Sustainability is a Mindset, Vision and Competitive Tool

“He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.” ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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Today’s businesses face a constantly changing landscape that will force closer collaboration between businesses and their community through Sustainability initiatives. Solid partnership between business and community groups will not happen overnight. There are too many changes in strategy, culture, organization and processes. Yet it is a critical shift beyond just environmental considerations to become a key contributor to the value of the community. For those Sustainable Developed strategies, stakeholders must take an active part in strategic planning and day-to-day execution.

Companies will continue to be under pressure to generate value in the Sustainability portfolio that pays the way to operational efficiencies, growth and innovation to increase a competitive advantage. This is only be realized to strong integration that places business value at the center. Collaborative customer centric strategies, supported by Sustainable Develop strategies chosen for the return it will provide, will become the rule rather than the exception. Sustainability will be the model for business in the 21st-century.

The road to these new Business models and strategies is not an easily journey. But neither can it be avoided. Companies that began taking the first steps towards strengthening their business with Sustainability solutions, Business partnerships and move strategically towards tomorrow’s more flexible strategies will be favorably positioned for continued success and growth. Sustainability is an evolutionary process and builds on previous stages of development:

• First, Sustainability is a new mindset and focuses on awareness how resources are used, wastes created and compliance with regulations.

• Second, understanding leads to elimination of waste. This conviction will be a key driver, encouraging optimization of processes as an underpinning to successful Sustainability, reaping costs savings and increased productivity.

• Third, leverage your Sustainability effort to differentiate your products. Build a closer relationship with existing Customers to address their needs and differentiate new products for new customers.

• Fourth, interleave Sustainability throughout your corporate strategies (Operations, IT, Marketing etc) and create a comprehensive single “Sustainability strategy” for both external and internal communities.

• Fifth, promote and refine your aspirational strategies for philanthropy (e.g., breast cancer, military vet programs, diseases, etc), restoration (e.g., wetlands, reforestations, etc.), other social and environmental issues. For those efforts will reflect on your brand image, but remind yourself that continued optimization is ongoing for a Sustainable enterprise, not a one time goal.

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The 21st century will be Renaissance of Sustainability, it will be the convergence of science, engineering, art and understanding of nature.

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Owners, Executive and other Leaders are investigating a global world concerned about Sustainability, that type of understanding can be difficult to obtain. In early December 2013, I published my second book entitled “Building a Bridge to Benefits”. If you are interested in reading about the book or want to purchase copies today, here is the link to CreateSpace, an Amazon company, go to: https://www.createspace.com/4532590
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Contact information and Services
A Certified Sustainability and Quality consultancy
•    Sustainability and Quality Consulting
•    Sustainability and Quality Workshops
•    Sustainability and Quality Speaking Engagements

Jarvis Business Solutions, LLC

Toll Free: (888) 743-3128
Email: Ralph.Jarvis@JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
Web site: http://www.JarvisBusinessSolutions.com

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Well-being: If it’s measured, what will it achieve?

“Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.” ~Ben Stein
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In January, I wrote about well-being as an overlooked need and how it could be used to attract new talent, based on desires and needs of new employees, as well as fulfilling openings in the business. The Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission found the following objective measures necessary in measuring human well-being along the lines of the “eight key dimensions”:

1. personal income, consumption and wealth;
2. mortality and morbidity;
3. educational enrollment, graduation rates, years completed, standardized test scores and expenditure on education;
4. time spent on personal activities including paid and unpaid work, commuting, and leisure time;
5. measures of housing;
6. political voice (freedom of speech, dissent, and association) and governance (corruption, accountability, democracy, universal suffrage, and non-citizen rights);
7. social connections (volunteer work, civic engagement, and the amount, nature, and breadth of connections generally);
8. environment (econsystems health, access to environmental resources, individual exposure to pollutants);
9. personal insecurity (crime, accidents, natural disasters); and
10. economic insecurity (job security, illness and health issues, and global economic trends).

So, my question is: Well-being: If it’s measured, what will it achieve?

