Culture change for sustainable commercial buildings

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This article explains how organisations in the property and construction sector can bring about the cultural change required to achieve a vision of sustainability for their organisation, whether they are involved in design, construction, management or occupancy of sustainable buildings.

Summary

This article explains how organisations in the property and construction sector can bring about the cultural change required to achieve a vision of sustainability for their organisation, whether they are involved in design, construction, management or occupancy of sustainable buildings. It demonstrates the importance of developing a culture of sustainability, both to assist the organisation itself and to build the market for sustainable buildings. It describes the relationship between sustainable buildings and a sustainable organisation. The challenges and requirements of organisational cultural change are identified. The stages involved in conducting a culture change program for sustainability are described, showing how an organisation can integrate a culture for sustainability throughout all aspects of its activities and operations. Tools for use in organisational culture change are introduced and briefly described.

What is your organisational culture?

• Observable behaviour and artefacts
• Espoused values
• Assumptions and beliefs
• Subcultures

Organisational culture is made up of a number of elements, including:

• observable behaviour and artefacts
• espoused values
• assumptions and beliefs.

Subcultures may also exist within an organisation.

The term culture is often used in a vague way to describe something about the characteristics of an organisation. In its simplest form, an organisational culture can be described as 'the way we do things' in the organisation.

Your organisation's culture acts as a pervasive and invisible social background that influences organisational, group and individual actions, formal and informal structures, leadership, communications, the conduct of internal and external relationships, and the way the organisation represents itself to stakeholders and the community.

The most common description of organisational culture (Schein, 1992) identifies three fundamental levels of culture, as outlined below.

Observable behaviour and artefacts

Observable behaviour and artefacts are the most obvious and visible aspects of your culture. They include such things as the type of office you have (i.e. the building and office arrangement), the types of products you produce, your publications and website, and your membership and activity in industry organisations. Although these aspects of your organisational culture can be observed by others, it may not be easy to interpret their significance or effect on your organisation.

Espoused values

Espoused values are the statements your organisation makes to the public and its employees. These may include your statement of values, your mission statement, your corporate slogans, and other similar messages you provide to tell people what the organisation stands for.

Assumptions and beliefs

Assumptions and beliefs provide the deepest, least visible, yet most powerful aspects of your organisational culture. They include key implicit and unconscious assumptions that guide behaviour in your organisation. They may be unspoken rules. Assumptions could include attitudes towards sustainability, new technology or green groups; the view of the relative importance of aesthetics compared to efficiency; and opinions about the reliability of information from different sources. Unspoken rules could guide willingness to invest in new technology, the types of people or organisations with which you will collaborate, and many other aspects of the way your organisation functions.

Assumptions and beliefs are the deepest level of organisational culture; however, since people may not be consciously aware of them, they are the most difficult to change.

The three levels of organisational culture are inter-related, but there are often discrepancies between the levels of culture (e.g. stated values may not be reflected in work practices).

Subcultures

Within an organisation, there may be subcultures based on shared roles, levels, departments, location or industries that differ in values and attitudes towards sustainability. For example, senior management may have different expectations, values and experiences than 'people at the coalface'. Even engineers and architects, both designers within the same organisation, may have different sustainability expectations.

A more detailed description of how you can determine your organisational culture is provided in the Analyse the existing culture section of this article.

What a sustainability culture might look like?

What are the characteristics of a culture of sustainability? Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a company's effort to move towards sustainability. The left figure provides a useful explanation of the components of corporate social responsibility.

Although the three elements of social responsibility are often seen as being about the triple bottom line (TBL), corporate responsibility performance is just one of CSR's dimensions.

CSR is also relational, meaning that it is about the company's relationships with, and its impact on, its stakeholders. This is an important attribute. Stakeholders are a company's eyes and ears to the business environment - they are how you learn about changes that may affect your profitability.

The third dimension is about responsibilities: economic, legal and ethical responsibilities. The basic and essential responsibility is financial or economic performance - if we do not make a profit we will not survive; nor will we be able to contribute to the sustainability of our community or the environment. Legal responsibilities are generally clear - we have to comply with laws and regulations. However, ethical responsibilities are less clear; they are what society expects you to do - or not to do - including the need to go beyond merely complying with applicable laws and regulations. Ethical considerations are usually not written down; hence, they are open to interpretation. Ethical responsibilities are different from philanthropy, which can be seen - in a corporate sense - as managers giving away the shareholders' profit without return.

