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Date: 2024-03-28 Page is: DBtxt001.php txt00005773 |
Sustainability |
Burgess COMMENTARY |
http://corostrandberg.com/blog/7-reasons-why-sustainability-programs-are-good-for-industry-associations A series – How to build industry association sustainability programs Part 1 of 6 Sustainable Industries - The Industry Association as Catalyst: Industry Association Benefits of a sustainability program for membersSustainability mega-forces are changing the way business competes and thrives. What are these mega-forces? Think growing global population; urbanization; climate change; food, water and resource scarcity and the increasing divide between the rich and poor. They are big issues with powerful influence. In the face of these external pressures, companies will need to adapt their business models in order to manage risk and create value for their organizations. Yet companies cannot become sustainable on their own. They quickly will find that they need to work with their industry peers and competitors to tackle systemic barriers. Enter industry and professional associations. How are they prepared to support their members in this new competitive arena? This series will explore how industry associations can help their members advance along the sustainability path and help their industries become sustainable. Scars, insights and tools I had the privilege to sit on a board of an industry association for six years in the 1990s (where I spent much of my time advancing the CSR/sustainability cause and have a few scars to show for my efforts!) I experienced and learned a lot during that time and gained valuable insights for this work. In 2007, along with Five Winds International, I conducted research for the Government of Canada on the role industry associations can play to help members improve their productivity and competitiveness through sustainability programs. In the past few years I have helped a number of associations develop sustainability guidelines and tools for their members. More recently, I published guidelines for industry associations to develop sustainability programs for their members. Why bother? The first question for any industry association is, why bother? Forward-thinking associations have answered that question and have developed sustainability programs for their members. For those associations that haven’t ventured into this territory yet, here are words of warning: if you drag your feet, you will put your members at risk – and ultimately jeopardize the viability of not only your industry association, but your entire sector. Seven reasons why sustainability programs are good for industry associations: 1.) Help attract and retain members: Sustainability/CSR programming increases the value and relevance of the association to current and prospective members. It reduces the risk that members will have their CSR and sustainability needs met by other organizations or initiatives. 2.) Enhance innovation in the sector: Cost-effective pre-competitive CSR/sustainability collaborations can result in industry innovation, enabling the industry to improve its collective CSR impacts while driving business and operational benefits. 3.) Build positive government and non-governmental organization (NGO) relations: Associations that increase their CSR or sustainability expertise are better positioned to contribute positively to regulatory initiatives by government and other agencies and to engage constructively with NGOs and other stakeholders. Associations with voluntary industry CSR/sustainability standards that exceed compliance requirements are able to forestall government regulation. 4.) Help identify industry priorities: Many generic global CSR/sustainability initiatives and standards are now available and this in turn can make priority-setting for members difficult. An industry approach can assist member companies to develop an industry-relevant model tailored to the sector’s most material risks and opportunities. 5.) Fulfill association goals: Typically association goals include assisting members to be competitive and profitable. CSR/sustainability is one tool to enhance member profitability and competitiveness. 6.) Build industry reputation and brand: An association CSR/sustainability program demonstrates the sector’s commitment to sustainable practices and leadership on CSR. It can build positive stakeholder relationships with customers, communities, NGOs, suppliers and others. In doing so, it enhances the sector’s social licence to operate and grow. 7.) Enhance employee recruitment and retention: Associations with CSR programs are able to attract and retain the best and brightest employees who prefer to work for organizations aligned with their values. What you can do Speak up! Send the Industry Association Roadmap to Sustainability, with an encouraging note, to your industry association representative. Or send it to an association you think needs help to build a more sustainable industry. Watch for more in this series in the coming weeks. http://corostrandberg.com/blog/7-ways-industry-associations-can-help-members-improve-their-sustainability-performance A series – How to build industry association sustainability programs Part 2 of 6 Sustainable Industries - The Industry Association as Catalyst: Industry Association Sustainability RolesSmart companies realize they can’t do it alone. As they advance along the sustainability path driven by market and regulatory pressures, they realize their success depends on collaborative industry action. They do not have the resources, expertise or influence to catalyze the supplier or customer improvements necessary to reduce their sustainability impacts and dependencies. So where do they turn for leadership and collective action on the big pan-industry issues? To their industry associations. Forward-thinking associations already know that the future of corporate social responsibility and sustainability lies in collective action. Others need to better understand how they can help their member companies to manage the risks and seize the opportunities of global sustainability mega-forces that are changing forever the rules of the game. From research I conducted on industry associations and profiled in my Guide to Sustainable Industry Associations here are: Seven ways industry associations can help members improve their sustainability performance. 1. Provide information and education on sustainability trends. Conduct research on sustainability mega-trends and the impacts of your sector on environment and society. Analyze how they might affect your members. Act as a clearing house and recommend progressive actions that will help your sector advance along the sustainability continuum. Frame the sustainability business case and value proposition for member sustainability programming. 2. Provide forums for discussion and collaboration. Create discussion opportunities for the sector to explore sustainability and CSR trends. Help the sector to identify the important trends and the sector’s response. Initiate collaborative action for the sector. 