7.19.2010

The Sustainability Initiative: Implementation Challenges are Different from Traditional Corporate Initiatives

Sustainability is on every corporate radar.  The strength of the signal and distance from action vary.  In some cases, internal task groups have been formed, sustainability risk assessments have been performed, and actions incorporated into operations and products and services.  In other cases, none or some of these activities have been started, or actions have not gotten beyond PR drivers.

In the current MIT Sloan Management Review, Christopher Lueneburger and Daniel Goleman make a valuable contribution with a presentation of a sustainability implementation model and identification of different competencies needed at different phases of implementation.  They also identify differences between traditional implementation techniques and practices in large corporate initiatives from those needed in a sustainability initiative.  Lueneburger and Goleman say that a common mistake is approaching the implementation of a sustainability initiative with the same tools and mindset used in the past, stating that sustainability is “not your father’s corporate initiative.” Read More

4.1.2010

A New Model for EHS Integration

This is the first of several blog posts on the EHS Integration model we’ve developed at Redinger EHS, Inc.  Please contact us if you’d like PDF of our white paper on this topic.

Through my work with Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) management system design, measurement, and implementation,[1] I have observed that the implementation of a formal EHS management system does not necessarily maximize EHS performance.  Implementation of a formal system is a valuable and necessary step to achieving higher performance, but to reach maximal performance, or even a performance ideal,[2] it appears that there is “further east to go.”

For the past several years I have been intrigued with this gap, that is, how can an organization achieve higher levels of EHS performance, even if it appears that they have a pretty good approach in place?

With this question in mind during my organizational consulting and research work, and post-doctoral work at the MIT Sloan School of Management, I have identified what appears to be a way to reach a new State-of-the-Art[3] in EHS performance.  The key issue, or distinction I’ve identified is EHS Integration.[4] That is, the full and complete integration of EHS functions[5] in an organization, well beyond what is commonly thought of from a program or system implementation perspective. Read More