STRATEGIC SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTING

Sustainability Strategy to Drive Business Value

EKOS partners with our clients to integrate a sustainability platform into core business strategies to secure competitive differentiation and advantage.

Strategies are designed to improve financial performance, build brand value, assess and reduce your carbon footprint, save money from reducing energy and waste, increase customer loyalty, develop and design sustainable technologies and products, drive innovation, enroll your supply chain, manage stakeholder relationships, and engage employees.

The typical flow builds on what the client already has in place and underway, developing a customized approach that accelerates progress, with the target usually of being the leading competitor in its industry.

Sustainability Roadmap

We help you develop a strategic roadmap for implementing sustainability, identifying priority strategies, initiatives, and major streams of action on a multi-year timeline, and ensuring you have the essential leadership alignment, education, communication, and change management.

Balanced Scorecard Integration

We design sustainability to be integrated into your core strategic, operational, and performance management system (including integrating sustainability into balanced scorecard strategy maps, Hoshin Kanri or Management by Policy), clearly defining sustainability Strategic Objectives, Measures, Targets, and Initiatives, and monitoring progress against plans.

Since 1996, EKOS has helped executive teams execute performance-focused sustainability strategies at many of North America's major companies (e.g., AT&T, Boeing, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Boeing Employees Credit Union, Ballard Power Systems, Nortel).


SUSTAINABILITY & LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT and EDUCATION

EKOS provides customized education programs, presentations and workshops, and materials for comprehensive leadership development. We lead study missions to Japan, Europe, and North America. EKOS helps clients create the critical leadership competencies needed by designing and leveraging strategic action learning projects. Based on EKOS’ global benchmarking, our workshops and tools are customized to the specific implementation and ongoing dialogue processes within each client's organization. All educational programs and materials are designed to be linked into and integrated with the unique implementation plans and stages of each client.

EKOS educational services help companies:

- plan how to create depth of knowledge among the senior leadership team and the sustainability team

- communicate the strategic rationale & business case for sustainability to employees, customers, suppliers, value stream partners

- design and communicate how-to's for sustainability implementation

- provide education within/for the supply chain and value stream

- develop education packages for all levels (design, deliver, engage experts, work with corporate trainers, distance learning or in-person)

Education modules include:

  • Executive Team Introduction to Strategic Sustainability
  • Senior Leadership Team Sustainability Intensive
  • Sustainability Officer Training
  • Sustainability Implementation Team Training
  • Shop-Floor Sustainability Training
  • Factor 10 Training
  • Rapid Improvement Workshops
  • ISO 14000 Intro
  • Sustainability Reporting: Best in Class, How-To, Troubleshooting
  • Benchmarking Educational Trips and Expert Visits
  • Global Best Practices in Strategic Sustainability:

    • Integrating with Innovation
    • Integrating with Manufacturing – Designing and Implementing Sustainability and Lean Manufacturing Processes
    • Integrating with Customers & Marketing
    • Integrating with Business Models and Fundamental Strategy
    • Integrating with Supply Chain/Value Stream Management
    • Integrating with Climate Change Initiatives
    • Sector-Specific Practices
    • Sustainability Reporting
    • Linking with ISO 14000, EMS
    • Linking with E H & S
    • Linking with Governance, Ethics
    • Future Scenarios
    • Linking with Social Justice

SUSTAINABILITY BENCHMARKING & BEST PRACTICES

EKOS offers customized comparisons of your company's sustainability performance with the best practices of global and industry leaders, competitors, and customers as a foundation for strategic planning. We help you develop strategies for strategic positioning and adapt successful practices to your company. In collaboration with our Fortune 50 clients, EKOS has benchmarked global best practices in Europe, Japan and the US, and developed a proprietary benchmarking assessment tool and process to help companies assess their progress and position against peers and stakeholders (suppliers, competitors and customers).

This benchmarking process uses EKOS’ assessment tool which is adapted for your specific requirements. We enable clients to assess their competitive positioning against 20-25 global industry peers, suppliers, customers, and competitors. The analysis rates and ranks the key companies in your value stream on a scale from 1 to 100. The EKOS Benchmarking Process is a three month analysis and report out which lays the groundwork for executing a sustainability strategy, and a communications strategy.

The Sustainability Integration vectors include:

  1. EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP: CEO, Board, & Business Unit Engagement
  2. GROWTH DRIVER: Revenue, Profit, Markets, Market Value
  3. COST, WASTE & RISK REDUCTION
  4. PRODUCT INTEGRATION: Product Development, R & D, Technology Development
  5. ENTERPRISE-WIDE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: Goals, Metrics, & Improvement
  6. ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH & SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
  7. INTERNAL ENGAGEMENT: Communications, Education, & Human Resource Alignment
  8. PRODUCTION SYSTEM DESIGN: Leveraging Lean & Quality Systems
  9. VALUE STREAM INTEGRATION: Extended Enterprise, Supply Chain, End-of-Life
  10. EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDER MGMT: Marketing, Communications, Education, Engagement, Partnerships


VALUE STREAM OPTIMIZATION and INNOVATION

EKOS provides guidance for supplier development, collaboration on improvement and innovation, and entire value stream optimization. Our powerful Value Stream business simulation workshop lays the foundation for deepened understanding, culture change, and cooperation on cross-functional and full-value-stream improvement projects.

INDUSTRY-WIDE SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION

We design interventions for industry-wide sustainability analysis, goals, education, collaboration, initiatives, and innovation.

We help companies develop and build business plans for sustainable products and services, new partnerships in the value stream, and new sustainable business models.


CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) REPORTING

EKOS helps clients develop Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports including content, strategy, targets and measurements - based on an internal assessment and strategic goals, together with a competitor assessment and key stakeholder materiality priorities. Your CSR report is used to clarify your leadership strategy and create organizational alignment, communicate with key stakeholders, and build your brand. EKOS services include rapid prototyping for first-time reporters, as well as critique, recommendations, and/or complete support for improving your reporting effectiveness. EKOS also partners with the brand firm Methodologie to marry world class CSR content with superb communication strategy and design for both print and online reports.

The results for clients are sustainability communications and brand development integrated and leveraged for direct improvements in business performance. A CSR report is a source of information about the company’s performance in sustainability and corporate social responsibility, and also a demonstration of transparency and accountability - two of the primary measures of a company’s values and ethics. EKOS ensures content is aligned with strategy, and catalyzes and works hand in hand with an approach to CSR that drives business improvement. We also assure a critical review that enrolls and takes into account stakeholder views.

Offerings include:

  • Corporate Responsibility/Sustainability/Citizenship Reports
  • Sustainability brand strategy
  • Internal and external communications (employee campaigns, Intranet design, and content)
  • Global benchmarking of best practices in CSR reporting
  • Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards guidance
  • Sustainability survey tools for stakeholders
  • Training and education
  • Interactive web design and content for sustainability

For more information on the brand firm Methodologie, see http://www.methodologie.com/

 

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

EKOS designs programs for increasing employee engagement with your company's corporate social responsibility efforts, based on successful strategies implemented in leading companies.

 

EKOS Research on Best Practices for Engaging Employees in Sustainability

For over a year, EKOS conducted a comprehensive investigation of employee engagement approaches used by global leaders in sustainability to engage the hearts, minds, and contributions of employees in and through sustainability. We set out to go "beyond green teams" (although we do look at a whole range of ways companies are using employee-driven actions to identify and implement energy, waste, volunteerism, and other sustainability-related improvements). We examined how leaders were building sustainability into every person's job, linking sustainability with lean and six sigma, developing more strategic volunteerism and community investment, and engaging the whole workforce in sustainability-driven business innovation and improvement. We uncovered effective approaches and keys to success.

Here are a few of the questions that guided our inquiry:

♦What tangible and intangible business results are leading companies achieving by engaging employees in sustainability?
♦ What techniques are companies using to engage and inspire every employee in sustainability?
♦ What strategies are effective for engaging employees in energy & waste reduction?
♦ How are companies creating a culture and practice of sustainability?
♦ How are sustainability leaders building their internal brand with employees?
♦ How are leading companies building sustainability into employees' direct jobs and broader roles?
♦ How are employees engaged in sustainability-driven innovation?

We are convinced that proactively engaging every employee is the one of the critical building blocks to truly integrating sustainability in strategies, products, and production practices. Insights, imagination, and ingenuity of employees are the engine of innovation. An organization's ability to engage employees in sustainability is an important competency and a powerful source of competitive advantage. Further, engaging all employees is vital to achieving the scale of change required to propel the transformation to sustainable business.

"Insights, imagination, and ingenuity of employees are the engine of innovation."

Contact EKOS to schedule a presentation of findings from our benchmarking study on employee engagement in and through sustainability. This topic is relevant for Executives, Sustainability/CSR officers and managers, Line management, EH&S, Human Resource Managers, Executive & Leadership Development, Brand & Communications personnel, & Community Engagement and Philanthropy. LRowledge (at) EKOSi (dot) com

 

PREORDER Benchmarking Report: Igniting the Core
EKOS Benchmarking Study on Employee Engagement In & Through Sustainability
Lorinda R. Rowledge, Ph.D.
April 2010

This report summarizes what leading companies do to achieve improved business results through sustainability implementation driven by employee engagement.

If organizations are to achieve the ever-growing requirements for sustainable strategies, products, and production practices, they must move beyond the choir of early adopters and fully engage every employee in the effort. Further, although leading companies have achieved impressive improvement in environmental and social performance, the scale of change required and opportunity for strategic advantage calls for a greater integration in the entire organization - sustainability must be part of everyone's job and incorporated into every function, aspect of the business, and the entire value stream.

 

EKOS Leaders' Workshop for Engaging Employees In Sustainability

Ignite the imagination and initiative of every employee in accelerating sustainability improvement and innovation and achieve sustainability-driven innovation and business results. This workshop provides a foundation for designing a more strategic, integrated approach to employee engagement in CSR - supporting not only implementation of sustainability, but also employee engagement and business performance more generally. Build a customized approach based for a step-leap advancement of employee engagement in sustainability based on best practices of leading companies.

 

EKOS Services for Engaging Employees in Sustainability
Consulting, leadership, development, and assessment

BENCHMARKING RESEARCH PRESENTATION
Employee Engagement & SustainabilityBest Practices Research Findings

BENCHMARKING RESEARCH REPORT (PREORDER)
Igniting the Core: EKOS Benchmarking Study on Employee Engagement In & Through Sustainability

PLANNING WORKSHOP
Half-Day Workshop Planning Strategies for Employee Engagement & Sustainability/CSR in Your Organization

COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT
In-Depth Analysis of Your Company's Employee Engagement in Sustainability Approach and Practices Relative to Global Best Practices

INTERNAL SURVEY of YOUR EMPLOYEES' ENGAGEMENT IN SUSTAINABILITY
Customized Survey Design, Administration, Analysis, & Report

CONSULTING
Customized Planning and Strategic Consulting to Optimize Your Employee Engagement in CSR/ Sustainability/Climate Change

For more information LRowledge (at) EKOSi (dot) com