Improving Business Environmental Performance

Training Needs to Support Environmental Sustainability Practice in Business

Chrys Horn, Margaret Kilvington, Will Allen

Landcare Research PO Box 69, Lincoln 8152 New Zealand

Landcare Research Contract Report:   LC0203/081

PREPARED FOR:

Christchurch City Council PO Box 237, Christchurch

DATE:     March 2003

[ Reference as: Horn, C.; Kilvington, M. & Allen, W. (2003). Improving Business Environmental Performance: Training Needs to Support Environmental Sustainability Practice in Business.   Landcare Research Contract Report: LC0203/ 081 1 ]

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©   Christchurch City Council 2003

This information may be copied and distributed to others without limitation, provided Christchurch City Council and Landcare Research New Zealand are acknowledged.   Under no circumstances may a charge be made for the information without the express permission of Christchurch City Council.

 

Contents

Summary

Project and Client

The Christchurch City Council Target Zero programme has an overall goal of facilitating "innovative, profitable and accountable businesses that integrate sustainable economic, social and environmental values in their thinking, decision making and behaviour".   To help achieve this, Target Zero's purpose is to facilitate the progress of businesses towards environmentally sustainable practices.

Objectives

To progress the delivery of effective business environmental-sustainability-related learning, by investigating:

Methods

To discover what information businesses need, and what training they use to develop more sustainable practices and to explore what training is currently available:

Conclusions

Recommendations

CCC has a role in raising awareness by:

CCC has a role in supporting businesses at the "low-fruit" stage by:

CCC has a role in supporting businesses at the "top of the tree" stage by:

Keeping in touch with what kinds of issues and information needs are arising with companies who are at the top of the tree stage and if necessary acting as an information broker by assisting companies in their search for information sources.


Introduction

The knowledge needed to support sustainable practices and improved environmental performance in manufacturing businesses was investigated by Landcare Research, Lincoln, for the Christchurch City Council in 2002-2003 to determine what training can advance this in businesses.

Background

The Christchurch City Council (CCC) Target Zero programme has an overall goal of facilitating "innovative, profitable and accountable businesses that integrate sustainable economic, social and environmental values in their thinking, decision making and behaviour".   To help achieve this, Target Zero's purpose is to facilitate the progress of businesses towards environmentally sustainable practices.

The CCC Target Zero team is also interested in constructing a portfolio of services to businesses to maximise the uptake of environmentally sustainable business practices.   Examples could include:

The council therefore wishes to determine what knowledge is needed to support improved environmental performance in manufacturing businesses, and what training can advance this in businesses, to influence the market that services this training need.  

Objectives

To progress the delivery of effective business environmental-sustainability-related learning, by investigating:


Methods

This report focuses on three questions:

1. What are the essential elements of learning for a business to improve its environmental sustainability?

To achieve this we have outlined a framework to understand what businesses need to know to improve their environmental sustainability.   In a review of the international literature on sustainability, we developed a framework to describe the essential elements of environmental performance and sustainable practice that could be addressed by training and learning opportunities.   The framework was ground-truthed through interviews with manufacturing businesses that have worked to develop more environmentally sustainable business practices, and training providers who have supplied training.

2.What is needed?

We questioned businesses that are known to be working to improve their environmental sustainability on what they needed to find out in order to make changes over the time of their involvement in this process.

There is a wide range of training that could be provided by consultants, from web-based courses available internationally through to in-house specific training sessions. In addition to formal training, which involves an element of teaching, businesses may get the information they need through interaction with other businesses or from many other different sources.   Training, then, is a subset of the ways that companies learn what they need to know if they are to adopt more environmentally friendly practices. During the early stages of the research, we also tried to understand the wider context of how businesses understand and manage their own learning and change, what information sources they used to manage those changes, and what stumbling blocks there were to achieving change.

We interviewed a range of Christchurch manufacturers and training providers, beginning with the contacts supplied by CCC staff.   Companies were selected based on criteria that we hypothesised might influence learning.   For example, we considered that large companies may have different experiences to small companies simply because they are more likely to have the resources to focus on environmental sustainability.   Similarly, a company that had already used Total Quality Management systems was more likely to have in place the company structures that would facilitate the development and adoption of new environmentally friendly practices.   It is also possible that businesses starting out on the path of developing cleaner production could have a different view to those who have been working on it for some time. Table 1 illustrates the criteria we used to select manufacturing businesses for interview in Christchurch.   ( For the purposes of confidentiality we have not outlined which categories each business fits into. The businesses we interviewed are listed in Appendix 1. )

The staff members we interviewed were spread across top and middle management and in some cases we interviewed more than one person from a company (i.e. from different levels within that company).   Contacts came from CCC staff, from the researchers' previous experience of working with these companies, or on the advice of interviewees who sometimes suggested we should talk to a particular company or individual.   Usually our contacts were individuals charged with developing more environmentally sustainable company practices and they were primarily in middle management; often they were also working to improve the company's health and safety performance.   In a few cases (e.g. Macpac, Serra Foods and Bowrons) we spoke to higher-level managers who take a strong interest in environmental matters.   A few individuals at shop-floor level were involved in the sustainability teams set up to bring about company change, but we were unable to speak to any, since they are generally unable to take time out from work to talk to researchers.  

