We humans are notorious for our knee jerk, judgmental reactions. Hearing something and saying “ That’s not me” “ I don’t like that,” “ I can never do that.” Have you ever had a snap judgment define your thought process? I've had snap judgments on everything from lima beans to the Cleveland Browns to hedge funds. 

Business owners are also prone to snap judgments at work. We have to climb through a lot of muck and review so much information, it’s easy to become biased against strategies. We’ve all been caught glossing over something or using the phrase “ I know about that” or “ I’m not spending time on that.” 

Are you an organization that’s ready to get on board with sustainability and make a commitment to build attention to social and environmental aspects, you should definitely consider getting B Corp certified. If you’re interested in corporate sustainability certifications, I urge you to look at B Corp certification. This certification guides you and tells you exactly what to do to accomplish sustainability at your company through its “people, profit, plant” model.

Sustainability reporting, also called ESG reporting, is just as it sounds, reporting on your sustainability progress. You can read the previous blog about why sustainability reporting is important. Let’s talk about sustainability reporting as it relates to 2019 wrap-ups, and planning for future success. 

Starting sustainability in your small business can often be the hardest part. Where should you begin? If you’ve decided to get going on sustainability, use these 5 steps to get you started on the right foot. The five steps are create a why, establish time limits, brainstorm, take the long view and outsource.

Today we’re talking sustainability reporting, specifically metrics. These little sustainability helpers are powerful tools for you to share sustainability with your audience and connect with them in a new way.

Events are a great way to promote your small business, gather the community, and talk about interest areas. Many businesses are using events as a marketing strategy. And for good reason, they work and are linked to company growth! With growth anticipation, companies are spending time and money on events.  Half of companies spend 20% of a marketing budget on events, and companies are increasing the number of events held each year. 

Sustainability is a grand idea and often involves a grand plan. The question remains- how do you do it? How do you enact sustainability in your business on a daily basis so that you can hit your goals and collect your data? The same way you get all of your other work done. Hint: your employees. Assign tasks, encourage feedback and sharing goals and results are all part of engaging employees in your small business.

Sustainability data is a big buzzword for a lot of businesses. For good reason! Having data is so important to your business for countless reasons. As they say, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” This applies to sustainability data. See Part 1 of this blog series for how to collect sustainability data. You now have collected sustainability data that includes units, dollars, and ideas. What can you do with this collected data? I hope you try a combination of the below suggestions. 

We’re all about data here at Green Buoy Consulting. Data is how we prove sustainability works and keep businesses in check. It’s how we show businesses the value of their efforts and show them the good they are doing. Think about sustainability data you hear, “10,000 cups kept from landfills!” “Energy Reduced by 11%!” These data points tell a specific story. A lot of the sustainability consulting work I do involves doing this for clients.