3.30.2010

EHS as Leaders in Corporate Responsibility

A recent publication from the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship contains information on the Center’s 2009 survey of 756 small, medium and large companies across the United States. The survey demonstrates the increasing importance of Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility (CC/CR/CSR) in organizations.

It is important for EHS Professions to track these issues.  I am seeing a growing number of companies where the EHS Function is being functionalized and/or marginalized by CC/CR/CSR efforts.  In these early stages of CC/CR/CSR formulation, there is the potential for diminished influence of the EHS Function.

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Posted By | in Corporate Social Responsibility, Emerging Issues, Innovation, Strategic Thinking & Planning | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

3.26.2010

An Externalities Framework to Develop Sustainability and CSR Strategies

Since the 1987 Brundtland Report, which put sustainability on the business map, the Rio Conference in 1992 and its famous declaration, and the concept of a “triple bottom line” put forth by John Elkington in 1994, issues related to sustainability have expanded as a central topic in corporate boardrooms and business strategy. Along the way, sustainability ideas and concepts have morphed into the broader area of corporate responsibility (numerous terms are used to describe this: corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, and social responsibility).

As an important and rapidly evolving area, there is a wild-west quality to defining, executing, and measuring sustainability and CSR initiatives. Commonly identified sustainability issues include: reduction of energy use, carbon-generation, waste, etc. Some CSR norms, sustainability issues, child-labor issues, and good EHS practices have gained general acceptance—but CSR, especially, is still a very fluid area. The CSR (or SR) ISO activities (ISO 26000) might help, but it will take many years for this to fully flesh out. Read More

Posted By | in Corporate Social Responsibility, Emerging Issues, Innovation, Risk Management, Sustainability | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

3.25.2010

Use of Causal Loop Diagrams in Building High Performance EHS Teams

I have worked with several EHS departments to increase their performance and cohesiveness. In partnership, we’ve addressed performance beyond simply meeting regulatory compliance, examining ways that they can integrate EHS deeper into the organization and impact sustainability and CSR. In all of these engagements, I have started by getting the EHS management system up-to-snuff and firing on all cylinders. Beyond the EHSMS, we then focused on:

  • Team vision: developing a strong vision based in the team’s collective wisdom.
  • Communication skills: strengthening internal and external communication and generating alignment.
  • Team learning: developing mechanisms for feedback, analysis, and integration.
  • Systems thinking: strengthened skills in systems ID and mapping.

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Posted By | in Emerging Issues, High Performance Teams, Management Systems, Personal Mastery, Strategic Thinking & Planning | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »

3.19.2010

Aligning Strategy, Structure and Process with EHS

Due to increased uncertainty since the financial meltdown, companies have shrunk their strategic planning cycles, making it challenging to align internal structures and processes with changing strategies. EHS professionals have had to respond with greater flexibility and innovation in breaking down organizational silos to help generate alignment between strategy, structure, and process.

The recent issue of the McKinsey Quarterly included interviews with four corporate Chief Strategy Officers (CSOs). While the companies are diverse (Estee’ Lauder, Visa, Boeing, and Smith International) and the CSOs diverge on issues, there are several common points that EHS professionals should note. All of the CSOs discussed shrinking planning cycles—in many cases, what were once annual cycles are now quarterly or even monthly ones. They also echoed that business assumptions that once seemed indisputable are now coming into question. Read More

Posted By | in Emerging Issues, Innovation, Strategic Thinking & Planning | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

3.9.2010

The Power of Informal Networks

Challenged to achieve regulatory compliance, EHS professionals are always looking for beyond-compliance ways to reduce risk. As organizational models have evolved to push accountability away from corporate functions toward business units and process-specific operations, the role of EHS professionals has also morphed.

The trend has been for EHS professionals to act in the role of consultant or coach within the organization, as opposed to an enforcer to be avoided. While this trend makes sense, a significant component of EHS accountability still resides within the EHS department and its professionals.

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Posted By | in 360 Perspective, Emerging Issues | Tags: , , , | No Comments »

2.5.2010

An Integrated EHS Function for a New Era – Quantum Environmental Health and Safety

Over the past several years, I have been working on an EHS organizational management model and methodology that provides organizations with a way to bring innovation and fresh thinking to its Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) function. Some of these ideas have been presented in email newsletters and white papers, including ways to integrate the EHS function within itself as well as within the organization.

Central to this work have been ways to elevate EHS thinking as a driver in business strategy for competitive advantage, take EHS performance to zero or near zero, and empower EHS professionals as leaders in their organizations. I was excited when I first learned of and read Green to Gold, as it reinforced and validated much of this work. Read More

Posted By | in 360 Perspective, Emerging Issues, Innovation, Management Systems | Tags: , | No Comments »

1.14.2010

A New Dawn for EHS Professionals

Many indicators point to a shift in EHS drivers and thinking. Redinger EHS outlines a few below.

End of the Oil Economy

At the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition (AIHCE) in Minneapolis, economist and futurist Jeremy Rifkin explained that we are in the twilight of the oil economy, yet have not fully grasped its ramifications, or how it will affect communities and organizations. He spoke about a “third revolution”: radical, new ways of thinking about energy are needed, he argued, based on four pillars—generation, distribution, storage, and communication. He challenged EHS professionals to develop skills to succeed in this new era, skills that are above and beyond core technical skills.

New EHS Drivers

At the NAEM EHS Management Forum in Memphis, “Managing the Green,” keynote speaker Ron Hart, formally with the EPA, suggested that EHS professionals are “asleep at the wheel,” unaware of the fact that a new era of EHS is here. “We are now in an era where EHS has real stakeholder value,” he said. A whole new set of drivers (e.g., climate, population, interconnectivity, emerging economic powers, etc.) is transforming the EHS role in organizations. Read More

Posted By | in Emerging Issues, Innovation, Personal Mastery | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »

1.7.2010

2010 Call to Action — An EHS Innovation Imperative

Make no mistake about it: We are not in Kansas any more. While the last year has witnessed the decimation of corporate EHS groups in major multinational companies, as well as layoffs and re-assignments, other EHS departments have been unaffected, or in some instances, grown.

The primary difference between these companies has been the degree to which the EHS leadership has been innovative in defining its mission and vision, generating alignment throughout the company, and stepping up to the table with senior executives as partners in achieving the wider organizational mission. Read More

Posted By | in Emerging Issues, Innovation, Strategic Thinking & Planning | Tags: , , | No Comments »

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