Step By Step

Until you’re ready to engage the Full Cycle Sustainability process, we can begin working together in a variety or ways, at a variety of levels of intensity.

Executive Briefings | Strategic Coaching | Rapid Diagnostics | Training | Special Projects

Executive briefings

With as little as one week’s notice, our CEO and Senior Associates will conduct a customized, confidential briefing (half-day to full-day) for your executive team on key trends and emerging issues.

RESULTS: A clear picture of the strategic landscape you face; identification of your immediate and emerging operating opportunities; and a preliminary evaluation of your current capacities to exploit them.

Strategic coaching

A couple of substantive, confidential conversations per month with CEO Gil Friend or the Senior Associate of your choosing, plus on-call access by phone or email, for less than the cost of one day’s consulting.

RESULTS: Clarify and advance both your company and career sustainability goals. Satisfaction guaranteed: you’ll pay at the end of each month, only if you’re satisfied that we have delivered real value. How can we be so confidant? 75% of the people who’ve used this service in the past gained substantial promotions.

Rapid Diagnostics

We will provide a rigorous diagnosis (in as little as two weeks) of your present state and key opportunities in one or more of the following domains:

Risk: Are you fully aware of — and are you prepared to deal with — both the “inevitable surprises” and the unpredictable changes your business will face in the coming years?

Carbon: Do you know your carbon footprint? Are you adequately prepared to profitably reduce it? Do the know the best places in your value chain to start?

Operations: Are you still spending more of your potential profits than you absolutely must on (or more than your competitors are spending!) energy, water, materials and “waste” management?

Metabolism: Do you effectively transform the flows of energy and materials through your organization into durable value? Do you know how to assess its metabolic health? And how to read those “vital signs” to guide strategy and operations?

Metrics: What is the health of your organization’s Corporate Performance Management (CPM) system? How do you measure your sustainability progress? How well do you use those measures to drive that progress?

Strategy: Is your sustainability strategy sufficient to the challenges and opportunities you face? And is it sufficiently integrated with your business strategy?

Capacity: Does your organization have the capacity — in leadership, communications, agility, change management and general competence — to get the job done?

RESULTS: We will deliver a frank assessment of your gaps and opportunities, our prioritized recommendations of how you can move against them, and an initial roadmap for effective action to reduce costs, risk and impacts, while building profit, brand and your capacity to manage in difficult times.

Strategic Roadmaps

Comprehensive five or ten-year plan, visually detailing aspirational and nuts-and-bolts goals, focus areas and the year-by-year actions and accountabilities across all functional roles across all business units or departments, that will be necessary to achieve those goals.
RESULTS: Sunpower COO Marty Neese says that our roadmap wa ssomething that “everybody could rally behind and bring everybody together…with practical implementation, led by…people on the line that are actually taking responsibility at the point of execution.”

Training

What your people understand, and what they are able to do, are key to being able to effectively put your companies sustainability visions and business plans into action. To support that learning and capacity building, we provide sustainability training for executives, managers and rank and file. Topics range from strategic (such as The State of Sustainability and The Natural Step Framework) to tactical (such as Sustainable Performance Measurement, Supply Chain Management and Sustainable Design), Delivery modes include online, through eLearning systems, webinars and telecourses, and face-to-face, in part-day, full-day and multi-day programs.

Special Projects

We are also available to respond to your specific project needs. Recent examples have included impact analysis, scenario modeling, business planning, policy development, issue management, strategic messaging, and more. Common to all these engagements: our commitment to building business value, while serving your highest aspirations for social and environmental benefit.

To explore how to bring these results to your organization, please indicate your interests in our contact form, or call us at +1-510-248-4940.