Want to Make a Change? Don’t Forget the Human Element

There is a consensus among the top brass that sustainability delivers business value. A survey of one thousand global CEOs conducted by Accenture revealed that 76 percent of CEOs “believe that embedding sustainability into core business will drive revenue growth and new opportunities.” And yet, studies show that despite the prominence of sustainability on the executive radar, there is a disconnect between intention and action. According to MIT Sloan Management Review, only 10 percent of respondents to their 2013 Sustainability Survey reported that their organizations fully tackle social and environmental issues.

For many companies, inertia begins with not knowing where to start. They lack the internal resources and expertise to conduct the type of top to bottom assessment needed to pinpoint where the opportunities lie. But doing just that is crucial to maintaining profitability and competitiveness, particularly for the food and beverage industry. The powerful demands of consumers and retailers combined with regulatory pressures and rising raw materials and commodity prices have created an environment where margins are tight and competition is fierce.

Every kilowatt saved and gallon reduced is a step toward lowering costs and maintaining margins, but improving operational efficiencies must be done strategically. Implementing a benchmarking program can to do just that. Benchmarking can help food and beverage companies assess the environmental performance of their production operations and identify opportunities for improvement. Benchmarking service providers audit the entire plant, including both the processing and packaging lines, assessing performance in areas such as water efficiency, waste water treatment, energy efficiency, product yield and waste and carbon footprint.

That data is then used to benchmark a company’s performance against their competitors, industry best practices and even their other operations to understand which projects will yield the greatest returns.

Don’t Stop There!

Benchmarking is just the first step on the route to organizational change. It can be the spark that ignites a conversation internally with far-reaching effects. But reports and their recommendations have a tendency to sit on a shelf and gather dust. And it’s not always about the money (or lack thereof) that stymies action. Some organizations tend to get caught up in the pursuit of more data, more metrics, more KPIs, as if the data itself will lead to change. All too often, common human factors that lead to project paralysis are overlooked. To avoid this fate, confront these factors head on: