5 Days, 5 Goals: Improve Your Sustainable Procurement in 1 Week!
Making sustainable procurement a top-priority is hard work, but it doesn’t take long to set goals that will lead to real improvements.
So far in our series on sustainability we’ve defined what Ethical Sourcing and Sustainable Procurement are, and how you know you’re doing them right. Once your company has established target sustainability activities, they need to focus on embedding sustainability within procurement practices.
This is no easy task, but it doesn’t need to take weeks or months to get started or make lasting improvements.
In fact, if you set your procurement team one sustainability goal per day for a week, and you’ll be setting yourself up for future success in what feels like no time at all!
Getting started
But before you start, you need a couple of things in place:
- Firstly, make sure you have support from senior leaders in procurement. They need to know what you are doing before you start so they can provide support where necessary. They’ll also be key to ensuring you get support from key organisational stakeholders further down the line.
- Secondly, you need to have established organisational sustainability processes and practices. Studies suggest that, despite good intentions, many organisations are failing on sustainability. So it’s not realistic to request, expect, or mandate these practices in the supply chain if your organisation isn’t doing the same.
Got that sorted? Good! Now you’re ready to set some sustainability goals:
Day 1 – Goal 1: Set Your Sustainability Strategy
Day 1, Monday morning. Grab a coffee (don’t forget your reusable cup!) and get started with Goal 1 – setting your Sustainability Strategy. To kick this off, you first need to understand the ‘As Is’ – where the organisation currently is on sustainability – and the ‘To Be’ – where the organisation wants or needs to be within a defined period.
The strategy creates a foundation for business cases for future initiatives. It should:
- Align with existing organisational strategies and any Environmental Management policies already in place
- Take strategic procurement processes into account. Only by ensuring it aligns with existing strategies, will it be able to be embedded fully.
- Make sure Roles and Responsibilities are included and fully defined. This isn’t just individuals responsible for embedding new processes, but also key stakeholders and decision makers who are accountable within the organisation, or need to be kept informed of progress.
Day 2 – Goal 2: Identify Strategic Suppliers
Day 2 – you’ve got a strategy drafted and it’s waiting to be reviewed and signed off by the appropriate stakeholders. Now you can move on to Goal 2 – identifying suppliers who will be included in the sustainability processes. In the early stages, it won’t be possible to include all your suppliers, so you’ll need to focus on those that have the greatest impact on your business.
To get started:
- Discuss potential sourcing with Category Management or Strategic Procurement Leads in your organisation to get their thoughts on applicable suppliers in their categories or commodities. It doesn’t just need to be these suppliers, but it’s a good place to start without overloading yourself on Day 2.
- Once you have a list of suppliers, share your planned strategy with them, encouraging them to share their thoughts and feedback. It might be that they already have processes in place that meet your requirements, or that they are willing to share with you. Getting suppliers’ input at this stage is key to them buying into the process.
Day 3 – Goal 3: Develop KPIs for Sustainability
Day 3 – nearly halfway! Goal 3 is all about making sure the processes you’re creating and embedding are measured and people are held accountable for them. It’s all very well having a Sustainable Procurement strategy, but if you aren’t measuring or tracking progress, how do you know how your organisation and suppliers are performing?
In procurement, what gets measured, gets done, so you need to think about the KPIs you are going to use, internally and externally. Possible KPIs include measuring supply chain miles, the percentage of waste to landfill and percentage of contracts or orders placed with SMEs, Indigenous-led organisations or social enterprises.
Keep KPIs to two or three at most so you aren’t burdening your team or suppliers. KPIs need to be realistic and complement any existing KPIs you have for suppliers. Consider getting input from suppliers on these too.
Day 4 – Goal 4: Feedback from Key Stakeholders
We’re at the sharp end of the week now and Goal 4 is where the circle of people involved widens further. By now you have a draft Sustainability Strategy, you’ve brought key suppliers into the fold and got their feedback on the strategy, processes and KPIs. Now it’s time to get feedback from key internal stakeholders and decision makers.
By sharing your Sustainability Strategy earlier in the week you are allowing enough time for all the relevant stakeholders to review and comment. Collaboration from this point is a critical success factor for your organisation’s sustainability ambitions.
Remember, this doesn’t just have to be internal stakeholders. Once you have a strategy in development, work with local or national organisations to ensure you’ve covered all the necessary points, are measuring the right things and that you’re compliant with all relevant legislation.
Day 5 – Goal 5: Communicate to the Wider Business and Wider World
It’s the end of the week and you’re nearly done (for this stage at least!). It’s time to roll your strategy and plans out across your organisation. Communication is just as key as collaboration to success, as you know no-one likes having new policies and procedures dropped on them with no warning.
So, here’s how to kick your Day 5 Goal in style:
- Arrange sessions, either in person or virtually, to educate employees about why this is important, how it’s going to impact different departments and why you need their help. Make this about a collective effort and give people the chance to get involved to help them have a sense of ownership.
- Make sure you get all your documentation, information on key team members and announcements on your intranet and company website. You’ve done all this hard work, now it’s time to make sure everyone knows about it and has access to appropriate information.
And that’s your week done, with your five goals accomplished. It doesn’t end the hard work, as ensuring the success of sustainable procurement practices is an on-going activity – but it should give you a great foundation to build on, not to mention being a major improvement on where you might be now.
We know sustainable procurement has big pay-offs.
That’s why this year’s Big Ideas Summit Chicago will focus on sustainability. We’re ready to empower businesses to lead the charge to establish greener supply chains and procurement processes.
Our Big Ideas will be delivered by internationally renowned speakers to our fully digital event. So what are you waiting for? Register today to secure your place!