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Owners, Executive and other Leaders are investigating a global world concerned about Sustainability, that type of understanding can be difficult to obtain. In early December 2013, I published my second book entitled “Building a Bridge to Benefits”. If you are interested in reading about the book or want to purchase copies today, here is the link to CreateSpace, an Amazon company, go to: https://www.createspace.com/4532590
______________________________________

Contact information and Services
A Certified Sustainability and Quality consultancy
•    Sustainability and Quality Consulting
•    Sustainability and Quality Workshops
•    Sustainability and Quality Speaking Engagements

Jarvis Business Solutions, LLC

Toll Free: (888) 743-3128
Email: Ralph.Jarvis@JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
Web site: http://www.JarvisBusinessSolutions.com

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Well-being: Have we Learned from 2013 Lessons?

“Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor.” ~Paul Hawken
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Last week, I posted an article about well-being in context with Sustainability. In contrast, this week we need to discuss the “real world” in an economy that can only be called the Second Great Depression.

Well-being was compared as a recognition of companies and how it could be used to attract new talent, based on desires and needs of new employees, as well as openings in the business. It also shared how employees can be engaged to make business work more effectively and achieve those clear strategies laid out by leadership.

When I worked at EDS, each project had an institutional review, called Lessons Learned. It pointed to our successes, new approaches, failures and how we should avoid them in future projects. It made people accountable. That’s an example of a business approach that improves business practices and refines processes that support those business needs. So, how does that apply to well-being?

Review and refinement is important to ensure the employees understand the values of the corporations. It is also important for leadership to use these reviews as a way of looking at business trends and whether they could impact your organization. Again, how does that apply to well-being?

That brings me to a Gallup report that collect 10 top stories in 2013: http://www.gallup.com/poll/166640/gallup-top-discoveries-2013.aspx

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Owners, Executive and other Leaders are investigating a global world concerned about Sustainability, that type of understanding can be difficult to obtain. In early December 2013, I published my second book entitled “Building a Bridge to Benefits”. If you are interested in reading about the book or want to purchase copies today, here is the link to CreateSpace, an Amazon company, go to: https://www.createspace.com/4532590
______________________________________

Contact information and Services
A Certified Sustainability and Quality consultancy
•    Sustainability and Quality Consulting
•    Sustainability and Quality Workshops
•    Sustainability and Quality Speaking Engagements

Jarvis Business Solutions, LLC

Toll Free: (888) 743-3128
Email: Ralph.Jarvis@JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
Web site: http://www.JarvisBusinessSolutions.com

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Well-being: Is it an Over Looked Employee Need that is also a Recruitment Benefit?

“There are two things people want more than sex and money… recognition and praise.” ~Mary Kay Ash
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For years companies have widened their nets to capture new talent. New BMWs, country club memberships, travel perks and other benefits have been used as incentives to attract new talent.  However, well-being benefits are becoming a “higher-value” to many young “millenniums”. So what does “well-being” mean to business? That varies to the needs of each corporation, its perception of the value for new talent and their contribution to the organization. It also addresses the needs of existing employees, as well.

The Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission found the following objective measures necessary in measuring human well-being along the lines of the “eight key dimensions”: 1) personal income, consumption and wealth; 2) mortality and morbidity; 3) educational enrollment, graduation rates, years completed, standardized test scores and expenditure on education; 4) time spent on personal activities including paid and unpaid work, commuting, and leisure time; 5) measures of housing; 6) political voice (freedom of speech, dissent, and association) and governance (corruption, accountability, democracy, universal suffrage, and non-citizen rights); 7) social connections (volunteer work, civic engagement, and the amount, nature, and breadth of connections generally); 8) environment (econsystems health, access to environmental resources, individual exposure to pollutants); 9) personal insecurity (crime, accidents, natural disasters); and 10) economic insecurity (job security, illness and health issues, and global economic trends).1

Mark Kinver is an environmental reporter for BBC News. He recently wrote a thought provoking article about well being and discussed often overlooked employee well-being is not commonly considered a company benefit. I encourage you to read his recent article by following this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25682368