Why a culture of sustainability is important?

• Why culture is important for sustainable commercial buildings?
  • Awareness and understanding are still limited
  • Organisational culture is affecting uptake of sustainable buildings
  • Encouraging sustainability through sustainable buildings

A culture of sustainability is important to create a credible and effective organisation in the sustainable building sector. It is also a key requirement for making sustainable commercial buildings the norm.

Organisations that have developed a detailed strategic plan for sustainability, which aligns with their mission and vision, have taken an important step towards integrating sustainability throughout their operations. But a strategy is only effective if it is implemented, and perhaps surprisingly, most organisational strategies are never put into practice. Implementing a sustainability strategy will require your organisation's culture to support the aims of the strategy. In other words, sustainability has to be built into every aspect of your organisation, so that it provides the basis for everyday decision making, actions and behaviours, and therefore guides the way things are done.

If only some parts of your organisation fully understand your strategy, your vision for sustainability and your values, you are likely to send mixed messages to your customers, suppliers and stakeholders. It only takes one activity that is seen as contradictory to a sustainability strategy and the espoused values to create doubts about your organisation's sincerity, therefore affecting your reputation. Further, unless all parts of the organisation are working to the same agenda, you are unlikely to be fully effective in achieving your goals.

It is therefore essential for the organisation to be sure that everyone is committed to the mission, vision, goals and strategies in your strategic plan. If there are parts of the organisation, or key individuals, who are not in total agreement with your intended approach, you may need to undertake a program of culture change or take other actions to bring about the necessary alignment.

Why culture is important for sustainable commercial buildings?

Awareness and understanding are still limited

Although awareness of the benefits of sustainable buildings has been growing rapidly over the past few years, the understanding of these buildings is still poor, and they still make up only a small fraction of new commercial buildings. In addition, the owners and occupants of the vast majority of existing buildings could benefit from initiatives to enhance their buildings' sustainability.

Organisational and cultural change is the key missing ingredient in the process of converting the concept of sustainable development into action (Doppelt, 2003). For sustainable commercial buildings to become commonplace in the 21st century landscape, the development of cultures - individual, community, organisational and industry - that support sustainability is essential.

The task for policy-makers, and the commercial property sector, is to translate general support for sustainability at a global level to demand for tangible initiatives, such as green commercial buildings, which offer a practical and relatively easy way to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to sustainability.

Organisational culture is affecting uptake of sustainable buildings

Two Australian building industry reports have pinpointed public perceptions and culture as a key factor impacting on the uptake and demand for sustainable commercial buildings. In 2001, a task force looking at sustainable energy and buildings concluded that although the technology and the knowledge existed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly in the building sector, appropriate policies, public procurement mechanisms and market instruments were needed to bring about the necessary action (Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2001).

Similarly, in 2004, workshops conducted by the City of Melbourne, the Australian Greenhouse Office, the Sustainable Energy Authority and the Building Commission (2003-2004) to investigate barriers to green buildings in the Australian building industry reported that the industry generally views green buildings as a 'slow evolution rather than a rapid change' and concluded that 'the most critical task in stimulating interest in green building ... [is] persuading industry that emerging evidence on the economic benefits of green buildings is valid, and will soon be reflected in tangible consumer demand' (City of Melbourne, Workshop 3, 2004, p.3).

Although your organisation alone will not create the necessary changes to mainstream sustainable buildings, your efforts can contribute to increased awareness of both the public and other members of the industry. It can help accelerate the pace at which sustainable commercial buildings become the norm.

Encouraging sustainability through sustainable buildings

A sustainable building can help an organisation in its efforts to achieve sustainability, as shown in the figure below (Hatch & Schultz, 2002). A sustainable building can provide a symbol of sustainability that demonstrates and shapes organisational culture, identity and image.

At the organisational cultural level, the building is a permanent artefact that implicitly integrates sustainability considerations into day-to-day decision making, reminding users that it is a sustainable workplace. At the identity level, the building is also a tangible demonstration to employees that their organisation is committed to sustainability. Finally, at the image level, the building signals to the marketplace that this organisation 'walks the talk' and is a sustainability leader. From a corporate social responsibility perspective, a green building signals to both internal and external stakeholders that the organisation is committed to sustainability (for more information on this issue, see Aligning mission, vision and strategy for sustainable commercial buildings).

What is your vision of an organisational culture for sustainability?

