Strategy & direction / 3 min read
Sustainability strategy should feel like your business.
A strong strategy connects the issues that matter with the people, resources and decisions that can move them forward.
A perspective from Baobab Advisory Services
Begin with the business context
Start with how your organisation creates value, the relationships it depends on and the changes it is already navigating. A sustainability strategy needs to fit that context. Speak with the people who understand the operations, customers, workforce and supply chain before deciding what the plan should contain.
Choose priorities deliberately
A long list of worthwhile topics is not yet a strategy. Consider the significance of each issue, the people it affects and the influence your business can have. Discuss the trade-offs openly. A smaller set of well-understood priorities gives a team a clearer basis for deciding where to spend time and resources.
Connect ambition to ownership
For each priority, identify the outcome you want, the decisions required and who can make them. Bring the relevant teams into the conversation early. An action assigned to an owner who has neither capacity nor authority is unlikely to move very far, even when the ambition is shared.
Build a workable first year
Distinguish immediate actions from the longer-term work. Be explicit about dependencies, resources and the evidence needed to assess progress. A useful first-year plan includes a manageable sequence of steps and a review rhythm that fits the way your business already operates.
Leave room to learn
Treat the strategy as a basis for decisions that can improve as you learn. Agree when to review progress, what would prompt a change of direction and how to bring new information into the plan. The aim is a strategy your team uses in practice and can explain in its own words.