Welcome to the next section of this module on implementing sustainable plans into businesses.
In today's dynamic and interconnected world, the imperative for businesses to embrace sustainability has never been clearer. Sustainable practices not only contribute to environmental conservation but also enhance resilience, innovation, and long-term profitability. Whether you’re a small startup or a large corporation, integrating sustainability into your business model is not only responsible but also essential for long-term success.
Watch the below videos of how some organisations are including sustainability into their business model to help embrace sustainability.
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Implementation of a sustainability plan
Implementation is a stage of planning that outlines various steps to carry out a project. It includes steps, timeframe and resources needed for the plan to execute.
Following are the common steps to create an implementation plan:
Research and Discovery
The first phase of the implementation plan is to identify the relevant information and resource needed, such as human resources, timeline, and budget. All this information can be gathered through research involving stakeholders to discover the critical tasks to be carried out first and go on further. This research should always align with the business goals and objectives.
Risk Analysis
Risk analysis is a process of understanding and analysing the risk that may arise during the implementation process. Some of the common risk that arises during implantation are:
- cost risk
- schedule risk
- performance risk
- legal risk
Assign Responsibilities
Every activity in the implementation plan should be assigned. The activity owner has a timeline to follow and a delegation to make.
Resources
Resources are the means required to carry out an implementation plan. Resources can be tangible or intangible resources.
Tangible resources
Tangible resources are physical items that have set values. Examples: cash, machinery and building
Intangible resources
Intangible resources do not have any physical form. Examples: good will and patents.
The most common resources required during the implementation are people, budget, and physical resources.
People
People or workforce is an essential requirement compared to other resources. The right set of skilled workforces, also called a team, should be planned before implementation.
It is one of the most difficult tasks for managers or project leaders to identify what individuals are needed and what required skills for implementing sustainability plans. The workforce impacts other resources, budgets, and physical resources.
WATCH
Watch this next short video from the United Nations explaining the SDG movement.
Human resources on sustainability plan implementation
Relate to the three pillars
Every business or organisation has a human resource management team to handle the workforce. It is responsible for the acquisition, training, control, and management of the workforce. Workforce management is a method to support the workplace through training, safety, and communication.
Budget
The second essential resource in the implementation process is the budget. The budget will show a clear view of how other human and physical resources will be utilised. The operation, capital, and cash combined form a proper budget.
The budget on the sustainability plan:
- Operation cost: operation cost is the day-to-day operation cost and is divided into main classifications such as salaries and benefits. Operating costs can be measured weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly depending on the time frame of the project.
- Capital budget: capital budget is used for a long-term investment such as purchasing land, building or IT supply. It focuses on the cash flow rather than profits.
- Cash budget: cash budget connects operation and capital together. It helps to track and manage the cash flow effectively as it helps to analyse the requirement of the additional cost, or if there is a surplus.
Physical
Different materials resources are required during implementation, such as tools, equipment, and premises. Computers, Telephones, Desks, Chairs, Furniture, Vehicles, Office stationery are examples of equipment and tools.
Watch
The next couple of videos explain in detail the connection and relation to HR and Sustainable Practices and Outcomes.
Sourcing
Sourcing is the process of locating and selecting resources for a particular activity. Sourcing, also known as procurement, is carried out daily in a business from different sources.
It is important to understand what resources are required during the implementation of sustainability plans. Similarly, it is important to secure those resources. The sourcing of the resources depends on the project's structure, goals, and budget.
There are two types of sourcing, internal and external sourcing.
Internal and External Sourcing
Internal souring means utilising the resources that reside inside the business workplace. External sourcing is the acquisition of resources from third-party. Following are the resources and their sourcing methods:
People (Workforce) Sourcing
| Internal | Transfer | A transfer is moving an employee from one department to another that is similar. It doesn't change the rank or salary but provides a path for future promotion. |
| Promotion | When an employee is moved up the hierarchy level, it is known as promotion. When there is a vacant position, an existing employee is transferred to that position with a higher salary | |
| Employee referrals | Referral from the existing employee can also help recruiting employees. This process saves a lot of time and money; employee referrals are always encouraged | |
| External | Outsourcing |
|
Budget Sourcing
| Internal | External |
|---|---|
| The budget is generated from the capital budget. | The finance is sourced from outside of the business. |
| Internal budget is used when the required funding for a certain project is limited and under the company budget. | External budget is outsourced when the required fund is higher than the company budget. |
| Collateral is not necessary for this type of budget. | If the amount is huge, collateral is always required. |
| Examples: Reserves, profits, and assets | Examples: Bank loan |
Physical Sourcing
| Internal Sourcing | External Sourcing |
|---|---|
| Utilising the existing materials | Contracting (leaseback, renting) |
| No extra cost | Tendering |
| Purchasing materials | Purchasing (contract purchasing, hire purchasing) |
There are many software in the market for the planning of the resources. They do not just help in resources planning. They also help in many types of planning. There is individual software for planning and single package software that can handle all the business operations.
Following are two examples of software packages for resource planning:
- Project manager is an online project and works management software that provides team management functionalities such as schedules, arranging resources, timeline, and monitoring. It provides a total resources planning package
Monday.com
monday.com tracks all the employee day-to-day activities and performance and help employees to engage in work. All the resource planning functionalities are available in this online platform.