Footnote: 1 Sen, A., Stiglitz, J. E., & Fitoussi, J.-P. (2009). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Paris, France: The Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.(pgs  41-44)

______________________________________

Owners, Executive and other Leaders are investigating a global world concerned about Sustainability, that type of understanding can be difficult to obtain. In early December 2013, I published my second book entitled “Building a Bridge to Benefits”. If you are interested in reading about the book or want to purchase copies today, here is the link to CreateSpace, an Amazon company, go to: https://www.createspace.com/4532590
______________________________________

Contact information and Services
A Certified Sustainability and Quality consultancy
•    Sustainability and Quality Consulting
•    Sustainability and Quality Workshops
•    Sustainability and Quality Speaking Engagements

Jarvis Business Solutions, LLC

Toll Free: (888) 743-3128
Email: Ralph.Jarvis@JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
Web site: http://www.JarvisBusinessSolutions.com

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New Book Excerpt: All Employees Own The Vision

“Business as usual is dead. Green growth is the answer to both our climate and economic problems.” ~ Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, 2009
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Engagement is critical in transforming your organization into a Sustainability enterprise, albeit, it will take time, patience and learning from experiences from your people. Engage your employees and make all of your employees accountable. Strong cultures empower their people, they recognize their talents, and give them a very clear role with responsibilities they’re accountable for. General George S. Patton Jr. was interviewed and shared this thought; “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” When these positive changes have been observed, its important to keep the momentum going and celebrate by:
•    Publicly recognizing their work
•    Monetary rewards (bonus, promotion, trips, etc.)
•    Just saying “thank you” also goes a long way

But, employee engagement is more than praise and recognition. It is enriching what your culture already possesses and builds on employee experience, education and personal responsibilities for the environment and social sectors. Sustainability’s future will be driven by a social business model influenced by economic, environmental, social issues, and swayed by generational mores.

This is an excerpt of my new book “Building a Bridge to Benefits”. Publication date is scheduled for November 2013 and is planned to be available on Amazon. More to come …
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Jarvis Business Solutions, LLC
Contact Information
Email: Ralph.Jarvis@JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
Blog: http://horizons.JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
Web site: http://www.JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/corporatesocialresponsibility/

Lead Smart, Endless Opportunities when Sustainability is driven by Lean Six Sigma
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New Book Excerpt: Sustainability’s Engagement Strategy

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.” ~ Henry Ford
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Learning how to adopt Sustainability principles to produce a corporation’s awareness of resource consumption like carbon, water, and electricity in order to run their businesses in compliance with existing laws and regulations is based on “lessons learned”.

Sustainability promotes awareness.
Awareness promotes learning and values.
Learning promotes forward thinking to anticipate the future.

If trends continue, Sustainability will be the new competitive tool for business in the 21st Century. It is an internal, external, and a forward facing conviction that embeds and integrates disruptive business practices and technology. Internally, it coordinates your Core Assets that are based on common values. Externally, it addresses externalities and builds outside relationships with those entities. As for forward facing facet, Sustainability always interacts in a dynamic environmental, economic and social environs. Last, but critical to success, is the evolution of innovation that is designed to fit you business needs. It should continue to adapt and provide services to produce products wanted by your customers and address marketplace opportunities based on Sustainability.

If ethical decision making is not part of your due diligence analysis, it should be. For it can be the bridge from your corporate values to the actual “go-no go” decision for a variety of projects and initiatives. It can help steer efforts into avenues that could otherwise be overlooked. Addressing Sustainability and Stewardship in context of approving funding would help ensure your strategic directions are met and align with other business constraints (i.e., ROI, cost reduction, new product development, etc.).

Understanding ethical standards, consequences in violating standards, and the impact on your core assets can have a positive effect on your corporate culture was implemented and enforced prudently. This regarding those values, can have an  underlying  perception that those values are not genuine. Regular discussion, execution for ethical issues in applying those issues and business cases are helpful in ensuring sustainable development and stewardship.

