PM and Sustainability - Symbiosis - Part 1
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by Richard Maltzman,
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Date
Photo: National Geographic
I’d like to start this post off with a very brief biology lesson. It’s about “symbiosis”.
From National Geographic’s article, The Art of Living Together
Sea anemones live attached to the surface of coral reefs. They trap their prey with stinging cells called nematocysts, which are located on their tentacles. Nematocysts release toxins when a small animal contacts an anemone’s tentacle. This paralyzes the stung animal, allowing the anemone to easily bring the animal into its mouth for ingestion.
While other fish succumb to these toxic stings, clownfish secrete a substance in the mucus covering their bodies that suppresses the firing of nematocysts. This allows the clownfish to swim comfortably between the tentacles of anemones, creating a protected environment in which potential predators are killed off by anemone stings. This clearly benefits the clownfish, but how about the sea anemones? The brightly colored clownfish attract other fish looking for a meal. These unsuspecting would-be predators are then caught and eaten by the anemones.
Now, I am not saying that ESG leaders are clowns, nor am I saying that project managers trap prey with stinging cells. Or vice-versa This is not that strong an analogy. What I am saying (and have been since 2010 with our book Green Project Management) is that there is a much stronger relationship between sustainability and project leadership than previously thought.
So, I was very pleased to see a pair of articles right here on Projectmanagement.com that talk to this symbiosis of sorts.
My favorite part of Andy Jordan’s feature story on The Rise of the CSO is this gem:
“…every project committed to by an organization will ideally be developed and approved with sustainability in mind. I mentioned above that the approach to delivering a project should be subjected to a sustainability assessment, and that should be built into the organization’s overall project methodologies. But there should also be a review of each proposed initiative to ensure that the specifics of it are aligned with an organization’s sustainability goals.”
The symbiosis: projects that embed sustainability will be better aligned with company mission, and thus more successful in the true sense of the word, and sustainability professionals will get ESG-related projects done more effectively. Do well by doing good. Do good by doing well.
In Andy Jordan’s excellent post, he talks about the general role of the CSO but importantly says that some of it is project work, such as:
- "Requiring a sustainability assessment to be carried out on the planned execution approach for every project. Regardless of what the project is designed to deliver, this assessment ensures that the work is carried out in a way that promotes sustainability.
- That could be ensuring that software is optimized to minimize the power consumption needed to achieve performance targets.
- It could mean verifying production methods to confirm that environmentally conscious materials and processes are used.
- Or it could be addressing packaging and distribution methods to ensure recyclability and minimized waste.
- Defining project environment best practices and policies. This is about building sustainability into how projects are delivered. While it may be limited by corporate policies, this would cover everything from recommended approaches that are designed to limit travel for team members (both regular work-from-home policies and plans for onsite meetings of remote work teams), to best practices around turning off lights, computers, and so on. Depending on the types of projects undertaken, it may also define a list of approved suppliers, provide a framework for securing sustainability endorsements from industry or community groups, etc.
- Integrating sustainability into project environment maturity and improvement plans. Because sustainability is a relatively new consideration, organizations are generally starting from a baseline of low performance. PMOs are expected to continuously improve the overall performance of the project environment over time through things like improved planning, better resource management, greater variance recovery and so on. Sustainability can be built into these plans through targets focused on whichever sustainability goals are relevant to the organization."
The other article that gave me increasing hope about this symbiosis was from Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, called The 10-Step ESG Health Check for Project Managers
In his article, Antonio details 10 steps (you really should read the article) for PMs, because the transitions and changes and initiatives needed to achieve sustainability goals ARE PROJECTS and REQUIRE PROJECT LEADERSHIP. The 10 steps are highlighted below:
1. Align ESG Goals
2. Engage Senior Leaders
3. Create a Sense of Urgency
4. Focus on Benefits
5. Leverage Volunteers
6. Allocate Resources
7. Evolve Your Cultural (and Allow for Failure)
8. Develop an ESG Data Strategy
9. Persuade Leaders to Make More Sustainable Decisions
10. Embrace Continuous ESG Improvement
I am encouraged by the momentum developing in this symbiosis. In Part 2, I want to make this as real as possible to you by (ironically) introducing artificial intelligence into the mix and to focus on jobs and careers for project leaders related to ESG, or supporting ESG efforts.
Thank you to Andy Jordan and Antonio Nieto-Rodgriguez for their excellent posts and the spark for this two part-blog post!
Posted
by
Richard Maltzman
on: July 27, 2023 11:20 PM |
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Comments (4)
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Richard, thank you for a very interesting post.
We are in agreement when you say that "there is a much stronger relationship between sustainability and project leadership than previously thought".
Sustainability is a topic that many project leaders are considering, but it's not a top priority for them to implement it.
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez wrote an HBR article on the subject, called "Project Leaders will make or break your Sustainability Goals".
Richard, thanks for a great post and for engaging everyone to start focusing on Project Leadership, this is a critical skill to have / develop.
FAISAL A.
MSc, MBA, PMP®, C-SBP, GRC Audit Certified
Agreed Richard, that the relationship between sustainability and project leadership is becoming increasingly important as businesses and organizations look to reduce their environmental impact and improve their social performance. Project leaders who are able to incorporate sustainability principles into their work can help to ensure that projects are successful in the long term.
Thanks for sharing. Interesting and well-written article.
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