Assessing Risks to Create a Sustainability Policy

Discuss about the Planning Sustainability Policy Communication Process.

Success in a business is determined by the strategies and commitments of the overall staff of the business. A business, therefore, has to have a clear outline of the strategy and the commitments. Sustainability policy refers to the outline of the business strategy and the commitments. The policy affects all the stakeholders of the business and the government. A policy that is related to the environment, for instance, should state the sustainability considerations in conjunction with the business decision. It is also accompanied by a plan on how to tackle issues that may arise. The policy should also put into consideration all the needs of stakeholders including the entire community.

When coming up with a policy, in-house assessment of risks is the first step that one should take. The risk assessment will help one to understand the impacts that the business has on the society and the environment. In the case of a manufacturing business, use of recourses from the environment directly such as energy consumption should be put into consideration. Also, think about the processes involved in the delivery of the products. Your policy should be based on what you should do to make improvements on the above-mentioned issues. For the society, look at how the business affects the local people. This involves employment and suppliers you make to the people.

Creation of a sustainability policy does not have a certain layout. However, the creation of the policy results from the requirements of the supply chain. In the development of the sustainability policy, one should the client’s own copy so that the policy can reflect what the client desires.  The sustainability policy should be simple to understand. It should also state the mission and the visions of the business and the objectives. The policy should not be too long so that it can easily be understood. The appropriate length is not more than a single page. When coming up with the policy one should address the following four key areas. One is a commitment to reduce and prevent impacts on the environment. In addition, commitment to meet the legal requirements, which are involved in the business, laws of the country. In addition, we are to improving on sustainability performances and finally communication and management of the policy.

The different aspects of the business which should be considered while coming up with a sustainability policy includes the chain of supply and marketplace. Choosing suppliers on sustainability criterion is not practical. Costs, reliability, and quality of the supplier should also be considered. In the policy, therefore you can include sourcing target and plans, promoting sustainability to your stakeholders and suppliers and a requirement that all the suppliers to provide their policy. Also, involve social impact and community investment. Questions based on donations and participation in charitable work should be asked.

Key Areas to Address in Your Sustainability Policy

The other important aspect is the employment practices of the organization. Including the employees in your initiatives, the employees are able to contribute a lot to the reduction of the environmental impacts. It is also proven that engaging employees in decision-making motivates them thus they become more productive. One may start with the obvious things about employment practice. This includes reviewing contracts to minimize the legal requirements. After the senior manager has signed the sustainability policy, it should be distributed to the employees. Completion of a sustainability policy is a communication tool thus one should not finish the policy and stop there. The customers, stakeholders and the customers should share the policy. After a group of people has studied the policies, the policy is viewed in a specific date to be able to maintain the relevance of the policy. Engaging with suppliers reduces the environmental impacts even further.

There are different techniques which can be employed in coming up with a sustainability policy. The technique enables separation of straight texts and ideas. To determine which technique is more effective we need to explore all the techniques. To start with, we have step by step listing technique. It is a process of making the message in sustainability policy visible in an easier way. when writing a policy busing the above technique, full sentences or phrases ending with the colon are used for the introductory statement starting on the list. All the steps should be listed separately to prevent missing of a step. In addition, the list should be in a logical sequence to the reader. Also, write the list should in parallel structures throughout. Lastly, for the systematic listing technique active voice should also be used for sentences that are complete.

The second technique is playing script. An excellent technique makes the message in the policy understandable and visible to the reader. The technique splits each statement and actions into two parts. These parts are action and responsibility. The technique is mostly used for procedures and at times for policy writing.  Action condition logic is another technique that can be used in writing a policy. It is appropriate for writing both the procedure and policies. It involves stating the action and then the condition for the action to take place is stated. The technique may be reversed in certain conditions. This is mostly when the policies outline one condition at a given time. Last but not list there is the Decision Tables Techniques. It applies the Action Condition Logic technique but now in table form. This is to be able to make complex instructions easier for the reader to understand. They may be used as a summary of the text or by themselves.

Considerations for the Chain of Supply and Marketplace

The process involved in the creation of the sustainable policy should follow the following steps. It is important for the company to set its objectives before it starts the actual process of becoming sustainable.  It is also important to be able to decide who in the organization is stated with the responsibility to ensure that the company is a success. The policy will only act as a roadmap to give directions in achieving the set objectives. It also outlines the company’s reasons to undertake this work and its intentions.  The policy also states the driving forces for the company towards its success. Understanding who the policy is made for is also an important aspect in the process of making a sustainability policy. The policy is vital for both external and internal use. It will be used to communicate your objectives with your future and current employees and ensure that they will be in your support. The policy is also referred to when making changes in the business to be able to clarify the need for the changes. The policy will inform the stakeholder, investors, board of directors, clients or shareholders of your goals. Also shows what standards you expect from your suppliers.

In the sustainability policy, one should include the following things. Start by mentioning the organization’s vision. The vision should be a sentence of around 10 words that give a description of your ideal product service and outcome. Principles are also part of the policy. The principles will enable one to get the best way to respond to challenges or opportunities in a way that resembles your vision on sustainability. It will also outline the impacts that are key to the environment and the society. In the section of principles, you can also provide the reference of the achievement business has made out of commitments. It also outlines what the business aims in the next year, and how you will continue with the project in the year. The policy should also incorporate commitments from senior persons in the business. the date of renewal

Different ways can be used to ensure that the stakeholders are engaged in the sustainability policy. In the experiences, it has been found that even though the engagement of stakeholders in sustainability is critical it has often been overlooked. The stakeholders should be engaged as soon as possible rather than trying to involve them later on. Gaining an understanding of their issues and perspectives will help bring up a good approach to sustainability policy at the start. An organization also needs to have an internal way of aligning the interest of the stakeholders and the decision makers in the organization. in addition, the business should identify and give the internal stakeholders because the engagement of the external stakeholders takes more time than internal education.

