This panel discussion was tight. The conversation was engaging, well moderated, and the panelists` opinions seemed to be as close as their physical proximity to each other. Though it built an expansive building for its students, the Ross School wasted no table space.
Dan, from General Mills was big on small movements that turn big. He mentioned an Earth day volunteer program that was extremely successful. He saw the power in engaging employees by having them volunteering in the local community.
An impatiently enthusiastic audience member asked : “Why was it successful?“
Dan: “Because it was not business related.“
My thought: Interesting that people would have more fun away from work. I guess motivating people to engage sustainability comes with making more natural, social, and less about work. I also guess this depends on what you are trying to accomplish as an organization- volunteerism with some sustainability and spirit or sustainability within a business decision context.
Dan: “We sent camera people to document what (these volunteers) were doing and publicized accross the entire organization.“ I apologize if the quote is not 100% correct. – hope Dan will forgive me for butchering his words.
thought: Publicize Success! this guy went to UBC and took OBHR.
At this point, Jeff from PWC, patient, but itching to chime in the conversation, said he was interested in measurement and engagement. Measuring carbon foot print led to a reduction of 20%. He also mentioned the competing value framework can be used to reconcile the employee`s individual values and the corporate culture.
thought: I was now convinced Dan Skarlicki had visited these guys.
Caroline from HP finally had a chance to speak. She managed to create a training program accessible to everyone and added incentives to drive people to use it.
thought: Incentives too!
Dan from General Mills, then recounted how last 2 summers he held sustainability sessions and found it useful to start from the ground up, build online communities for sustainability (not formal training but sparking ideas).
thought: Great concept. I think that adding some direction could help but allowing people to form their own ideas is much more powerful motivator. After all, I rarely like other people`s ideas as much as my own even when mine are much worse.
The moderator now makes it clear that she is not moderate in her opinions. She described how some organizations that are trying to build awareness of lack of nutrition and disease in developing countries have used simulations as a tool to motivate. They actually simulate how it would feel to be a person under these conditions.
thought: This is going a little further than Rawl`s veil of ignorance.
A confident, vocal MBA student then showed that we had not lost focus on business: “how do you make the link between initiatives and improving the bottom line?“
Jeff from PWC responded by citing the king of the bottom line, Goldman Sachs. He mentioned that GS Sustain (an investing criteria) evaluates how a company performs environmentally, what its social governance policies are, and finally, its cash flows.
thought: There are many investment firms that have socially responsible investment funds and portfolios. This actually drove me to Goldman Sach`s website and I watched their promotion video. It is very well done. The push to investing in socially responsible companies is definitely emerging as the investment opportunities in this sector are great. A problem that has to be solved is one of measurement. How do we rank technologies and companies when it comes to sustainability? There is a lot more work to be done in this area. It is also interesting to note that GS is concerned about cash flows and not necessarily earnings–as a MBA student, I know why this makes sense.
The panel discussion had been very good so far but my expectations were soon going to be reset. A woman from the audience mentioned that she worked for Boeing in a lead HR role ( I wasn`t able to jot down her title). She reports to someone who reports directly to the CEO of Boeing (again not absolutely sure on this). She found it useful to get employees to drive change from the bottom up but then go to your decision makers with a business case. I was impressed by her experience and thought that it was too bad there wasn’t more room at the speaker table.
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