Here is a short story from last summer, which clarifies the roles when integrating sustainability into daily operations.
And it is about my daughter.
She is 8 years old and during the summer she took swimming lessons. One day, during one of the lessons, I got a call from my husband telling me: “they are going to swim 600 meters, in the ocean”!
First of all, I almost fell off my chair.
What??
She can never do that!
In the ocean?!
She is 8 years old!
She is going to drown!
Who are these irresponsible people??
I was yelling at him to pull her out, but then it was of course too late.
The whole group had already set out on their 600-meter swim and 30 stressful minutes passed before I got another call. This time from a tired, but very happy and very proud 8-year-old who had just overcome a very big challenge.
Her confidence and self-esteem grew noticeably that summer, and it made me think: I need to let go more.
My time and energy are much better spent on support and trust in their ability from the sideline, rather than doing things for them, or deciding what they can and cannot do.
As a sustainability manager, if you see yourself as me, and the rest of your company as my daughter, you have the answer.
The answer to how you can make your company grow and develop, just like a child, into a fully capable and highly successful organisation, in terms of sustainability.
You just need to put yourself on the sideline.
Did you make it this far in the post?
If this resonated with you, I would love to hear your insights on the challenges of letting the organisation take charge of sustainability, rather than the sustainability organisation 👇👇