Your organisation's vision statement expresses your company's aspirations - it tells what you would like to be in the future. Vision statements express an element of ambition. Whether it is to be 'bigger than', to 'go from number two to number one', or even 'to be the best', an element of achievement is always present. But a vision is more than unfettered ambition or being future-oriented - it incorporates beliefs, value systems and behaviours.

To create a vision for your organisation that is based on sustainability, you will have to determine whether that is the direction in which you would like your company to move. A sustainability-oriented organisation will integrate sustainability through every aspect of the business; it cannot just be a slogan or marginal aspect of the organisation's operations.

If you have decided that you do indeed want to be an organisation based on a culture of sustainability, then you will need to work out in detail what that will mean for how you are organised and how you operate (for more information on this issue, see Aligning mission, vision and strategy for sustainable commercial buildings). Making a commitment to become a sustainable organisation will almost certainly require your organisation to change some aspects of its existing culture. However, culture change is not easy, as is discussed in the Challenges of culture change section of this article.

Challenges of culture change

There are a number of challenges to culture change in an organisation, such as:

• Culture change is neither easy nor quick
• Some people are more receptive to change than others.

Culture change is not easy

When considering the potential for changing some aspects of the culture of your organisation to conform to your vision of a sustainable organisation, you should keep in mind that culture change has many challenges. It is neither easy nor quick – creating and embedding significant change may well be a five year exercise. Instead of directly confronting some of the problems in your existing organisational culture, it is generally much more effective to build on existing cultural strengths and gradually shift the culture.

Some of the other challenges of culture change are presented by the need to have a governance structure and leadership approach that fosters such change (see the Requirements for organisational culture change section of this article for more information).

Despite the profusion of management guides that provide detailed step by step prescriptions for the 'correct' way to bring about organisational culture change, it is important to recognise that no single system of culture change is appropriate for all organisations. If you proceed systematically, and build from the existing culture, an appropriate approach to culture change will develop from within your organisation.

Bringing about culture change in an organisation may take a number of years, and may require some key individuals or other personnel to be reassigned or encouraged to seek opportunities outside the organisation.

There are many pitfalls in a process of culture change, and the entire process can be stalled or set back by relatively simple errors. Ways of preventing such errors are described in the Conducting a culture change program for sustainability section of this article.

Some people are more receptive to change than others

Although it seems obvious, it is important to always keep in mind that different people, and different parts of your organisation, are likely to be more receptive to cultural change than others. Because of this, change will not occur in a uniform way across the organisation.

Alan AtKisson (1991), a long-standing advocate of change to promote sustainable development, developed the Amoeba of Culture, based on earlier work by others (see left figure). It is used to characterise individuals' rates of adopting technological and social changes. AtKisson (1991, p.58) says that the amoeba provides an elementary model for how cultures change: 'Individuals are like the molecules that make up that amoeba. An amoeba moves by sticking out a small pseudopod ("false foot") into new territory. The rest of the organism inevitably comes sloshing along behind. Because of this sloshing effect, the nucleus or centre of the amoeba (the mainstream) arrives a bit late on the scene compared to the majority of the organism's molecules'. He cautions that 'it's important to remember that in real life, everyone plays all of these roles in different contexts' (AtKisson, 1991, p.58).

Requirements for organisational culture change

• A sense of urgency
• Governance for sustainability
• Powerful leadership
• A clear vision of the future

A number of requirements are consistently identified as being important for culture change. These include:

• a sense of urgency
• governance for sustainability
• powerful leadership
• a clear vision of the future.

A sense of urgency

Organisations, and individuals, typically do not change unless they are confronted by a crisis, a potential crisis, or a major opportunity. They need to perceive some significant urgency to change, or they will tend to proceed as they have been going.

Professor John Kotter of Harvard University, a leading expert on leadership and organisational change, considers that:

'Establishing a sense of urgency is crucial to gaining needed co-operation. With complacency high ... few people are even interested in working on the change problem. With urgency low, it's difficult to put together a group with enough power and credibility to guide the effort or to convince key individuals to spend the time necessary to create and communicate a change vision ... Executives underestimate how hard it can be to drive people out of their comfort zones ... The people at the top may think there's a sense of urgency, yet if you dig down into the organization, you discover it's not nearly what it needs to be to sustain change through the whole process'. (Kotter, 1996, p.35)

Kotter also cautions that about half the organisations that attempt change fail early in the process because they don't pay sufficient attention to the need for establishing a great enough sense of urgency. Sometimes they are impatient and believe that they can move on without this step. Sometimes they become paralysed by fear of the consequences of focusing on an impending crisis.

