1. Sustainability: the Next Megatrend
How Will Organizational Development
Contribute?
OD in Los Angeles
October 27th, 2010
Westside Conference Center

2. Agenda
• Dinner and Networking 6:00 PM
• Program 6:45 PM
Sustainability Topics:
• Sustainability in Business and OD – Ariane David
• Sustainable Transformation – Bill Bellows
• LEED and Customer Service – Jim McPartlin
• Performance Management – Mauricio Mesones
• Walmart’s Sustainability Effort – Nkechi Ndu
• Questions and Dialogue
• Closing 8:30 PM

3. So, what do we understand
“Sustainability” to be?
What short phrase do you think most
people would immediately think of if you
mention “Sustainable Business”?

4. So, what do we understand
“Our Role” to be?
OD (Organizational Development) is a
critical contributor to the successful
implementation of Sustainable principles
and practices in organizations.

5. What is Sustainability?
• There is no right definition of
sustainability.
• Intuitively we know that if something is
sustainable it can go on and on without
adverse affects.

6. What is Sustainability
• Tim Jackson, UK Sustainability Commission: “ Shared and
lasting prosperity.” (But he also adds that we’ve destroyed
lasting prosperity through unfettered growth.)
• Elisabet Sahtouris, writer: “ I see Capitalism as a pretty natural
(in the sense of evolution biology) juvenile economic mode,
acquisitive and creative, but believe it is high time to move into
the mature cooperative mode if we want to survive current
pileup of unprecedented crises.”
• Ray Anderson, CEO and founder of Interface: “ Take nothing
(that is not quickly renewable), and do no harm.”

7. •Depletion of substances extracted from
the Earth
•concentrations of substances produced by
society
•Degradation by physical means
•people are not subject to conditions that
systematically undermine their capacity to
meet their needs.
Prof Karl-Henrik Robèrt: In a sustainable society,
nature is not subject to systematically
increasing
and, in that society...
What is Sustainability - an operational definition

8. What is Sustainability:
Classic Model
Old Model:
Concentrated on environment; “ green”.

9. What is Sustainability:
New Model Three Pillars
• Environment: waste/pollution/depletion
neutral on a global level
• A new economic model: global vs. local
impact
• Social justice that addresses poverty,
disease and slavery.

10. What is Organizational
Sustainability?
• Environment
• A new economic model
• Social justice

11. Sustainable Organizational
Environment
Environment: Waste/pollution/depletion
Neutral on an Organizational Level
– Extractive to renewable
– Wasteful to waste free
– Abusive to benign
– Fossil fuels to renewable energy
– Exploitive to collaborative

12. Sustainable Organizational
Economics
A new economic model:
• Rape pillage and plunder is not a sustainable
business model.
• Current calculation:
labor + materials + overhead = cost of production
• Sustainable calculation:
labor + materials + overhead
+ pollution + depleted non-renewable resources + future
increased cost of extraction + human cost
= actual cost of production

13. Sustainable Organizational
Society
• Social justice: no need to choose between employee
well-being and profits
• Providing employees with an environment of
– Work satisfaction,
– Meaning,
– Personal growth
– Learning
– Work/non-work balance
• This is where OD comes in!

14. Sustainability Requires
Systems Thinking
• Involves looking the larger system of which we’re a part
• Systems are interconnected and cannot be separated
Ask:
• In what ways is my system embedded in a larger
system?
• How does the larger system influence my system?
• What influence does my system have on the larger
system?

15. Sustainability Requires
Systems Thinking
• Involves seeing the connectivity of our actions
through time.
• The conditions today are the direct result of decisions
made in the past.
• The decisions we make today will determine where we
are in the future.
Ask:
• What impact will today’s choice have in the long run.

16. I NTERFACE: Ray Anderson’s
Quest for Sustainability
Mission Zero:
– zero waste,
– zero emissions,
– zero use of non-renewable energy
in Interface by 2020.

17. INTERFACE: Ray Anderson’s
Quest for Sustainability
How?
1 . Research and development: greening of all manufacturing processes
2 . Organizational development:
– Created a culture which would allow employees to participate
– Invites ideas from the rank and file, rejecting none without consideration.
– Encourages employees to participate in the formation of strategies and
goals.
– Employee satisfaction is a high priority.
– Interface attracts and retains the very best talent and employee
productivity is high.
– Employee engagement and affinity are high
– Absenteeism is low.
– Productivity is high

18. INTERFACE: Results
This year Interface seems to be on track
to it’s goal.
– Greenhouse gas emissions were down by 80%
– Profits doubled
– Fossil fuel consumption down 62%

19. What Drives an Org. to Care
About Sustainability?
C-suite survey of 203 large U.S.
enterprises, Feb.-Mar. 2009

20. What Do Organization’s Believe
the Greatest Benefits to Be?
Survey of 1,560 global business leaders
MIT Sloan, Business of Sustainability Report, 2009;
http://www.mitsmrezine.com/busofsustainability/2009?#pg20

21. 5. Purpose/Passion
Values-driven senior leader
4. Integrated Strategy
Enhanced organizational value
3. Beyond Compliance
Eco-efficiencies
PR crisis
Regulatory threat
2. Compliance
Regulatory enforcement
1. Pre-Compliance
Stage Sustainability
Org. Journey
Source: Bob Willard – Sustainability Advantage

22. The Basic Toolkit for the OD
Practitioner of the Future…
• Evolutionary Leadership
– Knowing how to choose among existing
alternatives as well as how to create new ones
• Systems Thinking
– Seeing things in terms of connected
relationships, patterns and processes and not
just in terms of separate objects, structures,
positions
• Sustainability Strategy
– Understanding the objectives of sustainable
business practice and knowing how to design for
them