Sustainability and Change Management
By Thom Walters

Change continues to be a central topic of business and a normal part of it’s lexicon as it embraces and navigates acquisitions, re-structuring, technologies, innovations, regulations, globalization, and organizational culture.

With “change” being a non-negotiable element in organizational life, it is clear that it can’t be treated as a footnote or dictate, but must be an intentional consideration in every strategic endeavor. Companies that position, align, and strengthen the organization around change, experience a different level of success than unprepared organizations where change is experienced as confusion, resistance, missed opportunities and wasted resources on failed directives.

Initiating and developing broader and more integrated Sustainability practices through the organization is an area that very much lives in the innovation and change space. Although the technical, and scientific elements and capabilities with sustainability strategies are critical to building a competitive 21st century organization, the long term success comes through treating these efforts with the same intention that the organization would any strategic change or innovation. This means that the process for preparing and aligning the organization around the change is as important as the new initiative or strategy itself.

Companies that view change as a form of important adaption and innovation are applying an approach called Change Management. This is a focused, principled and disciplined process and framework that looks at all the dimensions of an organization that would influence or affect any aspect of the change or innovation. The approach identifies what needs to be in place, aligned and engaged—basically, what are the criterions necessary to assure success with the vision, initiative or strategy. Change