In today’s rapidly evolving world, businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of sustainability – not just as a buzzword, but as a fundamental pillar of long-term success. But where do you start as a business on your sustainability journey, and how do you measure your progress? At Groundwork, we support businesses through our Sustainable Business Membership scheme, which kick starts with a robust sustainable business assessment.
At Groundwork, we believe in empowering businesses to thrive sustainably and independently. That’s why we’ve developed a comprehensive sustainable business assessment process designed to provide clarity, identify opportunities, and drive impactful change.
So, what can you expect when you embark on this assessment with us?
The Sustainable Business Assessment: A Focused 3-Hour Deep Dive into all things Sustainability
Our assessment is designed to engage relevant members of your business with a broad spectrum of sustainability topics. The assessment itself typically lasts around three hours and is collaborative in nature. Your dedicated membership account manager and/or lead consultant will work through a series of questions to ensure we gain a holistic understanding of your operations and aspirations.
Maximising Your Assessment: The Power of Preparation
To get the absolute most out of your assessment, we strongly suggest preparing a digital folder containing all relevant documents related to sustainability. This could include policies, action plans, reports, certifications, and any other pertinent information. This simple step significantly streamlines the process, allowing us to effectively use our time to review your efforts and provide real-time recommendations.
Getting Started: Insights from the Ground Up for Your Sustainability Assessment
We normally kick off the assessment with a short site tour or informal chat about your business. This invaluable first step allows us to gain some insight into your business operations and any sustainability improvements or initiatives you’ve already implemented, providing us with a tangible understanding of your efforts and helping us identify opportunities for further enhancements right from the start.
A Structured Approach: Assessing Against a Broad Sustainability Framework
Next up, we’ll work through a series of more structured questions. These questions are meticulously designed to assess your business against a broad framework encompassing five key pillars of sustainability:
- Governance: How is sustainability integrated into your company’s leadership and decision-making?
- Operational Efficiency: How are you managing resources, reducing waste, and optimising your processes?
- Stakeholder Engagement: How are you interacting with and impacting your employees, customers, suppliers, and the wider community?
- Environmental Impact: What are your efforts to minimise your ecological footprint, including emissions, waste, and resource consumption?
- Social Responsibility: How are you contributing positively to society, creating a fair and inclusive workplace, and supporting your local community?
Evidence and Validation: Demonstrating Your Impact
In response to each question, your organisation will be encouraged to share more details about your efforts. Crucially, we’ll ask you to provide evidence which supports what you’ve said, typically by talking through key documents. This is a vital part of the process, allowing us to validate the work you’ve completed and identify specific recommendations to drive continual improvement. The evidence you provide enables us to allocate points, demonstrating your performance in each of the categories.
Your Sustainability Score: Recognising Your Achievements
Based on the evidence presented and our discussions, in your final report you’ll receive a score out of 15 in each category, culminating in a total score out of 75. This comprehensive scoring system provides a clear snapshot of your current sustainability performance.
Depending on your total point score, we will then be able to recognise your business at either Bronze, Silver, or Gold level, celebrating your achievements and providing a clear benchmark for future progress.
Beyond the Assessment: Your Roadmap for Continual Improvement
Shortly after the assessment, we will create your sustainability report highlighting your organisation’s strengths, key achievements, and areas for further development. This report will be accompanied by a tailored sustainability action plan which you can adapt and put into place over the next 12-months to drive continual improvement across all aspects of your sustainability performance. We’ll arrange a time to present the report findings and recommendations to your team, answer any questions you may have, and identify any additional support requirements you might need to help you progress with your actions. After this meeting, we’ll send over the comprehensive report, your tailored action plan, and summary slides that can be easily used to share key achievements and progress internally.
Our Commitment: Ongoing Partnership for Success
Our membership doesn’t end with the assessment and report, we are committed to being your ongoing partner in sustainability. Throughout the year, we provide:
- Regular Check-ins: To review progress against your action plan and offer guidance.
- Quarterly Webinars: To support continual learning.
- Monthly Newsletter: To raise awareness on key topics and share valuable insights.
- Monthly Drop-in Members’ Sustainability Surgery: Gaining direct access to our expert consultants for ongoing support and guidance.
Our Sustainable Business Assessment is more than just a measurement; it’s a strategic tool designed to empower your business to embrace sustainability, unlock new opportunities, and build a more resilient and responsible future.