This is an excerpt of my new book “Building a Bridge to Benefits”. Publication date is scheduled for November 2013 and is planned to be available on Amazon. More to come …
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Jarvis Business Solutions, LLC
Contact Information
Email: Ralph.Jarvis@JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
Blog: http://horizons.JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
Web site: http://www.JarvisBusinessSolutions.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/corporatesocialresponsibility/

Lead Smart, Endless Opportunities when Sustainability is driven by Lean Six Sigma
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The Top 10 Trends in CSR for 2012 – Repost

The Top 10 Trends in CSR for 2012

Originally published by Forbes, January 18, 2012: This article is by Tim Mohin, director of corporate responsibility for Advanced Micro Devices and author of the forthcoming book Changing Business From the Inside Out: The Treehugger’s Guide to Working in Corporations.

Top 10 Trends include:

1. Going Global

2. The Triumph (or Tyranny) of Transparency

3. Employee Engagement Emerges

4. Political Pitfalls

5. Collaboration

6. Sustainability Shoppers

7. Occupy From the Inside

8. Social Media Rules

9. Human Rights

10. Earth at Seven Billion and Growing

Related articles

• The Top 10 Trends in CSR for 2012 (jbseventhorizons.wordpress.com)
• Four Emerging Trends in Corporate Social Responsibility – Repost (jbseventhorizons.wordpress.com)
• Consumers Demand Sustainability Results, Survey Says (environmentalleader.com)

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Why Change to an Efficient Organization? Sustainability?

Organizations evolve and change with their business environment, much like living organisms do with nature. The business owner should always be aware of that change, understand its impact, and be proactive in managing change to improve performance and extract tangible benefits for his company. Most companies are not fully optimized and retain inefficiencies in day-to-day operations of doing business. Combining Sustainability and Lean Six Sigma in a synergistic approach to promote sustainable practices, reduce your corporate imprint on the environment, improve efficiency and performance, and promote brand differentiation in your marketplace. From one focused initiative, crossover benefits would almost assuredly provide significant Tangible Benefits by understanding how to retain your improvements that are measured by your bottom line. This is easier to achieve if change is planned, well managed, and aligned to the goals of the organization. Organizations often go through growth stages. Here are a couple of scenarios for change: Unknown Future for the Enterprise, Actions and Decisions without recognizing Outsourcing consequences, and Future Sustainability & Quality Enterprise Growth

No Vision | No Change Control | Unknown Future for the Enterprise

Many corporations are faced with a dilemma. In many cases, the founder of a company may not recognize the need for an organizational vision as business changes. Leadership often tolerates inefficiencies, especially when “fire drills” are often case. Often, leadership they understand the history, inception and evolution of the organization since its founding, to may not have a clear understanding regarding its next steps.

The typical “fork in the road” provides management with three alternatives: do nothing, elect to transform through outsourcing, or most effectively, efficient transformation that includes sustainability and quality. In this scenario, although management is aware – it does nothing. By ignoring unseen costs and tolerates inefficiencies, this leadership fosters bureaucracy that leads to eventual organizational stagnation. Here is why:

1.  Inception & Evolution: This is the period when an idea is transformed into business. It may be a very small organization of one person or expanded to include larger groups to meet the business needs. An organization could vary from “vague” to a clear hierarchy with a “command and control” structure. Oftentimes, organizational evolution develops in the decentralized model.
2.  Congeal Phase: This phase is the “critical mass” of the organizational when issues become recognized. There may be a serious decline in sales. Competition, new technologies, a failure to meet the customer needs and expectations, a history of poor product development and introduction or poor marketing may all be contributory factors in reduced sales and be the catalyst for the business owner to change the approach to the business organization.
3.  Bureaucratization: The autocratic control of an owner may at times only be changed through the realization that bureaucracy is undesirable and can be a barrier. The policies, procedures and practices of the business may be restrictive and hinder growth, communication or efficiency. The term “bureaucratization” evolves from growing hierarchy and functional differentiation.
4.  Differentiation Phase: Promoting products and services that are unique and possess intrinsic values for your Customers are significant in attracting “niche” markets.
5.  Stagnation: A business owner may not realize that in order to optimize business value, changes in the way the business is run will be necessary. The delegation of responsibilities, training of staff and implementation of strategic plans may be areas that are not internalized, nor control change. This organizational model, similar to Taylor’s philosophy and methodology, renders work force pathways as limited and erects obstacles for improvement.
6. Litmus Test: Will this organizational evolution address your business needs to meet your competitive environment? Does it provide a process to eliminate waste and variation? Does it provide an alternative for improvement and performance?