3. Develop programs to continuously improve performance and raise sector standards. Members often need checklists, guidelines, metrics, targets and other tools to enhance their performance. A common set of benchmarks can help members evaluate themselves against their peers. Codes of practice can provide phased approaches to improved performance and set a minimum performance standard for the sector. 4. Act as cheerleader. Encourage members to move forward. Support them with awards and rewards. Enable their success. 5. Facilitate stakeholder feedback. Create a common platform for engaging stakeholders on top issues and addressing stakeholder priorities and concerns. Seek stakeholder input into the development of programs, guidelines and standards. 6. Promote accountability of industry to society. Report on sector progress. Enhance the sector’s accountability and transparency to the public to build legitimacy. Communicate the sector’s sustainability accomplishments and achievements to stakeholders. 7. Advance sustainability solutions in society. Identify opportunities to work with other sector associations or governments on critical sustainability issues faced by society. Enable cross pollination with other industry groups on sustainability performance and identify sectors that have common sustainability interests and work on joint projects together. Partner with governments, civil society and others to address shared interests and opportunities on behalf of the industry. What you can do Speak up! Send the Industry Association Roadmap to Sustainability, with an encouraging note, to your industry association representative. Or send it to an association you think needs help to build a more sustainable industry. See the first post in this series: 7 reasons why sustainability programs are good for industry associations. And watch for more posts in this series over the coming weeks. A series – How to build industry association sustainability programs Part 3 of 6 Sustainable Industries - The Industry Association as Catalyst: Member Benefits from Industry Association Sustainability ProgramsThe race is on! Who will develop the business and consumer models to enable 9 billion people to live on planet Earth with a good standard of living by 2050? As discussed earlier in this series, sustainability mega-forces such as growing global population, climate change, resource scarcity and the rich-poor divide will forever change the business landscape. This series explores how industry and professional associations can help their members “future proof” their firms and careers through more sustainable business practices. Leading companies realize they must do more than reduce their operational footprint. To be sustainable they will need to collaborate with peers and competitors to overcome the challenges ahead. And who better to forge this path than industry and professional associations? They are mandated to support the profitability, competitiveness and relevance of their members. In earlier posts I talked about the benefits to industry and professional associations of developing member sustainability programs; and described a number of programs that associations can pursue to help members advance on this path. But first steps first – how to get member buy-in? Industry associations are governed by their members. Priorities are set by members – initiatives are only pursued when the membership seeks association leadership on an issue. So, companies and their associations that want to advance the sector’s sustainability performance need to understand and “sell” to members the business benefits from collective action. Here from my experience as an association board member, and from my research into Canadian industry association sustainability programs, are six benefits businesses can expect: Six member benefits from industry sustainability programs 1. Gain critical business insights. An association program can help members identify and focus on critical business areas to improve their performance. Associations can monitor emerging sustainability trends and issues to keep members up to date. Associations thus can provide an early warning service for members, enabling them to anticipate and plan more effectively. 2. Learn from peers and industry leaders. Members can share best practices and learn from one another. This can result in improved outcomes, because members are able to tap into the collective insights and expertise within the industry or profession. CSR or sustainability criteria can be established by industry peers who set the overall industry standard, benchmark or code of practice. Sector leaders are often willing to share their insights to the benefit of the entire industry or profession. Members do not need to go-it alone. 3. Progress through collective action. It is challenging for organizations to move the needle on sustainability if they act independently. Individual organizations can provide influence but it often takes industry collaboration to make substantial progress on important large-scale issues. 4. Save time and money. Participating members can save time and money when the association takes a leadership role and aggregates resources and knowledge. Collective action can be more cost-effective than independent action. Organizations can cost-share expenses and generate more robust results. 5. Obtain stakeholder perspectives. Stakeholders may prefer dealing with the industry as a whole rather than on an individual company basis. It can be more effective for members to have a one-window approach to stakeholders and stakeholder insights, whether non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia, suppliers, governments, other sectors, communities or consumers. This way, members don’t have to deal directly with watchdog groups and invest scarce resources in stakeholder monitoring and engagement. 6. Enhance corporate brand; build license to operate. Sector programs can enhance the competitive advantage of the industry or profession nationally or globally. Sectors perceived as managing their social and environmental performance will earn the respect and trust of the public, customers and civil society – important factors to build an industry’s license to operate and grow. By working together, sustainability performance can be elevated across the entire sector. This can enhance the sector’s image and increase the credibility of member brands. What you can do Use your influence now! Send the Industry Association Roadmap to Sustainability to your industry association or to someone in your company who connects with your industry association. Or send it to an association you think needs help to build a more sustainable industry. Watch for more posts on this subject in the coming weeks. Also, check out earlier posts in this series: 7 reasons why sustainability programs are good for industry associations 7 ways industry associations can help members improve their sustainability performance |
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The text being discussed is available at http://corostrandberg.com/blog/6-benefits-sustainability-programs-offer-association-member-companies |
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