Business Sustainability
By Irene Millar
Sustainability is a new buzz word, but what does it mean and how does it relate to your organisation?
Deriving from the Latin word sustinere meaning to “hold up, support, endure”, the Oxford English Dictionary defines sustain as “keep (something) going over time or continuously”, and sustainable as “avoiding depletion of natural resources.”
So, attaining Business Sustainability requires your organisation to operate in an effective and efficient manner in all aspects of your operation. All organisations depend on the use of natural resources such as oil and trees in the production and distribution of their products and services. A truly sustainable organisation consciously works on achieving profits by reducing costs through the application of two key targets:
- Working towards reducing all forms of waste to achieve zero waste
- Continually reducing natural resources being utilised by identifying more efficient processes and products
Given the current economic climate a large percentage of organisations are focusing on cutting costs. Are the costs you are cutting the ones that will lead your organisation out of the current climate in a stronger position when the economy recovers?
An organisation’s most valuable resource is its people, and very often in cost cutting exercises, employees are one of the first “costs” to be cut as this can create a large saving quickly. Whilst in some cases this may be the most appropriate action, there are inherent dangers in this approach.
If you do have to make cuts in your workforce, how can you achieve this most effectively? How do you avoid cutting the wrong people, retain the employees that you want to keep and have the right people in the right positions to ensure that you come out of the current economic crisis stronger and ready to grow?
Through inclusion and engagement in your organisation’s objectives, your employees are the people best able to support the reduction of waste through their daily activities and the creation of more effective processes and products, and through their knowledge of the existing processes and systems, with both of these activities leading to increased profits.
Understanding your employees and the value they bring to your organisation is key to your organisation’s survival and sustainability. What are your employees’ individual strengths? How do they work together as a team? How do you get results from a new team quickly? How do you enable them to contribute value and in doing so engender loyalty and commitment? Would knowing this help your organisation to create a more effective and efficient workforce and an increase in profits?
There are a number of different tools and methods that you can employ to discover and apply this knowledge that will support the recruitment and performance management of your workforce; Belbin ®Team Roles is one such tool.
Meredith Belbin and his team conducted research at Henley Management College in the UK, over a period of nine years. The team studied the behaviour of managers from all over the world. Participants’ core personality traits, intellectual styles and behaviours were assessed during psychometric tests and complex management exercises. As the research progressed, different clusters of behaviour were identified, called “Team Roles”. Each Team Role has its particular strengths and allowable weaknesses, and each has an important contribution to make to a Team. It was discovered that the Team Role composition of a team could spell its success or failure.
The nine Belbin Team Roles are:
Encouraging and respecting the diversity of your employees creates strength and empowers your employees to contribute their value to appropriately structured teams within your organisation, a key step in building a sustainable business.
“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.” – Margaret Mead
Irene Millar is the Co-Founder of Eco Leadership. Utilising extensive experience gained in the corporate world and a professional training background, Irene is working with organisations to create more sustainable businesses. Contact her on Irene@EcoLeadershipTraining.com.
