LEARN

The Monitor

For accountability purposes and to keep steering and guiding the sustainability achievements of the organization, you need information. The CSR manager needs to ensure this information is reliable, useful and relevant. The monitoring role of the CSR manager includes monitoring and evaluating (applications of) the sustainability strategy and policies; setting up internal audits; developing standards, instruments and procedures for sustainable activities; and establishing internal measurement methodologies. In this role, the CSR manager also contributes to the sustainability content of the annual report or is responsible for a separate sustainability report. There are several relevant regulations, governance tools and guidelines available to fulfill this monitoring role.

To be a good monitor, a sustainability manager needs the competency of instrumental understanding. It requires strong analytical skills. The implementation of the monitoring role will differ from company to company. For example, in listed companies, there might be specific people assigned to the area of sustainability reporting. This role is often assigned to someone with either a financial or a communications background.

The most important task as a monitor is to collect information which helps to guide the sustainability strategy and with which the company can be accountable to its stakeholders. In order to do this, the CSR manager needs to collect and analyze relevant data. Data related to the sustainability performance, such as the CO₂footprint or the lifecycle analyses. The chapter in the book about the monitor role highlights the importance of data and metrics for sustainability as well as the other important tasks for the monitoring role of the CSR manager.

LEAD

The Strategist

As sustainability manager, you are responsible for the development of a sustainability strategy and (partially) for integrating this strategy into the overall strategy of the organization. You build sustainable business models and initiatives. Due to this strategic part of the role, you are viewed as a relevant business partner within and outside of the company.

An important task in the strategic role of the sustainability manager is creating a sustainable vision and mission and embedding this in the overall strategy. The book ‘MVO doe je Zo’ explores how CSR managers can take on this role. It also highlights how having a vision and mission on sustainability advances the integration of sustainability in the organization; and with that the role and influence of the sustainability manager. Conversely, the scope of the strategic role is determined by the space you get within the organization to exert influence. Many sustainability managers that are new to the role, indicate the strategic role is challenging for them. For example, because senior leadership does not (yet) regard the position as such.

CHALLENGE

The Stimulator and Connector

The sustainability professional is an ambassador for the field of sustainability. His or her personal ideals and ways of working are based on sustainability principles. In that way he or she motivates, stimulates, inspires and activates others to integrate sustainability objectives into their roles. The sustainability manager builds bridges between the outside and the inside. He or she connects things in ways to speed up more sustainable business practices. The sustainability manager usually achieves this without formal authority on the tasks of others, so he or she has to generate support for change towards a more sustainable organization in different ways.

Generating support is crucial for the sustainability manager’s success. Sustainable business is all about changing people and their behaviors. One of the key questions raised by sustainability managers is “How do I create support for sustainability with employees and the board?” A double-edged challenge, as to generate support from employees, senior management commitment is crucial. The chapter in the book about stimulator and connector role addresses this question through tips and insights.

INNOVATE

The Innovator

A sustainability manager can play an important role in fueling innovation. As an innovator, the sustainability manager challenges others and him/herself to reconsider sustainable development. She or he shows leadership and courage, and is able to find and develop sustainable innovations with impact. Partnerships within the value chain are a key source of innovation, but there are other sources as well. By combining a cross-functional way of working with external orientation, the sustainability manager can drive innovation.

To be an ‘out of the box’ and ‘step-changing’ innovator, the innovator needs trust from the organization. You therefore are more likely to see a substantial innovation role for CSR managers in organizations which have already embedded sustainability or for CSR managers who have been in their organization for quite some time. In organizations just starting on their sustainability journey, innovation is focused more on embedding sustainability in the innovations process, in such a way that all innovations are sustainable or lead to sustainability related improvements. In companies without a strong innovation culture, the innovator role of the sustainability manager will consist of the establishment of a development process for sustainable innovations.

You could consider the initiation of a few (pilot) projects to make sustainability more tangible part of the innovator role. Through such iconic projects, sustainability becomes more visible and they offer the opportunity to communicate tangible results. But as these type of projects are really more related to embedding sustainability in the organization, they tend to belong primarily to the coordinating and initiating role of the sustainability manager.

The chapter in the book about the innovator role addresses the most important tasks of the innovator such as initiating and guiding innovation processes, so they can come to life and lead to a more sustainable business.