Different Techniques for Writing a Sustainable Policy

Use of social media is also another effective way of engaging the stakeholders in the sustainability policy. It has become an increasingly essential way of getting the stakeholders involved in the policy within a reasonable time. For instance, Twitter is very important in linking, tying together and promoting communication. Therefore, one should be able to use the appropriate media to be able to talk about sustainability efforts. When it comes to consumer engagement there is a lot that one is required to do because of the believes that the consumers have. Many consumers believe that they do not have any impact on the environment. Therefore, one should be able to come up with ways to educate the consumers on the sustainability policy.

Below is an example of a sustainability workforce policy for the Meet Green Company. This company deals with different events preparations and conduction. The company works with different companies in the world to make the different events for their businesses.  They make the events more memorable in that all the participants and the sponsors would want to come back for such an event. The company has to have a sustainability policy that will be able to maintain the relationship with the sponsors and the customers. The policy states the objectives of the company and the way to prevent negative impacts from the workplace to the environment. This is  also one of the things that the company needs to accomplish. This is for the company to maintain a good relationship with the stakeholders.  The policy is written in the technique of listing the ideas in the policy.

The way we approach our business is guided by our commitment to the below principle; Integrity, leadership, transparency, stewardship, and continuous improvement.

We face many opportunities and challenges. We have therefore prioritized to address the following issues due to the direct impacts they have on our stakeholders; Accessibility, water conservation, health and safety, climate change and financial solvency.

• This policy will regulate all the events that are hosted by our organization. This includes sponsorship s and events we pay for and host. All the objectives under this policy are to be upheld by all the contractors and staff. They are to uphold the policy objectives to the furthest extent within the current budget. They are to inform the managers of the barriers that may prevent goals achievement.
• We are committed to educating those parties which we can attend their events though we are not the decision makers. This is because we are aware of our limited impact on third parties who organize an event that we may attend.
• We are committed to working in accordance with the laws and regulations and voluntarily going ahead the legal requirements in an objective to increase innovations and demonstration of good leadership. This is to the issues that affect our shareholders and our business. In everyday activities, we want to build a quality life for our clients, employees, suppliers and event participants.

1. To reduce the impacts of the environment in areas of water, energy, waste, and air. This is by reducing the use of energy in the offices and emissions because of our staff travel.
2. Voluntarily donate resources as a way to give back to the community.
3. Make sure that the kind of supply chain that we apply has responsible environmental and social practices.
4. Be more innovative to be able to minimize the negative impacts to the environment and improve integration in the economy.

Our progress on the realization of the goals will be reported externally every year. We will hold internal reviews by the seniors for at least one year and reviews on management will be conducted quarterly.

The managers of the business will implement the following policy. The things that the business has prioritized include supply chain, products, and environmental regulations. The managers are putting all the effort to ensure that the business in compliance with the environment.  We strive to make 100% compliance to the environment in all the activities that are carried on in our organization.  We are also continuously working towards creating environmental awareness among the employees. This is through training, effective networking, and programming. The business is also committed to its duty to safeguard important public resources, which is the environment. The company is also responsible for establishing an environment that is conducive for the employees of the business.

Engaging Stakeholders in Your Sustainability Policy

After creating the sustainability policy, one needs to communicate the policy to the stakeholders for implementation. First, the manager needs to outline all the problems in a very creative way. Discussing issues out climate change and global crises, hunger, and other issues may be impersonal. One has to come up with a way to discuss the issues in a more creative way. In addition, one should also offer valuable advice which can be put into action.  Coming up with useful information to the audience is a better way of spreading awareness about the environment. It is also a good way to make the consumer goodwill strong. 

In an effort to communicate the policy on should follow the following guidelines. First, be clear on the goals that you set for the businesses. This is because it is more likely that staff will question your motives. Outlining some of the goals will motivate the staff to take part in the policy.  Secondly on should be able to make the policy personnel. You need to show the staff that the policy will benefit them individually. In addition, one is supposed to recognize achievements in the process of communication. Recognize some of the things the staff has ever achieved to increase the positivity of the strategy. Another important part of communication is consistency. Putting together the sustainability communications it is easier for employees to recognize the efforts build from each other and compliment towards the business vision.

During communication of the policy, one should not reinvent the wheel. One should be able to look at the organizations and identify the areas that are supposed to be changed.  Revise the communication made to the staff and put the sustainability message to the existing channels. Keep the communication process simple. Avoid getting bogged down with long lists of the business background information.   The communication method should be simple because the employees will not look into the details but will skim the information provided.

Lastly, we have to evaluate and update the policy.  After evaluation, share the impacts of the policy on the staff. use of large formal reports may be useful in showing the effects of implementing of the policy. However, it is very necessary to tell the employees what affects their efforts brought to the policy. Being patient to the outcomes of the policy is also an important aspect. This is because the sustainability policy, may not be leading in the things that are competing for attention and time of the employees.