Leaders + Managers (Blog 3): 5 tips for the managers

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The previous blog offered five tips for leaders and their vision for sustainable business, based on a series of interviews. But a vision has to be translated into a plan. A manager builds the budget that goes with it and sets up the processes. That is not always easy, certainly not in an organization that was not built for the change it needs to make. Below are five tips from our interviews on how to do this better:

1. Translate sustainability into the language of the organization
A sustainability message that does not land, changes nothing. The art of management is translating the vision into something the organization understands and can use. When the outside world asks for certifications, that helps you manage sustainability, says Gaby Rosier*. External pressure becomes an internal instrument that way. It almost obliges organizations to embrace sustainability.

Another way in is to rethink how you present sustainability. Instead of explaining it to the CFO or the Supervisory Board as a cost item, you position it as an investment. Pelle de Laaf* gives the example of heavy fossil fuel use: convenient now, perhaps, but at some point it will not be available at an affordable price, so you are better off organizing your operations so you are not dependent on it. That way you emphasize long-term value creation instead of the short term.

2. Combine long-term thinking with financial realism
Sustainability and financial health are often seen as opposites. But look closely and you will see they need each other. Short-term profits are not by definition sustainable over the long run. Today it is becoming ever clearer how much impact dependence on critical raw materials can have on operations. The sustainable choice, then, is ultimately the sensible and profitable one, Pelle explains.

It calls for strong governance within the company, it is hard to push a sustainability transition through in years when you are not turning a profit. A solid business case becomes even more important then, says Mark Groot Wassink*. Gaby agrees that sometimes returns, or the survival of the company, take precedence over investing in sustainability. The question that helps here is: will I still be able to explain this decision five years from now? Not only to the Supervisory Board, but also to yourself and to your stakeholders.

3. Unlearn old habits
Managers are trained to optimize what already exists — and they are good at it. Their work is largely aimed at streamlining processes and making them more efficient. In short, keeping things running smoothly. This is also where the friction with sustainability sits, because sustainability does not ask you to do what you did better, but sometimes to do fundamentally different things. Sustainability is often about breaking patterns, says Cathelijne Lania*, and therefore about creating new behaviour.

The strength of a good manager lies somewhere else: in the ability to shape the environment so that new behaviour becomes easier for others. Think of redesigning processes so that sustainable choices become the default, or of incentives that reinforce the desired direction instead of working against it. Ian Helgering* describes how he did not try to convince people by wagging a finger — this is no longer allowed — but instead created awareness and made room for conversation. That worked. So do not aim your attention primarily at yourself as the one who has to change, but at the question of what you can do to help others learn new behaviour.

4. Small steps first
How often does a change actually land right the first time? Mark knows from experience how plans relate to reality. His sustainability initiatives reached the point he had wanted to be at after three years only after nine and ten years respectively. As an innovation manager with commercial targets I always wanted to move faster, but you learn that patience and small steps are crucial.

Every initiative in the right direction deserves applause, says Henk-Jan Beltman*, adding that in his view greenwashing does not exist either. A large organization that takes a modest step in the right direction often has more impact than an organization that acts with integrity but does not scale. As a sustainability manager you are in something of a bubble, Gaby finds. Plenty of things you take for granted are far from obvious to people who are only just starting to dig into the subject.

5. Know when to look for outside help or collaboration
However driven you are, if it isn't clear what the organization wants to achieve on sustainability, the gap between what's expected and what you're doing grows quickly. Recognize that? Then it's worth making that gap visible first. At TOSCA we use tools such as the embedding scan for this. It lets you compare the scores of what managers experience on sustainability against how leaders or the executive board assess the same thing. Based on the scan, we can help in a targeted way: sharpening the vision, embedding sustainability in strategy, or choosing the right KPIs.

The collaboration between leaders and managers in the organization plays a major role. Leaders who visibly steer toward sustainability give direction and legitimacy to the steps managers take. But other leaders too — people with influence on the work floor, in teams, or across departments — can help to name and celebrate progress. Which managers do you see doing this well? Or could you use some help with it yourself? We'd be glad to think along with you.

*For this blog series we spoke with:

• Mark Groot Wassink, co-founder of Roetz-Bikes, former director of sustainability & innovation at Auping, Associate Partner
• Henk-Jan Beltman, impact entrepreneur, among other things former CEO and Chief Chocolate Officer of Tony's Chocolonely and co-owner of Fish Tales
• Cathelijne Lania, Founder of A Beautiful Story
• Pelle de Laaf, Head of Finance at Johan Cruijff ArenA
• Ian Helgering, Changemaker at Limitless, MBA Leadership & Collaboration at Nyenrode
• Gaby Rosier, Strategic sustainability manager at Axians