5 Principles to Help Increase Your Sustainability Purchasing Leadership

By: Alexandra Kueller

In May, the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) announced that they were releasing their key principles for defining leadership within sustainable purchasing. When the SPLC was created the previous year, their challenge was to help minimize the lack of coordination within sustainable purchasing by increasing collaboration. 

Here are our takeaways on the 5 principles released by the SPLC:

Understanding

• It is important for an organization to understand the relevant environmental, social, and economic (ESE) impacts of its purchasing. If a company can recognize right away what both the positive and negative impacts of its purchasing are, it then becomes much easier to target what impacts are in need of increasing or decreasing.

Commitment

• Companies need to commit to an action plan to help reduce impacts. 
• Consider creating an integrated team to help identify actions that are both feasible and significantly improve the impacts, as well as agreeing on an implementation timeline.

Results

• Companies that stick to their commitment show they are dedicated to delivering results.
• In order to improve your results, providing guidance to staff and tracking progress of your actions are two ways to better your results.

Innovation

• Internal and external innovation can enhance your sustainable purchasing leadership.
• Show you welcome innovation, and be sure to reward staff for their contributions and leadership.

Transparency

• Be transparent – by doing so, you take a risk and show that you want to lead the effort for sustainable leadership.

Interested in learning more about sustainability beyond purchasing? Read our white paper, Sustainability Through the Value Chain.

Weak Employee Response to Your Sustainability Initiative? Try This!

We first offered this advice in 2012, but it still rings true and we thought we'd pass it along again:

Have you ever encountered the following situation?

• "We started a recycling program, but nobody seems to be sorting their trash."
• "Yeah, we have a matching charitable contribution initiative, but only 3% of employees took advantage of it last year."
• "People are really enthusiastic about going green, but we don't really seem to be making much progress."

We see this all the time with clients who have implemented sustainability programs, but aren't reaping the results they hoped for.

What's the missing ingredient?

Hint: It's a trick that marketers use to convert prospects into clients. It's called a "Call to Action" or CTA.

A call to action is the section of a marketing or sales message which tries to convince a person to perform a desired action immediately. Omitting a call to action from marketing communication typically leaves the target audience unclear on the appropriate next step, which may result in dismal results and less than optimum ROI.

- Call To Action By Mindy Lilyquist, About.com Guide

The same thinking holds true for sustainability initiatives. Too often we stop the "pitch" just short of telling people exactly what we want them to do, leaving them unclear what exactly their role is in a new program or initiative.

Here's our tip: take a look at your last sustainability initiative roll-out. What “Call to Action” did you use? If you can't quickly identify a CTA in your communications, then chances are you are missing out on additional participation. Try some of these on for size:

• Contact Betty for a simple sign-up sheet.
• Click here to take the recycling pledge.
• Watch this short video on choosing a charity matching option.

The options are endless, but the key is to clearly and simply tell people what action you want them to take. Make your expectations clear, and you'll be amazed at how much further your initiative goes.

If you found this information helpful, you'll love our Social Media for Sustainability Professionals, an 8-week, online and self-guided program that provides everything you need to make the most of social media in 2014.

How Retailers Can Help Their Suppliers Reach Sustainability Goals

Some things have not changed as quickly as we hoped they would, so we thought our 2012 article which was previously published in the Toronto Sustainability Speaker Series was worth sharing again:

At Strategic Sustainability Consulting, we generally work with the suppliers, rather than the retailers. And I can say without a doubt that suppliers are paying attention to sustainability. They are hearing from virtually every retailer that they sell to, often multiple times per month. They are scrambling to gather data, establish goals, and meet new (and sometimes conflicting) requirements.

I agree with the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) past prediction that sustainability will transform the retailer-supplier relationship. But it remains to be seen whether that change is positive or negative for the parties involved. To increase the odds of everyone walking away happier and more sustainable, I offer these three suggestions for retailers. Accept these challenges, and your suppliers will not only thank you — they’ll help you achieve your own sustainability goals:

#1: Coordinate your supplier questionnaire with other retailers in your sector.

If there is one thing that is driving your suppliers universally crazy, it’s the fact that each retailer has created its own sustainability questionnaire for suppliers. It is ridiculous that our clients are receiving upwards of a DOZEN different supplier sustainability questionnaires that they feel obliged to respond to. Each retailer has its own set of questions, its own interface for submitting answers to those questions, and its own methodology for ranking and assigning value to those answers.

It’s maddening. And a waste of time and resources. Rather than make your supplierdevote the equivalent of TWO FULL TIME EMPLOYEES to answering surveys, why not coordinate with your peers and lessen the burden on everyone.

#2: Be clear about what’s coming next.

We all know that sustainability is a moving target. What you ask suppliers to do today is not necessarily what you will expect from them tomorrow. We get it. And we’re happy that you’re taking incremental steps. But for heaven’s sake, give us a heads up about the direction you’re charting. It takes time to get the proper systems in place, and your suppliers would appreciate a little notice. So if you are planning to stay focused on corporate-level greenhouse gas reporting, then tell us so. If you anticipate leaning more towards product-level greenhouse gas accounting, then that’s an important piece of information to share.

Remember, suppliers WANT to make you happy. Tell us what you want (and expect to want in the future) so that we can get busy making plans to meet those expectations.

#3: Answer your f***ing email.

When you set up a supplier sustainability program, there are going to be questions. In fact, there are probably going to be a LOT of questions. And you need to devote the internal resources to answering those questions when they come up. So please think through how you are going to communicate with suppliers struggling to respond to your sustainability demands. Compile a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) web page. Record a webinar that can be played on-demand later. Offer a demo of the questionnaire interface — how to log in, how to save your answers, the timeline for evaluation, and exactly how you will be using the data provided. Provide an email contact form. And then answer messages when they arrive in your inbox.

SERIOUSLY. Answer your emails.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s overwhelming. Yeah, there are probably some stupid questions in the mix. (If you continue to get the same stupid questions, then maybe you should create a FAQ to deal with it before it ends up in your inbox!)

When you tell suppliers to do something and then ignore their request for support, you are essentially asking them to guess what will satisfy you. And guessing isn’t going to make anyone happy. So just answer the emails, okay? (Whoever is on the receiving end of the Walmart packaging scorecard, I’m looking directly at you…)

Got another idea for how retailers can make it easier for suppliers to tackle sustainability? Leave it in the comments — and I promise to pass it on the next time I’m airing my grievances.