A nice to have or a necessity?
I had a chat with a friend last week. I know, get me, I have a friend.
I was bemoaning that the work I do is a nice to have and not a necessity.
Very few organisations are clamouring to employ the (arguably awesome) skills of a freelance sustainability learning designer, facilitator or coach.
My friend, very kindly and very passionately, said: “but so many organisations need what you’re offering – they just don’t know it”
What did he mean? A few things, I think.
1/ We Got A Planet To Save, Mate.
He knows – as I do, and I’d wager, you too – that in order for humans to continue to thrive on Earth, we need to burn less stuff (mainly million-year-old fossilised plants) and generally use less stuff (all stuff, but mainly stuff made from million-year-old fossilised plants).
And businesses and organisations have a massive role to play, no matter their size. But organisations are made up of people, and the decisions of people in organisations have a huge impact.
Let’s give this some colour through an example.
Let’s say you’re a Procurement Manager for Big Corp. At home, you choose a renewable energy tariff. Nice one - that’s a Good Thing To Do. You’ve saved some carbon being emitted.
And then in work, you make some changes to how you procure energy for your business, and you ensure all energy is RIGO-backed and from renewable sources. Double nice one – this is a Very Good Thing To Do.
Why? Because the carbon emissions reduction from the business decision will be many hundreds – potentially thousands – of times larger than the home change.
See what I’m getting at?
But. That business decision may have been hard. It may have been hard to negotiate. It may have meant getting buy-in across the business, and communicating and influencing the Money People – no small task. However, these skills are learnable and can be supported through coaching.
And let’s not also forget that the changes Mr/Ms Big Corp made at home are also vital. This is not an either/or scenario. We need both – it’s just that the work decision will have a bigger impact on bringing down carbon emissions.
2/ Getting Stuff Done Is Hard
My friend is a fan of getting stuff agreed, actioned and done. And so am I. Which may be why we get on.
He and I worked closely on a few projects together, where the skills I brought were in the ‘agreed and actioned’ zone (he dealt with more of the doing).
As a facilitator, my role is running meetings and workshops where things are discussed, debated, and generally chewed over. And then a way forward is agreed, and the actions are listed and allocated.
I know, seems fairly simple. But it’s amazing how often meetings are badly run, with no agenda, no clear flow, and everyone leaves confused and with no idea what to do next.
What. A. Waste. Of. Time.
In the area I work in we don’t have loads of time – see point 1 above.
So, a nice to have or a necessity?
So, my friend sees these things – the development of soft skills needed to achieve change in organisations, and facilitation skills to make meetings worthwhile – as necessary, rather than nice to have.
And putting aside the moral arguments for saving the planet and obvious humane reasons for making meetings better, there are business wins here:
Investing in ‘sustainability skills’ will reap rewards in terms of staff retention, business viability in a world of AI, carry-across into all aspects of people’s roles, and generally improved communications across the business
Better meetings mean more effective decision making; clear accountability for actions; better use of staff time; and more focussed people.
So perhaps this work is more than just a nice to have – it’s vital.