Managing Sustainability
Why Integrate and Manage Sustainability Efforts?
Individual projects to improve the sustainability performance of a district are a great start, but they tend to disappear when the person spearheading them moves on. Also, they are generally not planned with a coordinated systems strategy.
You’ll get the most from your efforts, whatever their scope may be, by managing them. Eventually, the sustainability measures need to be integrated into formal district procedures to make them permanent. Successes need to be recognized and shared via an integrated plan to monitor, track and report on progress. Progress needs to be ensured with a plan to update goals and activities as needed. Sustainability efforts, like any well-managed activity, will be maximized if there’s a plan to train everybody in the concepts of sustainability. For all this, some type of management structure and processes are needed.
The goal of a comprehensive sustainability program is to integrate sustainability thinking into all district activities.
Thoughts to guide the effort:
- It's more than “greening” selected activities.
- Won’t go nearly as far without demonstration of top level support.
- It will not not achieve its full potential if “on-the-ground” staff are not included and trained in the concepts of sustainability.
- A Sustainability Management System (SMS) is needed to guide and maintain an integrated effort.
Sustainability Committee/Team
Establishing some form of school/district sustainability committee to provide guidance will broaden the effort, increase ownership and provide recognition. This could be done in several ways.
- If there is already a Green Team then discuss sustainability with them and perhaps they’ll be interested in adopting sustainability goals.
- Solicit members at the info meetings described under “Establishing a Common Language”
- Create a sustainability steering committee. Invite staff and knowledgeable people from the community to be part of this team to help guide your effort.
- Create a volunteer taskforce to develop a plan, ideally with a school/district administrator liaison.
- If your city or local community has an active sustainability effort, become involved. Several school districs have found this to be an important step.
When the committee and school/district are ready, strengthen and guide the effort toward sustainability with the following:
- Adopt a sustainability framework to guide the effort. (for instance The Natural Step)
- Define a school/district vision of sustainability.
- Use the SOSI list of potential impacts to identify your school/district’s impacts to sustainability.
- Create a sustainability management system.
Sustainability Management System (SMS)
The SMS provides a structure that includes:
- Documented system establishing clear responsibilities and expectations
- Checklists for consistent application in decisions
- Assessments and targets that identify actions to take
- Programs for improvement that set responsibilities and resources
- Indicators and metrics to help steer and chart progress
- Records that document efforts and progress
- A review process that confirms effectiveness
An SMS is based on Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)
- PLAN – Identify and select improvement projects, develop process for doing so.
- DO – Launch the projects and develop appropriate support systems.
- CHECK – Check progress of the efforts, monitor support systems, and take preventive and corrective action as needed.
- ACT – Evaluate the effectiveness of the projects and the overall sustainability effort, make the “good” permanent.
A Sustainability Management System offers many benefits.
- Provides a shared mental model
- Moves from single sustainability initiatives to an integrated business approach
- Provides a framework for moving towards sustainability, with supporting metrics
- Is proactive rather than reactive
- Involves everyone with sustainability, with clearly defined roles
- Uncovers cost saving ideas
- Transfers learning from project to project
- Moves sustainability performance into the administrative department
Model SMS
SOSI has developed a model Sustainability Management System (SMS) with How-To tips, available here.
Sustainability Management Evolution
SOSI has developed a matrix (PDF 23K) that helps to understand how a sustainability program might begin, then evolve into a system of fully integrated, routine and sustainable or even restorative activities.
This evolution is generalized as follows:
- Green Initiatives: Selected "green" practices, but not integrated into district activities.
- Beginning stages of sustainability journey: Many aspects of integrating sustainability are just getting started.
- Integrating Sustainability: Starting to manage the sustainability effort.
- Sustainability is Fully Integrated: Sustainability effort is integrated and being fully managed.
- Sustainable (mostly not possible today): Activities result in no negative impacts to sustainability.
- Restorative: District activities result in net positive impacts that begin to correct damage done in the past.