substantive progress in sustainability in 2017 – don’t forget them.
5. Communicate with equity and inclusiveness
AI is among the most jargon-filled and complex industries today. Often, only a small portion of people will understand how AI works and they are usually working at AI companies. This can create a risk of exploitation when it comes to civil society, right-holders, and vulnerable populations. Let’s ensure everyone can be part of meaningful conversations about AI.
6. Ethics and principles will be challenging
The AI industry has developed rapidly and guiding principles with it. There are many organizations publishing ethics and principles. Be prepared to provide and receive feedback in order to be part of exploring and resolving issues.
7. Be prepared for the ripple effect
We cannot be sure where the AI movement is heading, but we can be sure that it will have implications for our future. Are they the ones of sci-fi movies, probably not? But, be sure to consider the long-term impacts of AI on society and business.