In a time where sustainability issues are becoming increasingly central to the success and survival of businesses (thank God!), unfortunately few manage to translate their sustainability strategies into concrete actions that make a real difference. The primary obstacle is neither lack of good intentions nor understanding the importance of steering their operations towards more sustainable business models. Rather, the challenge lies in the actual change management; implementation and activation, moving from words to action.

The organizational challenges are confirmed by data we continuously gather when we lecture or meet with clients. The question we ask is: “What are your biggest challenges right now regarding your sustainability work?”. Regardless of the target audience or when we ask the question, the result is almost always the same: The biggest challenges do not lie in understanding the importance of developing roadmaps, plans, and strategies. Instead, the challenges lie in the organizational conditions to actually implement these strategies and plans. The internal implementation and involvement are insufficient, and the incentives are often nonexistent.

Many transformation strategies end up in the back of a drawer because of a lack of internal ownership, mandate, deeper engagement, and clarity on the how. Or, because all long-term work comes to a halt at the slightest hint of trouble. A common scenario is that the entire company’s transformation work ends up on the shoulders of an often lonely sustainability manager, who struggles to generate interest and commitment from the rest of the organization. For many companies, this means that the sustainability strategy remains an ambitious document that unfortunately does not receive the attention and resources required to be realized.

So, how do you build a strategy that doesn’t collect dust?

1. Agree on why you want to work with sustainability. The answer to that question usually leads to both clear choices and an expressed level of ambition. And if the ambitions are set at a sufficiently high level (i.e., in line with what research says is needed), sustainability issues need to become part of the core business and be followed up and managed accordingly. Otherwise, they will be deprioritized as soon as temporary setbacks occur.
2. Ensure that the management is on board. The CEO and management team must lead the way by clearly understanding and buying into the purpose and integrating sustainability work into the company’s overall goals and vision. It is also crucial that this is reflected in the company’s internal processes and structures, from decision-making to reward systems.
3. Anchor it throughout the organization. If you succeed with both points above, you have come a long way. Then the issues cannot lie solely on a lone sustainability manager, but the ownership is everyone’s. It requires anchoring throughout the organization to succeed, where every individual, regardless of position, understands their unique contribution and responsibility to drive the change forward. Make sure to involve employees, who in many ways are the ones who will implement the strategy, to understand their why and what the transition entails concretely in their tasks. Communicate, educate, engage, and listen.
4. Follow up, evaluate, and learn. Finally, to ensure that the sustainability strategy is not just an item on the agenda but a living part of the company’s DNA, regular follow-ups and evaluations are needed. This includes measuring progress towards set sustainability goals and openly communicating these progressions, both internally and externally. By highlighting successes and learning from failures, a culture of continuous improvement and innovation is encouraged.

Activating a sustainability strategy is about bridging the gap between vision and reality. When you succeed in doing that, you contribute not only to a more sustainable world but also create a stronger, more attractive, and competitive business model for the future.