As stakeholders place an increasing emphasis on ESG, organisations around the world are looking to lead the way in tackling the climate emergency.
Playing a decisive role in sustainable change is not easy and requires an active, long-term commitment. However, the rewards you gain from prioritising your stakeholders will speak for themselves.
Using our experience with sustainable management, we've put together some of the ways you can improve your climate leadership.
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Outline Your Goals
Every experienced manager knows that you can't get anywhere without a clear plan. The role of the Board in guiding the organisation towards a better future is crucial here. Every organisation will have their own expectations and capabilities.
The actions they can (or should!) take depend on the size, structure and nature of the organisation itself. Perhaps most importantly, it is important for the goals to reflect the core values of the organisation.
Remember: you can't lead the way and follow the crowd at the same time! Carve out your own path based on the aspirations of your organisation and others will follow.
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Set Measurable Targets
Once your Board has come together to decide their core values, it's time to put these aspirations in concrete terms. Narrow down the scope of possibility by establishing clear, manageable action items.
Every meeting you hold should be focused on action. Your projects may be long-term, but day-to-day changes add up and you should be able to track them. Setting clear KPIs is a crucial way of measuring your performance and ensuring the changes you make are doing their job.
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Reevaluate Your Organisational Structure
Having a flexible organisational structure is the best way of implementing any serious change. You should conduct regular reviews into the way your organisation handles projects.
Just because your organisation structure has worked in the past, doesn't mean it is equipped to handle the demands of sustainable governance. To invest in climate leadership, you need to ensure efficiency at every stage of the process.
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Streamline Your ESG Meetings
As an extension of an efficient structure, ensuring fluent internal processes will improve your climate leadership. Meetings on ESG should be as short and sweet as possible so you can get the most from your time. Many companies around the world have found themselves caught up in pointless bureaucracy - when climate governance requires an immediate solution.
Cut down the administrative process at every stage of your meetings. Documents such as the Agenda and Meeting Minutes should be concise and highlight the necessary points for change.
Using a Board Portal, you can improve your administration throughout the meeting process. This will help your organisation to make decisive choices about strategy and implementation.
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Monitor The Outcomes
As we've said, setting clear KPIs will help you to lead the way in climate change. However, this means nothing if you don't act on the results you find. ESG reporting is about more than just noting down some numbers at random.
At Convene, we’ve been working on a tool to improve your ESG reporting: Convene ESG. Our aim is to alleviate some of the challenges of data gathering, performance tracking, and reporting so organisations can move towards net-zero.
We are currently working with a number of existing Convene housing customers as part of our early adopters programme. Through their valuable feedback, we will together continue to develop and fine-tune our platform, delivering a robust end-to-end ESG experience.
Each of these points highlights the importance of clear communication and action when it comes to climate leadership. With Convene, you can ensure you place both at the centre of organisational policy.
To find out more about our organisation and values, contact us today to book a free trial!