Sharing thoughts on innovation

People and sustainable strategies

Triggered by a recent newspaper article, I feel it is indeed necessary to highlight an aspect of sustainable organisation strategies that does get little emphasis, which is the People dimension. Environment is hot, there are many incentives, mechanisms, succes stories, and even the link between environment and core startegy is increasingly understood.
When it comes to the social aspect however, ambitions seem to be lower. Providing employment, production companies paying above minimum wage in developing countries, health reguations being followed etc. Good, do that. But this has little do to with the claim of being a sustainable company. These are merely minimum conditions.
How should change take place. For starters, just like is increasingly (although slowly) happening with the environmental aspect which is recognising the links between environment and economic aspects and especially the core business. Transferred to the social domain this means analysing which role people play in the ENTIRE ECO-SYSTEM OF THE COMPANY. So, yes suppliers, but also employees, customers and others who are influenced.
By identifying all links between them and what the company does can we start to identify the levers that will draw the People dimension tightly into the core strategy. So: how do you affect suppliers, what do you do to keep your employees satisfied, trained, and intrinsically motivated towards executing the sustainability strategy, how are customers involved and satisfied, which people might suffer negative effects and how is this addressed, etc.
Ideally, organisations address social issues as their core business, but even if they don't, attention should still go out to all of these aspects. Being "Socially responsible" as it is currently often practiced is the bare minimum, it is the first step on the ladder to become truely sustainable.

The other angle

If there is one lesson that stuck with me this year, it is that it is so much more interesting to keep asking question than to answer someone else's questions. In fact, because people are mostly trained (even educated) to answer questions, there is too little experience in asking them. And asking questions, based on daring to doubt is what generates new ideas.
There are many ways to start the process of asking questions and one of these is by looking at situations from a different angle. Is a problem really a problem, is a solution really a solution, and what for? How can it be improved? Perhaps by rechecking the assumptions that underlied the analysis and initial thinking.
Redefining problems, situations and opportunities is what creates blue oceans: tranquil waters that face little competition basically because no one has asked the question (i.e., sailed the ship) that lead you in that direction.

Perhaps in tribute to that line of thought, I would like to introduce the - heretic - vision that Copenhagen (Cop-15 climate conference) was a succes. Exactly BECAUSE there was no political, quantified deal. So now there are not numbers that can be fudged the coming years. All that remains is showing by doing. And the winners will be not the ones who keep saying "The politicians messed it up" because the question that the angtry masses ask is "Why has everything failed", but the ones who ASK "So, and now what, what is OUR next step, how do WE solve this". And if ever there was a chance to turn the pyramid upside down, it is now.
Celebrate Copenhagen as the ultimate chance to start acting. Then politics will ask themselves different questions.