May 15 2008
Sustainability Sensibility
How does sustainability become part of the culture of a company? One way is from the ground up—through programs like employee green teams. The other is from the top down–with commitment and involvement cascading through the ranks.
I read an interview recently with Gap’s Kindley Walsh-Lawlor that gave some good insight into how companies can engage their employees from the top down. Walsh-Lawlor runs the “ECO” sustainability initiative at Gap, Inc. The acronym stands for Energy conservation, Cotton or sustainable design, and Output or waste. These three categories capture activities across brands and departments, and provide a framework for communicating progress.
By using a meaningful acronym to describe the program, Gap has created a way to engage the company in the mission, and there’s a lesson here for other companies who want to create what I call a “sustainability sensibility”.
Many of the companies we see have multiple “green” initiatives taking place. Typically these initiatives have been started by employees who have a passion in a particular area, but they aren’t connected to business objectives, or even to other departmental efforts. They aren’t aligned in a way that has the greatest possible impact for the company, and they aren’t necessarily aligned with business goals.
Gap seems to have cracked the code on creating this alignment, but as Walsh-Lawlor was quick to point out in the interview, they’ve been at it for years.
So for those of you who haven’t been at it for years, and haven’t yet developed a comprehensive strategy, there are some lessons to be taken from Gap’s work:
- The creation of a meme that is meaningful, memorable and catchy creates recognition and acceptance.
- Identification of broad categories can encapsulate (and tie together) many activities across departments within the company.
- Categories can be used to develop a standard methodology for communications—all information about sustainability can be framed within these groupings.
- Opportunities for ownership and accountability at any level creates wide participation in the initiative.
Walsh-Lawlor closed the interview by expressing the importance of helping employees set priorities for sustainability programs from a business perspective. She said, “That’s another great way of integrating sustainability into the DNA of the company.” I couldn’t agree more.