The Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship Team
Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship Teams are passionate about environmental stewardship and sustainability and are empowered to lead their organization’s environmental efforts. The sustainability and environmental stewardship teams are responsible for building relationships across the organization, breaking down silos, and sharing knowledge and expertise to empower their colleagues to take action and celebrate sustainability wins.
As members of the sustainability team, you have the passion to share your knowledge of sustainability with your colleagues, the responsibility to build relationships with all functional roles, and the power to inspire all stakeholders to advance sustainability (contractors, visitors, the community, the sector).
You are curious — seeking to understand existing systems and operational practices, and learn from other experts. Building trust will open doors to identifying opportunities that improve sustainability.
You are empowered to be leaders in your organization — speak up when you need resources and be clear about the value of sustainability initiatives in support of the executive strategy. Remember to prepare your coworkers (the functional leaders in your organization) to celebrate achievements. Achieving a sustainability goal is not a win for only the chief sustainability officer or the sustainability team, it is a win for the organization.
Sections
Articulate Your Why
Share a consistent, persuasive message for sustainability and environmental stewardship in your organization and with various stakeholders. This Cleveland Clinic figure provides a few examples, but it is most impactful to work with your internal leaders and craft a message that speaks directly to the context of your operations, considering location and community.
Cleveland Clinic Environmental Stewardship Pitch Summary
| Sustainability “hook” | Sample message for the leader |
|---|---|
| Mitigation | Save $50 million+ |
| Engagement | Attract the best |
| Resillence | Adjust to the future |
| Relationships | Build partnerships |
| Population health | Impact regional health |
| Societal transformation | Change the nexus |
| Transpersonalism | Be the change |
| Moral obligation | Do the right thing |
| Leadership | Lead the sector |
Source: Presented by Jon Utech and Jessica Wolf during CleanMed 2018, “Demystifying Greenhouse Gas and Goal-setting in Health Care”
Recommendations for the Experts
Consider these suggestions, but review the context for your organization and take the time to build support and consensus at all levels (top-down and bottom-up). For more ideas, review the assessment for your sustainability journey on ASHE.org.
- Support the CEO to make sustainability a transformational program for the entire organization:
- Articulate the sustainability vision for the organization and repeat often.
- Connect sustainability to the mission and vision of the organization.
- Engage the board of directors and show the value of sustainability.
- Be clear that this is an executive priority. Transformational initiatives require leaders at all levels (bottom-up), but also require C-suite leadership (top-down).
- Create a plan with metrics and milestones, report progress and celebrate achievements.
- Identify high-impact areas (materiality assessment) and define strategy to include relevant internal functions and external/third parties.
- Work with the chief operating officer (COO) to realign internal processes to support sustainability. Create key performance indicators (KPIs) that will measure progress towards sustainability goals.
- Identify internal leaders and allocate the resources needed for success.
- Frame the sustainability agenda in a “growth mindset,” encouraging leaders to embrace the challenges of sustainability by seeking opportunities to innovate.
- Communicate initiatives and progress externally to your community and the sector.
- Be transparent about ambitions, current performance and value created from sustainability initiatives.
- To achieve meaningful improvements, one health system cannot change the field alone. Collaborating with other community organizations and across the health care sector can help to share successes and overcome obstacles