Watch
The next video provides a quick overview of the Monday.com software and its capabilities.
Watch
The next video's explains how sustainable sourcing can affect costing and businesses' bottom line.
Delegation is when managers create organisational activities into smaller units and assign responsibilities to others in the workplace.
The manager gives different activities to be performed to the team leader, and the team leader directs those activities to members of the team. It forms a hierarchy in the workplace.
Three elements of delegation
1. Authority
A manager or team leader has the authority to direct certain tasks. The hierarchy of delegating the task starts with the manager to team leader and goes down to each employee. A manager or team leader
- assess the skills and experience of each employee
- provide training if necessary
- avoid micromanaging
2. Responsibility
As the task transfers from one authority to another, responsibility also gets transferred. The person who gets the task is now fully responsible for performing the task properly within a given timeframe.
3. Accountability
Employees or team members need to be accountable for any tasks assigned to them, providing feedback and updates on their workflow. Managers also have the duty of providing sufficient directions for certain tasks. They may use various delegation tools such as project manager and monday.com.
Requirements for delegation
Online tools:
- monitor and keep track of tasks
- example: project manager monday.com
Skills:
- clear communication
- authoritative
Direction/teach:
- training of necessary
- provide new skills
Benefits of Delegation
Delegation Process
Managers or team leaders should follow a strategic path for effective delegation in a workplace.
List the tasks that need to be completed. Managers or team leaders can use Jenny Blake six T's to determine the task to be delegated: tiny task, tedious task, time-consuming task, teachable, terrible at, time-sensitive tasks.
Based on the skillsets and schedule, identify an employee for a certain task.
Provide detail information about the task and describe the responsibility associated with it.
Develop a checkpoint for each task and use proper tools to check their timeline. Supervision is a term that deals with directing, guiding, and controlling employees to ensure the activities are going as planned. It is primarily known as monitoring the performance of employees under his authority.
Provide feedback on successful delegation and show gratitude thus motivating them.
Qualities of Effective Supervision
Social skills:
- courage
- technical competence
Communication skills
- tact and discretion
- honesty
Watch
The below video is a guide on how to delegate effectively, which is critical when launching a sustainability plan and getting a buy-in from the stakeholders.
Organisational Procedures
Organisation procedure provides guidelines for the decision-making process and instructions on handling tasks. A sustainability plan can be introduced in the procedure so that the employees can follow it properly.
A sustainability plan can be a great change in a workplace. An effective procedure, communication, and involvement are required to ensure sustainability plans. Every business employee should be well-educated about the change, basically sustainability plans. Proper communication forms are required to channel the changes to the whole employee.
Communication should include:
Communication in a workplace is exchanging information between employees, team members, managers, clients, and suppliers. Communication takes place in two-mode: verbal and non-verbal.
1. Verbal Communication
Everyday conversation with colleagues and managers in day-to-day operation in the workplace is verbal communication. Conversation can place in various ways, such as interviews, phone calls, conferences, meetings, and emails.
2. Non-verbal Communication
Apart from voice and written communication, other forms of communication exist in the workplace. Hand gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, body postures, and other forms of body language are common non-verbal communication in the workplace.
There are many forms of communication to share the changes or provide information on the sustainability plans in the workplace:
Meetings
Meetings occur in a certain place where two or more people exchange their ideas and objectives on a certain topic. Meetings consist of three components: content, interaction, and structure.
Meetings can be held to educate employees on the sustainability plans and processes to execute them. Inputs and feedback can be noted to utilise the plans better.
Noticeboards
Notice boards are written forms of communication to deliver information to many people. Different sustainability plans and policies can be published on notice boards.
Although the appearance of a notice board is basic, it is a powerful tool to provide information and notices. Every step during the change in the workplace towards sustainability can be shared in the noticeboards beforehand so that they can prepare and have a proper direction
Newsletter
A newsletter is an online version of notice boards to share information. It helps the employee be up-to-date about the various events and information such as the sustainability plans and procedures.
An employee can learn about:
- the changes being made, how the changes are being implemented
- how employees will be affected by the changes
- steps for the changes
Training Sessions
Training sessions are an even that provides information about a particular subject. They can include lectures, evaluations, discussions, and demonstrations.
A training session plan is prepared before any training session describing the activities and resources needed for a specific session and highlighting the specific learning objective. The training session plan provides instruction about the subject, timeframe, and methods for that particular session. It can be simple as a brief outline or more complex as prompts, questionnaires and scripts.
Posters and Signage
Posters and signage are printed notice that provides information and can be temporary. Posters are of flexible size, can be small and can be big. It is a cost-effective form of sharing information with a large audience. With posters, a particular location can be targeted and more visible than others.
Relate to sustainability plan
The purpose of using signage is to increase awareness of employees about new sustainability procedures. The display of signage is to keep reminding employees about new procedures to be followed.
Signage can be small but can contribute greatly to sustainability in the long run.
Online Media
Most of the employees are registered on one of the social media. People spend a lot of time surfing on social media.
Information about sustainability plans can be shared with the employees using social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Different videos, links and hashtags can help the employee get additional information about the changes.
Watch
The next videos are some guides on how to communicate effectively with peers and stakeholders to assist you with a successful implementation of your sustainability action plan.