Kotter suggests that the urgency level is high enough when 75% of your leadership is honestly convinced that 'business as usual' is no longer an acceptable plan. He reports that successful results have been obtained when the leadership group facilitates a frank discussion of potentially unpleasant facts: about new competition, flat earnings, decreasing market share, or other relevant indicators. Because there is often a tendency to 'shoot the messenger' providing bad news, it is helpful to use outsiders, such as consultants, industry analysts or stakeholders, who can provide a different perspective and help increase the awareness of people in your organisation.

Governance for sustainability

Changes in governance are said to provide the greatest overall leverage for facilitating the successful introduction of the types of changes needed for sustainability (Doppelt, 2003, p.6). Doppelt says that 'governance includes the modes of allocating decisions, control, and rewarding rights within and between ... organizations' (2003, p.6). In other words, governance systems shape the way information is gathered and shared, how decisions are made and enforced, and how resources and wealth are distributed. These factors guide how people perceive the world around them, how they are motivated, and how they exercise their power and authority (see left figure).

To promote culture change, employees must have the freedom, authority and motivation to suggest new approaches and ideas. A strongly hierarchical or authoritarian system that divides the organisation into 'silos' and imposes requirements without consultation will not foster the types of interactions that promote change. An essential step before undertaking efforts to promote culture change for sustainability is to carefully examine the governance system that is used in your organisation. Obtaining views of your current system from employees and objective outsiders may reveal that your governance system is operating in a manner quite different from the way you thought it was. It may be affected by structural aspects of the organisation, by the personalities of key managers, or by other factors.

Doppelt (2003, p.6) states that the organisations leading the way toward sustainability 'tend to view all of the people that are affected by their operations - internal members as well as external stakeholders - as important parts of an interdependent system. Their leaders understand that every component of the system must be fully engaged and must function effectively for the whole to succeed. In order for this to be possible, power and authority must be skilfully distributed among employees and stakeholders through effective information-sharing, decision-making, and resource allocation mechanisms'.

Until you have made serious efforts to ensure that your governance system will allow the type of learning, communication, and innovation that is necessary for culture change, you should probably postpone culture change programs because they are unlikely to succeed.

Powerful leadership

A transition to a sustainable organisation requires the full commitment of senior management. Programs to promote culture change also need such a commitment, but require even more if they are to be successful: for example, Kotter (1995) emphasises the need for a powerful guiding coalition to foster culture change. This coalition can begin with senior management, but it must grow to involve a broader range of people through various parts of the organisation. A committed group of individuals must ultimately create a critical mass for change, and facilitate that change across the organisation.

To bring about culture change in your organisation, you will need a team of people headed by an individual with leadership skills and authority within the organisation. Kotter (1995) asserts that a staff executive from a human resources, quality or strategic planning department of the organisation will not have sufficient power to bring about the desired changes; it requires a key line manager. You can start with a team of only a few people and add to the team as the change process progresses.

It is not necessary that all senior managers actively participate or support the culture change program at the outset; however, efforts must be taken to ensure that non-participating managers do not undermine the program. Efforts should also be devoted to either converting the non-participating managers to the proposed direction or taking action to replace them or transfer them to non-critical areas of activity.

Sustainability leadership characteristics

Leadership role	Characteristics
Visionary	Visionary and passionate about sustainability; vision and passion must come from top management for sustainability to take hold
Systems thinker	Think 'outside the box,' see the synergistic or leverage potential in relationships throughout the organisation, and take a long-term view of the benefits of change
Innovator	Embrace in learning and innovating new solutions and strategies
Collaborator	Shift culture away from top-down decision making towards increasingly collaborative, participatory culture where sustainability and other key initiatives are 'everyone's job'
Educator/advocate	Liberally share learning about sustainability with clients and competitors; do not hoard information for 'competitive advantage'

Source: Hughes & Hosfeld, 2005

A clear vision of the future

Although your culture change program may be motivated by a vision of a sustainability-oriented organisation, it is essential that a straightforward clear statement of that vision be communicated throughout your organisation. Kotter (1995, p.63) says 'in every successful transformation effort that I have seen, the guiding coalition develops a picture of the future that is relatively easy to communicate and appeals to customers, stockholders and employees'. He proposes that you should be able to communicate your vision in five minutes or less and get a reaction that signifies both understanding and interest.