No Vision | No Change Control | Actions and Decisions without recognizing Outsourcing consequences

Still, other management styles focus on expenses, only. This is a very shortsighted approach that can have substantial consequences and even jeopardize the survivability of the company. Beginning in the early 1990s, many corporations selected that option solely based on cost savings.  Often times those “savings” evaporated, in context of poor service,  poorly educated support staff, service provider’s  unrealistic service expectations, cultural and language differences that also hindered business and organizational needs. For the past 5-10 years, those poorly thought out decisions have have been reversed and aligned to marketplace needs.

Sustainability & Quality Vision | Continuous Improvement | Future Sustainability & Quality Enterprise

If your Leadership style is based on facts and broadly views all costs in your organization landscape, then focusing on how to deliver products and services in an efficient manner will reap short-term gains and lay the foundation for long-term efficiencies. Here are some potential changes in behavior:

1.  Inception & Evolution: This is the period when an idea is transformed into business.
2.  Congeal Phase: This phase is the “critical mass” of the organizational when issues become recognized. .
3.  External & Internal Transformation: External leadership who bring new methodologies and enterprise planning to the business can visualize end-to-end organizational improvements, from Suppliers to Customers,  provide strategies that sensitive to the environment, enrich brand image, engage with the business community and reap tangible benefits.
4.  Differentiation Phase: Promoting products and services that are unique and possess intrinsic values for your Customers are significant in attracting “niche” markets.
5.  Innovation: Innovation is assembled from creativity, ideas, strategies, processes, and most important the right human elements and a spirit of entrepreneurship. Innovation can be applied to your existing business environment to increase customer satisfaction, increase profitability, decrease waste and become more in tune with the marketplace.
6. Integration: After Transformation initiatives are executed and implemented, a leader recognizes that seamlessness may not be apparent in the controlled change. So, integration links groups in organizations, based on your new business paradigm and avoiding relapses to “old ways”, to apply their new knowledge in the “new” system with support to its stakeholders and the vision.
7.  Sustainability & Quality: Transformation is modeled with foundations for better leadership, based on these two lessons: The leanest will be more competitive [Lean Six Sigma]. The leanest will be better stewards and create a better chance of making the future a success [Sustainability]. All resources are finite, but the journey to pursue excellence is based on optimizing profitability: Sustainability + Quality + Continuous Improvement = Optimizing Profitability
8.  Litmus Test: Will transformation create opportunities for increased performance, reduced costs, provide for growth of brand and attract quality employees? The results indicate it will provide your organization with those opportunities and establish a Continuous Improvement process to refine and meet your future competitive landscape.

Opt For Managed Change
Competitive advantages come from Continuous Improvement. It begins with a study of the market landscape, urgent application of lessons learned, improved quality and innovation of Products and Services to gain market leadership and customer allegiance. We facilitate that shedding process to help your organization transform by investigating quality, scrutinizing costs and providing expertise in performance areas. Lean Six Sigma provides tools to integrate and improve a vast array of elements and corporate resources to align with your company’s efforts and direction. Here are a few areas:

1.  Sustainability strategies
2.  Corporate Social Responsibilities
3.  Customer engagement
4.  Employee engagement
5.  Change management
6.  Strategic planning
7.  Operational efficiency
8.  Operational redesign
9.  Outsourcing
10.  Strengths development
11.  Innovation
12.  Management evaluation tools
13.  Leadership development
14.  Supplier relationships and alignment

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