New Video Series: Materiality – Prioritizing Sustainability in Your Strategic Business Plan

Welcome, everyone. Yesterday, I presented a webinar on Benchmarking and Measurement – Evaluating Where You Are, Determining Where You’re Going. There was a great turnout and a lot of good questions. If you missed the webinar or want to watch it again, the video is available below. In the presentation, I expanded on the videos I released earlier this month (Meaningful Metrics –Vital Data to Benchmark Your Organization and Engaging andUnderstanding Your Supply Chain) and explained key performance indicators for your company.

Our next video series, set to launch in December, will be Materiality – Prioritizing Sustainability in Your Strategic Business Plan. I will provide my insight on the topic of materiality and identifying how Corporate Responsibility can be used to sustain your business. This topic is becoming increasingly important as every organization has unique risks and opportunities in their markets. The series will follow a similar format as this month’s, with a live webinar scheduled for Tuesday, December 17, and you can register here.

As I announced during October’s webinar, I will be hosting a seminar titled Corporate Responsibility Revolution: Strategy to Success in 2014. This interactive full-day seminar, scheduled for May 7, 2014 in Philadelphia, will provide a roadmap to develop and implement an effective Corporate Responsibility plan that supports a successful business strategy. The videos and webinars I am releasing should be used as prerequisite learning for this seminar and provide a core understanding and steps to take action in advancing your business. Registration is open for May’s seminar, and you can find more information on it here.

Be sure to subscribe to the blog (top right) to get email notification of my video releases and future webinars to continue building upon the content i have released. Also, use the link below for more details on the seminar and reserve your spot today. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Links:

Catch up on my videos:

1. Meaningful Metrics – Vital Data to BenchmarkYour Organization
2. Engaging and Understanding Your Supply Chain 

Register for the next webinar on December 17.

Find out more about the upcoming seminar: Corporate Responsibility Revolution: Strategy to Success

Engaging and Understanding Your Supply Chain

Benchmarking and measurement is not limited to your own organization. As expressed in my previous posts and videos, understanding your supply chain is critical to integrating Corporate Responsibility into your company. Throughout the benchmarking process, tracking supplier data as well as your own allows you to evaluate impacts across the entire life cycle of your product or service.

One of the easiest ways to obtain this data is through supplier questionnaires or sustainability scorecards. We have seen these implemented by large organizations like Walmart, Kaiser Permanente, and Procter & Gamble. By engaging suppliers in this way, it opens a conversation that brings sustainability to the forefront. Understanding your supply chain and its impacts also allows you to reduce costs across the board.

Reducing supply chain impacts can be done in several ways. It is important to embed sustainability into the contract process. This gets the ball rolling from the start of the supplier relationship and allows you to select premier providers. By opening a dialogue with your supply chain and by communicating information transparently, you can collaborate with these suppliers to collectively reduce impacts, lower costs, and prepare for future demand. SSC’s Corporate Sustainability Manager, Jim Mellentine, wrote a great white paper on using Corporate Responsibility to strengthen your supply chain.Check it out here.

Next week, we will be presenting our November webinar, Benchmarking and Measurement – Evaluating Where You Are, Determining Where You’re Going to further discuss this and other November video topics. Make sure you register by clicking the link to reserve your spot now, and learn how to effectively organize and use benchmarking data and have your specific questions answered.

I will be attending Greenbuild this week, so if you are in Philadelphia attending the event, connect with me so we can set up a meeting. Also, this Friday I will be presenting my TEDx Talk at Villanova University on Closing the Loop – Manufacturing a Viable Future. The event is sold out, but if you would like to watch it live, you can stream the entire event here.

Subscribe to my blog by providing your email where indicated (top right) and you will be receive all my videos and updates as they are released.

 – Tad Radzinski, PE, LEED AP, SFP

Links:

1. Suppliers Set Out to Grade Products with Sustainability Scorecards
2. Webinar Registration

Setting the Stage with Sustainability Reporting

Welcome back. I hope you are enjoying the video series and have been using the resources provided. In conjunction with our discussions on benchmarking, I wanted to briefly discuss Sustainability Reports. A Sustainability Report is your company’s opportunity to transparently communicate your Corporate Responsibility initiatives and accomplishments to stakeholders, suppliers, customers, and the public. In the links below, I have included a great report by Ernst & Young and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship on the value of sustainability reporting. I have also included some examples of Sustainability Reports, including that of my consulting company.

Upon review, you will see that there is measurable benefit to quantifying and disclosing sustainability related information. One of the first steps in creating these reports is benchmarking. Without the data, you can’t report your progress or define your goals. This month’s webinar, on November 26, will discuss how to take the critical data you have collected and format it in a coherent, usable way. As you take a look at these reports, you will see that no two are exactly the same, as they each quantify key initiatives specific to the reporting organization. Organization specific reporting is essential to leveraging Corporate Responsibility to advance your business.

Next week I will be releasing Part 2 of the November series, Engaging and Understanding Your Supply Chain. Subscribe by providing your email where indicated (top right) and you will be the first to receive the video upon its release. Also, next Friday I will be presenting my TEDx Talk at Villanova University on Closing the Loop – Manufacturing a Viable Future. The event is sold out, but if you would like to watch it live, you can stream the entire event here.

 – Tad Radzinski, PE, LEED AP, SFP

Links:

Register for the Webinar: Benchmarking and Measurement - Evaluating Where You Are, Determining Where You’re Going

Sustainability Reports:

• Sustainable Solutions Corporation 
• CertainTeed Corporation
• Puma

Meaningful Metrics – Vital Data to Benchmark Your Organization

Welcome back, everyone. Today, I am launching the first video in the November series, Benchmarking and Measurement – Evaluating Where You Are, Determining Where You’re Going. This video topic is Meaningful Metrics – Vital Data to Benchmark Your Organization. When I talk about benchmarking, I am referring to the process of collecting key data to understand your current performance in several categories. Once you have a baseline, this data can then be used to set targets and track future improvement.

Benchmarking your operations provides the ability to measure progress over time, expand on goals, and advance sustainability initiatives through continuous improvement. Although there is benchmarking software out there, benchmarking can be done using simple spreadsheets to track performance indices like energy, water, waste, supplies, training, safety, transportation, etc. It is very important to include the associated costs with these metrics to assess financial savings and evaluate bottom-line growth. Periodic data analysis and trending will help identify opportunities for performance improvement and can provide substantial business value.

Consistent with the triple bottom line approach to sustainability, it is important to measure economic, environmental, and social metrics. There is no standard set of metrics you should benchmark; you need to identify metrics critical to your organization. This can be done by determining what is material to your operations and best fits your Corporate Responsibility goals.

Make sure to sign up for this month’s webinar on November 26. I will be looking at how to properly organize and use your benchmarking data, and as always, I will be directly answering your questions.

 – Tad Radzinski, PE, LEED AP, SFP

Links:

Webinar Registration