Being able to communicate your vision in such clear, readily understood terms may mean that a small team of people will have to work together to translate your company's vision statement into plain English, eliminate vague and relatively meaningless phrases, and ensure that it actually conforms to your idea of the future of your organisation. You may also find that some important elements of your picture of the future are missing from your current vision statement, and should be added.

A clear vision of the future is necessary so everyone in the organisation knows where you are headed. It will help to ensure that you don't undertake a range of unconnected or wrongly-conceived strategies or programs. It will also provide a focal point for attracting employees to the changes necessary to achieve the vision.

Conducting a culture change program for sustainability

• Getting started
• Stage 1 - Analysing and planning
  • Analyse the existing culture
  • Compare existing culture to your vision of the future
  • Identify communication mechanisms
• Stage 2 - Engaging with stakeholders
  • Create an understanding of the need for change
  • Recognise that the rate of change will vary across the organisation
• Stage 3 - Adopting new approaches, behaviours and attitudes
  • Making sure the fundamental requirements are in place
  • Enabling and encouraging people to take action
  • Planning for and creating short-term wins
  • Removing obstacles
  • Communicating about culture change
• Stage 4 - Institutionalising changes
• Stage 5 - Evaluating, modifying and improving

A program for culture change is typically done in a series of stages, so that you can consolidate the results of one stage and determine its effectiveness across the organisation before moving on to further work. The approach to culture change outlined in this article involves five basic stages:

• Stage 1 - Analysing and planning
• Stage 2 - Engaging with stakeholders
• Stage 3 - Adopting new approaches, behaviours and attitudes
• Stage 4 - Institutionalising changes
• Stage 5 - Evaluating, modifying and improving

Getting started

Once you are confident that the basic requirements for culture change are in place (see the Requirements for organisational culture change section of this article), you are ready to embark on a culture change program. It may be tempting to ignore some of the requirements and just proceed with your program, but experts who have looked at culture change in a wide variety of organisations clearly state that unless the fundamentals are set up properly, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to bring about the desired changes.

The activities within each of the five stages of a culture change program must be flexible, because every organisation is different, and its cultural change program must be appropriate to its unique structure, vision and needs. In addition, you should be able to modify your culture change activities as you progress, to reflect the conditions, ideas and attitudes that emerge from employees during the process.

If you begin to implement your program and encounter major problems, you should review the requirements for organisational culture change to ensure that the necessary fundamentals are actually in place. If necessary, you may have to go back and do further work on these fundamentals before proceeding further.

Stage 1 - Analysing and planning

Analyse the existing culture

One of the first steps an organisation should take in a culture change program is to analyse the existing organisational culture. You may find it useful to have outside assistance with this process.

One tool used to analyse the culture of organisations is the Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Cameron and Quinn (1999). The instrument is a questionnaire that assesses six key dimensions of organisational culture:

• dominant characteristics
• organisational leadership
• management of employees
• organisational glue
• strategic emphases
• criteria of success.

The questionnaire has two parts. In the first part, respondents are asked to assess the degree to which each of four statements is true regarding each of the six dimensions for the existing organisation. The second part has the same questions, but respondents are asked to assess the degree to which each of the four statements would describe the ideal approach to each of the six dimensions.

The OCAI can be very useful in determining the degree to which an organisation's culture supports its mission and goals, and in identifying underlying elements in the culture that may work against full achievement of its mission and goals. When used as part of a cultural change program, it can help to identify cultural elements that will support and hinder the change efforts.

Terminology of the questionnaire is very clear, and it can be used as the basis for observations and interviews.

Compare existing culture to your vision of the future

Using the OCAI results and a clear vision of the future, you can identify the gap between current and desired practice. That gap should form the basis for identifying the changes needed in the organisation to achieve your vision. These should be clarified and elaborated on, using a stakeholder engagement process.

Identify communication mechanisms

Your vision of the future needs to be understood by your employees so that they can actively participate in achieving it. You should identify all the ways that the organisation communicates with its employees, and determine how these mechanisms can be used to convey the vision and need for change. Communication mechanisms go well beyond such things as the employee newsletter. They include all the ways in which managers convey information to employees, such as training programs, performance appraisals and managers' meetings, as well as the day-to-day discussions between managers and others in the organisation.

