This means us | The 'know yourself' edition

How do your colleagues really think and feel about sustainability?

What could they unlock with the right combination of powers?  

Sustainability isn’t just about counting carbon and reporting emissions. (Though we’ll get to that next week.) First and foremost, it’s about people.  

People are at the heart of the sustainability transformation, and for businesses that means employees. We know how important people and sustainability knowledge are for businesses: 

• 80% of C-suite leaders report that “employee activism” is a significant driver of corporate action on sustainability 

• Sustainability knowledge is a strong predicator for individual action 

• Investing in sustainability training drives stronger ESG performance 

You won't achieve sustainability goals without a team.

But how well do you know your team’s strengths and weaknesses?  

We developed the Sustainability Action Readiness Assessment (SARA), a survey-based tool, to assess employees’ knowledge, engagement, and ability to act on sustainability in the context of their work, using Kite Insights’ Head, Heart and Hands framework. 

Employees consider sustainability to be important to them at work: it’s important to their motivation and they think their companies have a role to play. But they’re not all that confident they have the knowledge they need to help. 

The SARA helps you figure out what’s getting in the way.  

It tests employees’ understanding of different sustainability topics; their personal interest and motivation; and the extent to which they feel supported by their employers to play a role in sustainability.  

Over the past four years, tens of thousands of employees have taken the SARA.

This gives us an idea of what workforces feel about their role in sustainability today (and the ability to provide detailed benchmarks!). These were the key takeaways: 

If you know your team’s vital stats, you can spark change internally:  

• Leaders can’t decide what kinds of sustainability upskilling to prioritise? SARA data narrows it down.
  A construction-industry multinational uses year-on-year data from the SARA to inform their learning design in support of their 2030 sustainability goals, and monitor progress over time.

• Employees are nervous about using their abilities without putting others (or other work!) at risk? SARA data shows them they’re not alone. 
  A beverage company used the SARA to inform the creation of an internal community of sustainability champions from across functions and regions.  

• Different teams have different strengths and starting-points? Bring out their superpowers accordingly with SARA data.
  An energy technology company used SARA insights to design skills and communications programmes on sustainability for different ‘personas’ in their workforce. 
  
  

Imagine seeing employee sentiment in dashboard view

One of the most revealing insights the SARA gives companies is what different parts of their organisation need to play their part. Recently, we’ve developed a new dynamic dashboard that enables leaders to explore results for hundreds of different parts of their company, instantly.  

All that to say: the SARA gives you valuable data to:

1. Make the case for change
2. Unlock employee superpowers
3. Track your company’s progress

Do your teams and colleagues have sustainability superpowers lurking beneath a mild-mannered exterior? Let’s find out.

It could be easy being green -- if you know and trust your team.