At a recent swim meet I attended, one of the swimmers was wearing a t-shirt that said, “Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body.” 

I immediately rushed to use that bit of inspiration on my daughter who was getting ready for a race.  I promptly received the “Dad, you’re lame” look.  But I do find it to be an inspiring point of view; if not for my teenage daughter, perhaps for organizations striving to become more sustainable. 

Change, even when it makes an organization stronger, is often painful. 

This is reflected in a survey of CEOs by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture.  Of the 720 executives surveyed, 93 percent said that sustainability is important to the strength of their organization, and 80 percent believe that fully integrating sustainability across their business will happen within 15 years. 

However, nearly half pointed to the complexity of implementation across functions and competing strategic priorities as significant barriers to an enterprise-wide approach to sustainability.  These are common barriers that often fatigue important initiatives and stress communicators charged with implementing organizational change. 

In fact, the same change management principles we employ when communicating about mergers and acquisitions, downsizing or restructuring apply to creating a corporate sustainability mindset. 

• Gain sponsorship from senior executives:  The power of the C-suite is critical to establishing sustainability as a business priority.  If it is crucial to the success of the organization, that importance must be reinforced with nearly every interaction.
• Deliver relevant messages:  It’s not enough to tell employees why sustainability is important to the company; they need to know why it’s important to them and their career.    
• Rethink how you communicate success:  Competing priorities suggest that reward systems are out of whack.  If production numbers are traditionally promoted, but not energy cost reductions, then energy conservation will not appear to be a critical business priority.  Forget tradition and look at communications through a new lens.
• Create feedback loops:  Talking at employees produces little change.  Create ways for employees to engage in the conversation about sustainability initiatives and you can gauge your success in making it a company-wide priority.
• Grin and bear it:  Let’s face it; change communications can be a pain when you are fighting entrenched interests and legacy processes.  But, take heart.  You’re helping to build a stronger, more successful and sustainable enterprise. 

After all, that pain is just weakness leaving the organization.

 (Guest contributor Ron Loch is a senior vice president at Gibbs & Soell Public Relations. He leads the firm’s Greentech & Sustainability Practice, collaborating with G&S colleagues specializing in advanced manufacturing and energy, agribusiness and food, consumer lifestyle and building solutions, professional services, and technology and general science.)