In any organisation, or even any household, ultimate decisions regarding the future will be made by the person in charge. The same can be said for gaining commitment to the implementation of an Environmental Management System (EMS) or environmental initiative within your organisation.
Whilst many of us today are aware that being green is good for society as a whole and for our bank balances, without careful communication, the business benefits of implementing an EMS may not be clear to the senior management team.
Whether in a written report or as part of a presentation to executives, by setting these benefits out in a structured and focussed manner to the senior management team the risk of an EMS being seen as just another useless paper exercise are removed and its implementation is something that makes clear business sense.
So how do you sell the environment?
Advice from Futerra, experts in Sustainability Communications states that we often sell the wrong message and that by changing our approach we are more inclined to gain approval. The approach by Futerra [1] suggests that when trying to sell our message regarding environmental improvements we often focus on negative images and statistics associated with the destruction of the environment to support our case. This is a key problem with the delivery of the environmental message as it fails to abide by some of the key golden rules of marketing – make it visionary and desirable. Instead of presenting solely the negative images of the destruction of the rainforest or melting ice caps, the impact of current business operations, we should be presenting an image that is desirable, a vibrant world full of natural resources for example, the results of a new visionary and innovative approach to business.
Obviously a vision and desire to do the right thing are not enough, the management team will want to know how you plan on achieving it and this is when you provide them with the opportunity to do just that and present them with your plan.
The case for gaining approval from the management team needs to be specific and set out a suggested implementation plan with targets, methods and actions. The management team must also be left in no doubt that the reasons to implement the scheme are right for the business – not just for society. Therefore, in order to be taken seriously, the plan will need to stipulate those intangible benefits and outline the benefits of greener business, many of which are financial, and include:-
- Cost reductions due to lower input and output costs through waste minimisation
- Reduced exposure to environmental risks
- Less impact of legislative changes by staying ahead of the wave
- Greater competitive advantage as a result of reduced production costs
- Better insurance premiums
- Creation of new innovative products for new markets
- Improved profit margins
- Improved stakeholder and community relations
Why is it necessary?
Not only is it a good idea to engage your senior management team to ensure they are aware of these benefits, engaging them at an early stage will mean that you will be more likely to see successful delivery of environmental initiatives.
Acceptance of the management team:-
- assists in ensuring the availability of the necessary resource, budget and skills.
- can support the development of a corporate approach, ensuring stakeholders and staff alike are aware of the commitment to the environment.
- is necessary to gain accreditation to ISO14001, i.e. authorisation of the environmental policy by senior management.
- will ensure the organisation moves from rhetoric or green wash to measurable delivery of sustainable development.
In summary, whilst the environmental message is often spearheaded by individuals or specialist teams, the benefits that can be realised increase exponentially with the number of people who buy into your message, and most importantly, with the acceptance of the management team.
[1] Futerra, 2011, Sizzle – the new climate message – www.futerra.co.uk/downloads/Sellthesizzle.pdf
