Save the planet by fixing organizations

Creating a sustainable future requires a future-proof approach

In my work with clients, I’ve observed the following pattern:

1. The CEO, with the support of the shareholders, announces that their business is going ‘all-in’ on sustainability. They acknowledge the need to reinvent their core business model.
2. A department (a sustainability office or similar) is established to lead the change.
3. The new strategy struggles to come to life.

Here are a few of the underlying problems:

1. trying to ‘implement’ sustainability like other changes — while the challenge is all-encompassing and much more complex than others, requiring experimentation
2. trade-offs are not made explicit (Are we allowed to sacrifice profit margin to invest in a more sustainable solution? Are we allowed to say ‘no’ to clients?)
3. the organizational forces push against changing the cash cow of the business — existing KPIs, compensation schemes, and processes aren’t adjusted
4. a focus on short-term gains inhibits progress on long-term goals
5. a lack of skill in the necessary cross-functional, cross-departmental, or even cross-organizational collaboration that is required to make a dent
6. lacking the capability to realize a new strategy

What to do about it?

A few anti-dotes (but there are no quick fixes!):

• Change management that is compatible with complexity
• Adaptive Strategy that enables a company to change direction
• Intelligent disobedience helps individuals do the right thing
• Self-managing teams across boundaries that govern by consent

Lately, I’ve been learning more and more about the relevance of organization design and systemic transformation in helping organizations become ‘net positive.’ Do you recognize what I wrote above? What else comes to mind? If you have something to contribute, please reach out to me!

“Sustainability is the biggest transformation challenge of our generation. Governments are too slow. Individual actions are too insignificant. So all of our hope is with business to make the shift.” — a befriended C-level coach

🚨 Join our roundtable

I’m co-organizing a roundtable on the topic to share our knowledge and learn from the community. The title is “Overcoming Organizational Barriers to Becoming Net Positive,” and will take place on April 24th from 16:00 to 17:30 CET. More information here.

Read more

• Reducing politics through organization design 🎥 a conversation between and my colleague Koen de Boer — 25 minutes
• Sustainability systems change requires collaboration and experimentation 📰 by IMD — 20 minute read
• Middle Management is the Key to Sustainability 📰 by HBR — 10 minute read
• Five factors for sustainability leadership 📰 by IMD — 9 minute read