"If you're in a bad situation, don't worry, it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry, it'll change."
-- John A. Simone Jr.
Six Levels of Sustainability: What You Be is What You Get (3)
“Sustainability” is not always sustainable. Simply, doing and describing what you do as sustainable does not make it so. For organizations (and us, personally!) to be sustainable in what we do, we have to be sustainable in who we are and how we see the world. This gives us our best shot at doing something that is actually going to get or generate sustainable results. In the following series of six posts I will introduce the six levels of engaging in sustainability: Compliance, Conformity, Cooperation, Collaboration, Coherence and Constellation. We use these at Interkannections to help our clients clarify their current goals around sustainability and map out their paths for deepening their practice and impact.
Cooperation
When we act at the Cooperation level our focus shifts to giving back and helping out. We engage in philanthropy and charitable giving/support of select causes because we’ve decided or believe it is the ”right” thing to do.
- Sustainability at this level focuses on a mix of internal and external drivers calling for “giving” and “helping out.”
- Example sustainability activities: Charitable giving, service days, volunteerism, targeted but disconnected internal and external CSR campaigns, employee-specific giving schemes, standards for suppliers, stated socially responsible principles and purpose.
- Being at Cooperation is about philanthropy. We feel a sense of responsibility to help and support causes of personal interest and meaning.
- What we see at this level is our capacity to do good, to help out and support social and environmental responsibility.
- What we are doing tends toward transactional giving and improvement. We help you. We help ourselves. We tend toward doing for vs. doing with.
- What we get from Cooperation is improved operational sustainability in targeted areas and the very real sense we are making a difference in the lives of the people and conservation efforts we choose to help.
- Remaining at Cooperation limits the effectiveness of the time, energy, financial and human resources we apply to socially responsible action and sustainable business. Activity gets confused with accomplishment.
From our research it is pretty clear that most organizations are currently operating around the Conformity and Cooperation levels. Further research by a partner in the US found that over 60% of the companies they surveyed were operating between Compliance and Cooperation. In terms of sustainability, we believe our greatest challenge and opportunity is moving beyond these levels because it is our thinking and behavior at these levels that has brought us to where we are today. Simply, Compliance, Conformity and Cooperation are showing themselves to be unsustainable.
Tags: charity, Coherence, collaboration, Compliance, Conformity, Constellation, cooperation, corporate social responsibility, csr, philanthropy, sustainability
Six Levels of Sustainability: What you Be is What you Get (2)
“Sustainability” is not always sustainable. Simply, doing and describing what you do as sustainable does not make it so. For organizations (and us, personally!) to be sustainable in what we do, we have to be sustainable in who we are and how we see the world. This gives us our best shot at doing something that is actually going to get or generate sustainable results.In the following series of six posts I will introduce the six levels of engaging in sustainability: Compliance, Conformity, Cooperation, Collaboration, Coherence and Constellation. We use these at Interkannections to help our clients clarify their current goals around sustainability and map out their paths for deepening their practice and impact.
Each level includes and transcends the one before it, adding additional functionality and value.
Conformity:
- At Conformity we realize the importance of our reputation and brand and the need to protect and maintain them.
- Sustainability is externally mandated and harvested for public relations
- Example sustainability issue: Creating a sustainability report and publicizing recent gains in workplace safety.
- Being at Conformity is about appearing sustainable to appeal to shareholders, immediate stakeholders, NGO’s and the media.
- What we see at this level is the power and influence of others over our business.
- What we are doing is using sustainability as a means of improving shareholder and key internal and external stakeholder relations
- What we get from Conformity is good PR, enhanced brand reputation, and good relationships with key stakeholders in our work.
- Failure to go beyond Conformity frequently results in an overwhelming focus on green washing and “spinning” activities to appear sustainable to avoid trouble and enhance image in the eyes of key stakeholders.
Tags: brand reputation, Coherence, collaboration, Compliance, Conformity, Constellation, cooperation, green washing, NGO's, shareholder relations, strategy, sustainability, sustainability report, workplace safety
Six levels of Sustainability: What You Be is What You Get (1)
“Sustainability” is not always sustainable. Simply, doing and describing what you do as sustainable does not make it so. For organizations (and us, personally!) to be sustainable in what we do, we have to be sustainable in who we are and how we see the world. This gives us our best shot at doing something that is actually going to get or generate sustainable results. In the following series of six posts I will introduce the six levels of engaging in sustainability: Compliance, Conformity, Cooperation, Collaboration, Coherence and Constellation. We use these at Interkannections to help our clients clarify their current goals around sustainability and map out their paths for deepening their practice and impact.
Each level includes and transcends the one before it, adding additional functionality and value.
Compliance:
- Compliance can be seen as baseline best business practice. Without a strong foundation in compliance we tend to be constantly firefighting and fighting for survival.
- Sustainability is externally mandated and internally enforced.
- Example sustainability issue: meeting workplace safety regulations
- Being at this level is basically about staying out of trouble and reducing risk. We focus on compliance with rules, regulations and requirements in order to avoid penalties and stay in business.
- What we tend to see at this level are the need to meet short-term goals and maintain immediate profitability.
- What we are doing is trying to establish stability as we establish ourselves, move into new markets or new areas of business.
- From Compliance the positive value we get is ongoing permission to operate and stability.
- Failure to evolve capacity to include and move beyond Compliance mires us in largely transactional and frequently win-lose relationships with the world around us as we seek to fulfill self-centered short-term needs.
You probably know people and organizations that struggle in this area. The best way to move out of a compliance focus is to develop strong operational standards and protocols that are part of a larger sustainability initiative. That initiative must be closely tied to financial bottom line improvements and positive visible change.
Tags: bottom line, Coherence, collaboration, Compliance, Conformity, Constellation, cooperation, Interkannections, operational standards, profit, reducing risk, regulations, rules, sustainability, workplace safety
Sustainability Defined
It is a process. It is a call and response.
Ripples on the surface of a pond and the slowly sinking stone.
It is the steady rising crescendo of housing markets and the sudden cymbal crash. Wild commodity price fluctuations are freak globally-warmed wind storms.
These things happen. They and we are cause and effect. Sustainability is what it is. What it needs to be simultaneously now and 100 years from now.
Shifting paradigms, new model of ancient learning & practice it asks us to integrate: what was, what is, what will be.
Way of life, way of living, sacred wedding of economy and ecology. Each really the other, both really patterns of growth, subsidence and exchange.
Baseline of abundance, sustainability is an art demanding deep awareness, constant creativity, control, discipline and compassion.
It is the how of who we are and what we do.
A process. A call and response. It is the opportunity
of a lifetime.
Tags: abundance, compassion, housing markets, paradigm shift, sustainability