How We Rise

Hannah Phang of The Now Work said it so well:

‘In Sustainability we digest all this information all the time about how the world is on fire and then show up in boardrooms and present numbers and metrics, the compliance, the paperwork – it can take an energetic toll.’

I believe all Sustainability Leaders deserve to:

• Live a good life.
• Make their wildest dreams for Sustainability influence and impact come true.
• See the changes they are working toward, within our lifetime.

So, how do we do this?

1. Care for ourselves

• Remain aware that burnout is rampant. The statistics say about 50% of impact professionals report burnout. Practically every conversation I’m having with Sustainability Leaders yields a story about their burnout. Awareness is the first step to choosing to come out of burnout. If you’re not sure, just do an internet search for ‘Burnout inventory’ and you will find some quick/easy tests you can take to check. If you’re in severe burnout, consider seeking professional help, taking a break, and prioritizing your health.
• Gently shut the constant rumination at night: Sustainability leaders live and breathe their personal purpose within their careers. Most Sustainability leaders I know never stop thinking about their work. This means that the work never really stops. It goes on vacation with you, it’s hovering over dinnertime, it’s there at bedtime. Again, be aware of this. Find a routine that works for you – exercise, meditation, journaling, mindfully telling yourself that you have done what you can for the day and that the rest needs to wait for the next day. Being able to rest and come back with a fresh look at your work is vital for your well-being as well as for your mission.
• Set boundaries around the resources you have and the work you can deliver: So many Sustainability leaders I come across have 3 or 4 full time jobs. Didn’t get headcount approved? No problem, we’ll do the additional work anyway. Didn’t get the resources? No problem, we’ll squeeze. It’s no one’s job to do Earth Week, lead the Green Team, etc. No problem, we’ll add it. I get it. I’ve been there. All the work is important. But doing all the work is not solely your accountability. The organization needs to match its Sustainability work and culture ambition to its investment in meeting the ambition. Next time you are asked to take on more than you and your team can handle in about a full-time job, ask what drops off to accommodate it. This can be difficult and painful for Sustainability leaders, who are committed to doing the most possible to make a positive impact. Remember, though ‘possible.’ So, lean in, be clear, what doesn’t get resourced cannot get done, for if you keep doing it, you could burn out.

So, take that break from back-to-back meetings, have a proper lunch, enjoy your non-work time every day, go on vacation. Live a good life.

2. Collaborate

Sustainability is an amazing profession. When you enter the profession, you gain a global network of mission-aligned peers. Some of my most impactful work has been done in collaboration and networks with industry peers.

• Build networks. Whether it’s reaching out over Linkedin and offering a meet and greet, or joining one of the many wonderful communities that are forming, get to know each other. You may just find one day that someone from your network is the expert solving on a new problem you encounter. Your networks and relationships are also beautiful sources of support as you seek new opportunities, want advice on how to grow your impact and influence where you are, and more.
• Go to conferences. Don’t go to all of them. Find the ones that best fit your work priorities. When you to go conferences, don’t just go to the sessions. Find out who’s there and meet people you find interesting. Many of us have stories about how we found the most amazing solution or partnership after bumping into someone in the hallway or the lunch line at a conference and having a chat.
• Be active in your industry associations. Many challenges you need to solve are industry or sector level challenges. You have the opportunity to solve these challenges across the whole industry, rather than having to go at it piecemeal.

As you build these networks and work with others, remember, the job is still to drive impact with speed and scale. There is a proverb that says ‘if you want to go fast, go alone and if you want to go far, go together.’ In Sustainability, keep your focus on going far and fast – together.

3. Roots and systems

‘More reporting frameworks, more things to measure, and more preciseness of measurement’ seems to be the world of many Sustainability leaders today. With the profession expanding quickly, many Sustainability leaders barely have a chance to onboard before they are absorbed into the myriad measurement and reporting tasks of the job. Sustainability leaders are stuck in measurement and reporting mode, so their natural tendency is to get their suppliers to measure and report. There is now a veritable spaghetti bowl of reporting templates going back and forth across supply chains. But that’s only part of the job. It cannot become the whole job. To truly understand how to make a difference, the best Sustainability leaders focus on the following:

• Knowing the roots of the reporting and measures. Take time to do the field visits and understand what drives emissions, read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, sit with the global experts in all of your impact areas to learn what is really going on. These things are not learned quickly. You will need time. Your knowledge will deepen, and eventually your contribution to the collective knowledge will grow. That’s when you will really be able to advocate for the right actions that will enable your measurement, reporting, and eventually, positive impact.
• Seeing the holistic picture – environmental, social, economic. The original way to operate Sustainability is holistic. Indeed, you will find that some leaders who have been doing Sustainability work for a long time continue to operate it like that. At some point some leaders bifurcated environmental and social sustainability, and now increasingly I notice that Sustainability is equated with environment. Economic has somehow been lost in the melee. Environmental, social, and economic aspects of Sustainability are always interrelated. If you are a Sustainability leader with only one of those remits, find the leaders who have the other two and spend time sharing your work with each other. The challenges and solutions will become clearer.
• Understand and shift systems. No amount of measuring can help Sustainability leaders what’s really going on at a systems level. And yet, without shifting systems, we will stay in a vortex of incremental change. Indeed, we may slide backwards when systemic shocks occur (which we know they tend to do, and which we know will likely increase in frequency and intensity given the state of climate risk and global security). Understanding systems, drivers, and change levers takes time. Shifting systems takes intention, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and iterative action. Systems shifts can feel incredibly slow until one day, through persistence, the right lever is nudged and off it flows.

When you make these three shifts: caring for yourself, collaborating, working on roots and systems, you will rise in your impact in a way that regenerates you.

Want to go deeper? Are you ready to rise?

Apply to ‘The Rise Cohort,’ a special year-long program designed by illumine.earth for Sustainability Leaders to come together and help each other rise quickly.  

DM or email me (karimah@illumine.earth) to learn more.

#regenerativeleadership #resonance #regenerative #ecosystems #peopleandnature #withinourgeneration #burnout