At the COP26 summit, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced (carrying a green version of his traditional red budget briefcase) that the UK is to become the “first ever net zero aligned financial centre”. If you’re wondering what that actually means, we’re moving towards a position where most big UK firms will be forced to evidence how they will hit climate change targets.

Where to start?

It’s worth noting that the kinds of changes we are talking about are not insignificant and require fundamental changes to most, if not all, elements of current ways of working. How companies think and act must change as the wider context of the world we live in is factored into planning and action.

At a time when 70% of change programmes fail, how do we turn words into action? And, action that achieves lasting, sustainable change?

My advice…

Set a clear vision – a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – and be ready to follow it up with action. When it comes to the climate challenge words are not enough, the world needs clear, tangible, measurable action. As businesses that means we need to walk the talk. To help - this article sets out four principles for how to approach change in the context of the climate challenge. Tried and tested, if followed, these principles will lead to lasting change AND business growth.

Principle 1: Long-short

Long-term vision, short term goals.

Programmes rarely fail at the beginning. The beginning is where there’s lots of energy and excitement for starting something new and shiny. The problem comes in what I call the “bit in the middle”, when the excitement has faded, and the end is yet in sight. Maintaining energy within the organisation will be key to success.

Whilst you might hope that changes can be made quickly, the reality is that it takes time – years rather than months. Critical to maintaining energy is breaking your long-term vision down into short-term goals. Like a business strategy, long-term change priorities need to be broken down into annual, quarterly and monthly goals.

At each key milestone celebrate your achievements, success breeds success and culturally you will start to see belief and positivity seeping into your business in ways not experienced before.

Accept that you are not always going to get it right first time.

Maintain agility and curiosity. Eliminate blame and finger pointing, seek only to learn and build on the experience next time. Famously, it took Dyson 5,127 prototypes of his vacuum cleaner before he got it right. In an interview with Fast Company he said, “There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one.”

Three things I put in place to keep programmes on track are:

1. Regularly reminding the teams WHY we started – the PURPOSE of the change programme. This is important as people are motivated by contributing to something bigger than themselves. Remembering why you started something makes it a lot easier to push through the inevitable challenges that are faced when implementing change;
2. Bringing teams together to share ideas and give each other a morale boost – learning together makes a huge difference. Yes, we learn through our own experience, but we also learn from the experience of others. In sharing ideas and lessons learnt people’s self-confidence grows to the point where they feel comfortable to stretch themselves and their goals; and
3. Look ahead to the next milestone and make sure you are set up for success - it’s scary taking the first step but once you have, the next steps will get easier and easier. Turn shared learning into ownership of big goals.

Sustaining momentum on long programmes is both about having a good process for maintaining energy and the right culture for maintaining motivation within your business.

Principle 2: Collaboration

No one organisation can succeed on their own. Collaboration – not competition – across the end-to-end supply chain from investors to customers is going to be critical.

To engage suppliers in their Mission Zero programme, Interface (the global tile manufacturer who achieved their net zero goal in 2020) established Supplier Summits to encourage best practice sharing between their technical and supplier technical teams, offering preferential volumes to suppliers who gave them recycled materials and co-invested in technology. Moving to recycled options across all of their raw materials, company-wide, took commitment, patience and long-term partnerships. In 1997 they began working with one of their yarn suppliers to develop and have access to recycled nylon; by 2010 they were making carpet with 100% recycled nylon.

Internally, collaboration is about working across teams and hierarchies to bring people together who have diverse perspectives and experiences. Bringing the full power of every member of your business together to make change happen. Together everyone achieves more… cheesy but true.

Principle 3: Personal-responsibility

Leading by example is critical. Over my 20-year career I have worked with leaders across the public sector, private sector, in corporations and in small businesses. The common characteristic of the leaders who led successful change programmes – and the ones where change was sustained – were the ones that took personal responsibility.

Sponsorship – or being the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) to use the technical project management term – is not enough. When it comes to implementing changes relating to people and planet, the line between work life and home life is blurred. Whether we are at work or at home, we only have one planet and we each have a role to play in making changes.

For me, this is the most important of all the principles because all change starts with self. Over the last decade or so there has been a lot of emphasis placed on authentic leadership. When it comes to change it’s about going a step further and moving into ‘personal responsibility leadership’.

Everyone – irrespective of position in the organisation must take responsibility for two things:

1. Their contribution to the change programme. Whilst obvious it’s certainly not always easy to achieve; and
2. Responsibility for one’s reactions and responses to change.

Whether you are the CEO, the change manager, or a team member we all have a comfort zone that we live and work within. Step outside the comfort zone and it becomes the unknown, which can be scary. This fear drives different reactions and responses, some of which may not be helpful when it comes to leading change.

Finally, principle 4: Integrated

The pace of change is such that it is now a constant. Whilst some people think this is exhausting, re-framed it should be seen as exciting. It’s exhausting when people don’t know how to do change. When they don’t have the skills or autonomy in their roles to look for the most efficient and effective way of doing things.

Being an agile organisation that can adapt and move with the times is increasingly becoming business-as-usual. Change management can no longer sit solely as a skill for an expert parachuted into a business to “do” to your people, everyone needs an element of change management expertise in their tool box (of skills).

The good news is, as more people experience change – when implemented in the right way – they get more comfortable with it. It becomes less scary as it’s no longer an unknown, so they build more confidence. And as confidence grows, they become able to take on more and bigger change. Cue - an upward spiral of growth and development.

It’s important to think about integration in terms of how it is integrated within your business' organisational structure. From your senior leadership team, through to middle managers and teams on the ground. Each level of your organisation will have a role to play in your change programme at different times and in different ways.

Putting a structure in place that keeps people informed of what’s happening and what the change means for them is critical. Change is sustained when people feel they have been involved in the process. A win-win as the younger generations want to work for businesses that are aligned to their values and, motivation factor number 1 – people are motivated when they feel they are contributing to something bigger than themselves.

Conclusion

Successfully changing your business model to address the climate challenge requires a different approach to implementing change:

1. Break your long-term vision down into shorter-term goals to maintain energy and motivation for change in your business for the duration of your change programme
2. Collaborate with all your stakeholders – both internal and external – to maximise the collective power of people to design new solutions
3. Take personal responsibility for your impact on, and contribution towards, making change happen
4. Integrate ‘changing the business’ into your ‘run the business’ operating rhythm and galvanise everyone in the business for success.