In addition to the messages provided through communication mechanisms, the actual behaviour of managers should reflect the desired behaviour and approaches. This form of communication - through action - can often be the most powerful way of conveying desired approaches. Actions that are inconsistent with the vision can, of course, have the opposite effect and may undermine the more formal messages provided.

Stage 2 - Engaging with stakeholders

In-depth and ongoing engagement involving all parts of an organisation is essential for developing a culture of sustainability in an organisation. It is therefore critical that employees throughout the organisation be actively engaged in the process of change. There are two key elements to this engagement. One element is to obtain the input required from all sectors of the organisation to help set directions and translate the vision for the organisation into practical terms. A second element is to foster change by individuals and groups in their work. Culture change is not a matter of a single set of directions conveyed to employees from management. It involves small and large changes in behaviours, attitudes and practices throughout the organisation.

Organisations need to foster open and meaningful dialogue about sustainability, using consultative and interactive approaches, and ensure that everybody has both the responsibility and empowerment for implementing appropriate sustainable initiatives.

Create an understanding of the need for change

To create the basis for effective change, employees need to be aware of and understand the need for change. Lack of understanding is often a major stumbling block to sustainability. The challenge for organisations, therefore, is to ensure that the concept and meaning of sustainability resonates with employees. Organisational and opinion leaders need to communicate the reasoning for adopting a sustainability-oriented culture, systematically address misconceptions, and demonstrate the business case for sustainability. There is also a need to create a sufficient sense of urgency for the organisation to change before most people will be receptive to culture change programs (for more information about this issue, see Education, awareness and training for sustainable commercial buildings).

It is important that you ensure that the need for change is recognised across the organisation, so that adequate resources - financial, material and human - are available for the culture change program.

Recognise that the rate of change will vary across the organisation

It is important that you recognise that people change at different rates (see AtKisson's Amoeba of Culture for more information). Not all people within the organisation will want to change; indeed, many may feel threatened by change and prefer to stay with the status quo. There may be initial resistance, with the common argument 'but we have always done it that way'. Resistance to change is a normal reaction, with organisations and people often set in their ways and not open to new ideas. It is important to remember that changes may occur gradually over time, and that awareness and experimentation are crucial first steps on the path to sustainability.

An important step is to assess the readiness to change within your organisation. It is important to identify those whose attitudes and behaviours could affect the desired change. It is also important to identify those most receptive to change, because they can be extremely valuable in helping create broader change. A useful approach is to start your change process with those who already show commitment or a desire to be involved.

Subcultures with varying values and cultures are likely to exist within most organisations. It is important to recognise the existence of such subcultures and to ensure the approaches used to encourage change are tailored to the requirements of the particular subculture. Subcultures can obstruct the process of sustainability diffusion within an organisation, especially if 'sustainability issues' are seen to be the main concern of other departments, divisions or areas. The entire organisation needs to own and feel part of the sustainability vision, which should guide everybody's actions.

Stage 3 - Adopting new approaches, behaviours and attitudes

To build new approaches, behaviours and attitudes into your organisation, you need to make sure the fundamental underpinnings are in place (see the Requirements for organisational culture change section of this article for more information). You also need to take a number of specific actions, including:

• enabling and encouraging people throughout the organisation to take action
• planning for and creating short-term wins
• removing obstacles to the new vision
• communicating about culture change across the organisation.

The process of translating the organisation's vision into the approaches, behaviours and attitudes required to achieve the vision involves the guiding coalition extending their commitment and understanding throughout the organisation (see the Powerful leadership section of this article for more information about the guiding coalition).

Making sure the fundamental requirements are in place

The effectiveness and efficiency with which your organisation is able to adopt new approaches, behaviours and attitudes that are consistent with your vision of sustainability will depend to a large extent on the underpinnings for change you have established: a sense of urgency, your governance system, your ability to formulate and communicate a clear vision of the future, and the formation of a powerful guiding coalition. You should therefore reassure yourself that these fundamentals are adequate to support your program for change or take remedial action to improve them.

Enabling and encouraging people to take action

The process of getting new ways of doing things adopted involves enabling and encouraging people throughout the organisation to take action. They must have the authority to act and the appropriate information and understanding to guide their actions (for more information on this issue, see Education, awareness and training for sustainable commercial buildings). Many organisations have used sustainability teams across the organisation to facilitate the change process.

