#1 Perseverance and resilience
On a subject that may still seem far removed from the company’s core business, the employee responsible for Sustainable Development must address all the company’s business lines. They must involve the entire workforce in this awareness-raising process if the transformation is to occur. If this responsibility requires perseverance, you first have to get everyone’s attention before you can get everyone to listen. Without that, no action is possible! The difficulty of this task lies in the hectic day-to-day life of each team, which will tend to place the subject of sustainability under the pile of other priorities.
This means that nothing can be taken for granted: you must keep meeting new arrivals and reminding other employees of your role. This way, the Sustainability Officer can stay abreast of new projects and ensure that the ecological and social dimensions are always well integrated.
#2 Passion and commitments
These two qualities are essential to our resilience. If you’re not 100% convinced of why you’re implementing a sustainable transition, you’re naturally more likely to get discouraged! There are so many dependencies between each of the issues involved in a shift, and so many cultural changes to be made, that we can’t contemplate embarking on such a project without being firmly convinced of its benefits.
#3 Diplomacy and eloquence
When you’re dealing with teams who aren’t very aware of environmental issues, you need to be able to translate them into easily digestible terms. It is, therefore, essential to adapt to the company’s language to show how much human and corporate survival depends on the environmental situation. Adapting to your interlocutor and using diplomacy doesn’t mean cutting back on your values but giving yourself every chance to convince them.
