If you're an SME, most likely, time and money are tight, so you want a clear, concise way to understand sustainability and what it means for you.
Here are ten, practical tips and next steps to help you maximise your Sustainability Strategy.
1. Figure out why. Establishing your motivation behind becoming a more sustainable business will make your path to achieving your targets much easier.
2. Connect the dots. SMEs tend to operate in a more socially responsible and sustainable way than big corporations, but often the details of what's been happening gets lost. Set up a Sustainability Team to ensure that the business is communicating clearly about sustainability and that all activity is documented.
3. Network and Collaborate. Learning from your peers and even your competitors is the best way to share best practise. Getting out and talking about what you and others are doing will spark ideas that benefit everyone.
4. Follow it through. It's easy to write about sustainability and to talk theoretically about your targets, but taking practical actions and making things happen is the difference between "greenwashing" and actually making a difference.
5. Be consistent. If you're going to tackle a particular issue, and talk about it publicly, then make sure you're taking a long-term view and making a proper commitment to something you believe in. Investing in a programme for three years is a much more robust approach than donating some money to charity as a one-off.
6. Your employees are your best asset. You're likely to believe in your employee's ability to make or break your business goals but the same is true for sustainability. Seek out those people who are passionate about sustainability and make them your champions
7. Allocate time and money. Without a dedicated role set out to pursuing your sustainability goals it's likely to get put to the bottom of the priority list. Ensuring that individuals have time each week allocated to your sustainability work will ensure that activities are actioned.
8. Get help. Seek out support from organisations and initiatives that exist to help businesses become more sustainable
9. Measure, monitor and review. Develop metrics that work for your business and update and reflect on them regularly. Decide what's best and stick with it. Your data will expand and grow over time and then you can reflect on your next steps.
10. Think broadly. Sustainability covers a lot more than just the environment. Think about all social and economic impacts or possibilities within your business.