Planning for and creating short-term wins

Because the process of culture change is gradual and slow, there is a potential for individuals to become discouraged and impatient. To counter this tendency, Kotter (1995) recommends that organisations plan for and create short-term wins. He observes that creating short-term wins is different from hoping for short-term wins.

Hoping for short-term wins is passive, while planning for them is active. In a successful transformation, managers actively look for ways to obtain clear performance improvements, establish goals in the yearly planning system, achieve the objectives, and reward the people involved with recognition, promotion, and even money. Commitments to produce short-term wins help keep the urgency level up and force detailed analytical thinking that can clarify or revise visions (Kotter, 1995, p.65).

Removing obstacles

One important aspect of the facilitation of change is the removal of obstacles to the new vision. These obstacles may result from organisational structure. If job categories are defined too narrowly, employees may be hindered in thinking about approaches that would go beyond their narrow responsibilities. Inappropriate reward structures or performance appraisal systems can force employees into choosing between the new vision and an old approach that would rate more highly on the reward or appraisal system.

Sometimes the obstacle is a person in a key position who blocks change. Kotter (1995, p.65) suggests: 'if the blocker is a person, it is important that he or she be treated fairly and in a way that is consistent with the new vision. But action is essential, both to empower others and to maintain the credibility of the change effort as a whole'.

Communicating about culture change

Extensive communication across the organisation is essential throughout the change process. It will allow those creating successful change to gain recognition and to inform others about new ways of doing things. It will also enhance the awareness and understanding of the vision and the types of changes needed to achieve that vision.

Stage 4 - Institutionalising changes

Kotter (1995) identifies two important aspects of the process for embedding and institutionalising changes into the organisation's culture:

• Do not declare victory too soon.
• Anchor changes into the social norms and shared values of the organisation.

As the change process takes a long time, there is a tendency to seize upon clear signs of progress and use them to declare that the culture change has been achieved. Kotter cautions that while the enthusiasts are most likely to celebrate change too early, those resistant to change will use the declaration of success as an excuse to halt further action.

Leaders of successful change efforts, according to Kotter (1995), use the credibility afforded by short-term wins to tackle even bigger problems:

'They go after systems and structures that are not consistent with the transformation vision and have not been confronted before. They pay great attention to who is promoted, who is hired, and how people are developed. They include new ... projects that are even bigger in scope than the initial ones.' (Kotter, 1995, p.6)

Unless changes become firmly embedded into the way the organisation does things, they are likely to disappear or be weakened once the pressure for change is removed. Kotter (1995) identifies two factors for embedding changes. The first is to make a conscious effort through extensive communication to show people how the new approaches, behaviours and attitudes have improved performance. Kotter states that people in the organisation may not recognise that improved performance is a direct result of the changes, and may ascribe it to the qualities of a good manager, or to other causes. The second factor is to take sufficient time to make sure that the next generation of top management really does personify the new approach. If this is not done, all the good work to move towards sustainability can be undone.

Stage 5 - Evaluating, modifying and improving

The process of cultural change to achieve a vision of sustainability is never really completed. Sustainability is a lofty goal, and there is always more that can be done.

After embedding cultural changes into an organisation, systems should be put in place for monitoring how well the organisation is performing and for identifying opportunities for doing things better. The monitoring process should exist at many levels in the organisation. It should examine how well the organisation as a whole is performing, and should also look at specific aspects of the organisation to review their actions and performance.

Consultation with external stakeholders is often an important part of evaluating your organisation. The situation may look rosy from inside, but if customers or suppliers are dissatisfied with important aspects of the organisation, then they can help to identify areas in need of further improvement.

Performance for sustainability should be applied to individuals as well as to the organisation. Significant elements of the organisation's sustainability efforts should be built into key performance indicators for evaluating managers at all levels of the organisation. The Global Reporting Initiative offers a framework for setting organisational level indicators for various aspects of sustainability, which can then be cascaded to group and individual levels.

Tools

Sustainability - Integrated Guidelines for Management (SIGMA)

The British Standards Institution, AccountAbility, and the former UK Department of Trade and Industry have collaborated to develop guiding principles and a management framework for a sustainable organisation. Their four phase cycle, comprising of leadership and vision; planning; delivery; and monitor, review and report (see left figure), outlines how to manage and embed sustainability issues within core organisational processes, as well as the key questions to focus on.

References

AtKisson, A. (1991), 'The innovation diffusion game, making it happen,' Context, 28, Spring, 58.

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