Sustainability stories: how to do internal comms

For the last 8 months, I've been on a secondment at Southern Housing Group as their Head of Sustainability. I admit I've loved it - it's great being at the sharp end of delivering sustainability, in all its guises (though yes, I can't wait to get back to SE² either!) It's rewarding and frustrating in equal measure: sometimes it feels like wading through treacle as the realities of making changes at a large organisation reveal themselves. 

At Southern Housing Group, we've just launched a Sustainable Workplaces Strategy, committing the Group to a carbon reduction target across their offices and fleet for the first time. The 20% reduction by 2025 is a stretch, but a comfortable one, helped enormously by senior internal support, goodwill amongst colleagues to 'do the right thing' and a modest budget to invest in some straightforward measures (mostly BEMS and controls) that will pay back in under three years.

Last week I attended the edie Sustainable Communications conference, which gave me time to reflect on how we can effect change within the organisations in which we work.  Do the things that SE² has been preaching for the last 13 years actually work? Do we suffer from tunnel vision not only as sustainability 'experts' but also as a micro-business where change is easier to instigate?  How are others leading the way and what can we learn from organisations outside the public sector?

Well, the good news (I'm rather relieved to say!) is that we HAVE been getting it right. The thing I maybe didn't appreciate though is how long change can take - and how busy everyone is! All the change at the Group requires me to push it along - and I cover the whole of the sustainability brief across the whole business - new homes, existing homes, advice, renewables, communal heating, offices, travel as well as driving the Group's strategic direction, embedding sustainability as BAU and encouraging innovation.  Taking the SE² theories and putting them into practice has been a good learning experience, and the results have been rewarding too. 

So, being a fan of lists, here are my 7 insights to 'doing' internal sustainable comms and getting things done:

1. Get senior buy in: one of the great things about the Group is how friendly everyone is - all the way up and down the organisation structure. There's a pretty shallow hierarchy and Tom Dacey - the CEO - is always happy to stop for a chat if he can. The fact that the Group has a Head of Sustainability is good evidence that they take their commitment seriously, and I've not been disappointed. I have a Director who sponsors the sustainability work at the internal Board meetings and she's supported me with ideas and tactics to get approval for the strategic asks. The most critical of these was going to talk to people: sitting down and explaining what I was doing and why, why it was important for the business, how much it would cost and the value for money it offers.  People appreciate the time you take - even if they can only squeeze in 15 minutes between other meetings - but it makes it easier for them to sign off your proposals in the decision-making meetings. 

2. Make the business case: part of putting my case to the internal Board was making a clear business case. Why should they invest rental incomes in sustainability, especially when rent caps and universal credit are making income streams more delicate than before? It was made very clear to me that the Group is a housing provider, not an environmental business - but they ARE a business and they DO have social aims, both of which played in my favour. The business case for investing in sustainability was strong: a £70k investment with a 2.6 year payback.

3. Be sure of your facts: don't go to the Board half prepped. Lay your case out simply, focussing on their priorities (see business case above!), but have more data in your back pocket. Know your stuff inside out. Be the expert. Provide them with confidence in the decision you're asking them to make. And if they ask a question you're not sure about, find out and follow up quickly. 

4. Develop allies: sustainability at the Group is dispersed. My budget is actually quite small: instead it's delegated to other teams, such as asset management or community investment, to deliver as part of their programmes of work. This shared responsibility helps to weave sustainability through the whole organisation, and I've found many people who are genuinely interested in supporting the cause. I've taken the time to find out how sustainability sits with them, offered to help and provided expertise. 

5. Work with Comms: my Comms Partner - Dee - has become my partner in crime. She's really enthused by the whole sustainability campaign (it's a good news story after all) and has totally made it her own, keeping me on the straight and narrow and making sure we stick to our agreed plan of action. Working across the business, she's also helped identify other allies and strengthened the connected-ness of our approach.  She's got other people to help spread the message and has helped them to see the positive environmental impact their day job also delivers. She has, basically, made all my comms ideas a reality and then gone even further. 

6. Make it easy: to begin with at least. My mantra at the Group has been that we're already doing many good things in terms if sustainability. I see my job as drawing everything together and reporting on it through a sustainability lens. I'm a facilitator: my small budget means that most of the spend - and therefore responsibility - lies with others. It's my job to help them see how sustainability is an integral part of what they're doing anyway - and then to push them just a little bit further.  For day-to-day change, I've long been an advocate for making good decisions easier than bad ones, for designing out un-sustainable activity so people have no choice, from everything to taking away desk bins, to only procuring recycled paper and ensuring non-essential IT equipment automatically powers down overnight. 

7. Become a story teller: this was the biggest take away from the edie conference. I think as experts we become bogged down in the detail. We can't see the wood from the trees and can struggle to leave out technical details that make it more difficult for non-experts to get the message. How do you want your audience to feel? What do you want them to do? And can you deliver that with half the words and twice the pictures!

We've still got a way to go of course. I've got four months of my secondment left and it already feels like the clock is ticking (especially given the constraints outlined above!) Watch this space though: there's a few things that I'd like to leave as my Southern Housing Group legacy and if it all goes to plan, I'll be able to share it with you all too!

I'd love to know your stories too.  Drop me a line at rachael.mills@se-2.co.uk or tweet me @se2_rachael

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