Table 1 Criteria for interviews

Criteria

Businesses with a "track record" and established path in environmental sustainability practice

Businesses starting out in environmental sustainability practice

Large businesses (>40 staff)

Small businesses (<40 staff)

Businesses that had come to environmental sustainability practice through Total Quality Management (TQM)

3. What is being provided and what is being used?

We reviewed how training can influence business sustainability and in what ways training can occur.   We examined the services provided by existing programmes and service providers in Christchurch, and what types of training various manufacturing companies have already used. Attention was paid to determining different needs between and within businesses, including outlining different types of staff and their training requirements.

In addition, we interviewed training providers or examined material relating to the provision of training.   These are outlined in Appendix 2.   Training providers were contacted using a snowballing approach where the researchers began with the contacts provided by the CCC and through their own knowledge in this area, and asked those people if they knew of other training providers.   We also searched the Internet for likely resources and information.


Framework for Understanding Knowledge Needs in Business Sustainability

This section outlines the framework with which we began our interviews and on which we based the questions we asked of our contacts.   The question that we answer in this section is "What are the essential elements of learning for a business to improve its environmental sustainability?"     

One model of change has been approved by the Environment Protection and Heritage Council   (2001).   It suggests that businesses go through a linear series of six destinations on the pathway to sustainability.   This model starts by suggesting that companies need first to comply with relevant legislation.   Companies then move to a position of establishing where they are now and considering how they might change what they do.   At "Destination 3" they have realised improvements in efficiency.   At "Destination 4" they are thinking strategically and have adopted an approach of continuous improvement.   By Destination 5 they are leveraging market advantage from their actions.   At "Destination 6" the company in question is said to be a viable, sustainable business that provides economic, social and environmental benefits to stakeholders. The central question for this report is, "What learning needs do companies have when trying to get to these different destinations?"   Also of importance in carrying out the research was the question "Do companies frame their experiences in terms of these stages?"

The literature indicates that becoming a more environmentally responsive company requires an understanding of that company's social and economic contexts as well as its ecological context.   These three aspects of sustainability are difficult to separate out because the business world is a complex network of people, organisations, suppliers, markets and ecosystems.   We have amalgamated ideas from a number of written sources (MacLeod & Doucet 1996; Environment Australia 1997; Fiksel et al. 1999; Sweeney & Estes 2000; Fiksel & Fiksel 2001; Goldberg 2001; OECD 2001; Brown 2002; GRI 2002), a range of company websites, and our own thinking with those of Robert et al. (2002) into the following elements that companies need to know about to become environmentally sustainable.

Table 2   Elements of environmentally sustainability

Guiding world view

Understanding how the system is constituted including understanding the social, ecological and economic context (the big picture) in which the business operates.

Applied philosophy

Understanding the principles on which sustainability is based and how their business mission and values fit into that.

Social processes

Understanding the importance of the social processes that make changes possible within organisations.

Ideas and action plans  

Being able to generate ideas about how to achieve sustainable practices and some pathways towards actions that are increasingly sustainable.

Feedback

Having ways to monitor and evaluate activities to ascertain that they are making progress.

Information on company websites indicates that most businesses focus on actions such as recycling, or reducing consumption (i.e. the "ideas and actions") as a first step before considering the wider picture.   However, the literature on how companies become more environmentally sustainable suggests that, to achieve longer-term institutionalised changes, the organisation requires a realignment that takes into account developing a systems-based worldview, application of a philosophy such as sustainability that helps contextualise ideas on environmental performance, an understanding of the social changes required within an organisation to take action, and a "monitor to manage" approach that creates the feedback necessary for constant improvement. The following sections explain what these elements mean.

knowledge businesses need for developing environmental sustainability

Fig. 1    Knowledge needed for building business environmental sustainability

Developing a "guiding worldview"

For Robert et al. (2002), understanding the constitution of the system means understanding the ecological and social processes on which we all rely for our physical and psychological well-being. Understanding these processes also implies understanding the current level of human impact on both the global and the local ecosystem and the implications of continuing on the same path.  

For manufacturing businesses, the point of this is to apply this knowledge of the system to thinking about their own business practices.   This can help them recognise the specific implications of the wider ecological and social contexts within which they operate and what it might mean for the sustainability of the business itself.  

Finding an appropriate applied philosophy

Programmes and frameworks such as Triple Bottom Line accounting, Enviro-Mark NZ Ô , ISO 14000, and The Natural Step, are applied philosophies aimed at improving the environmental performance and business sustainability of organisations.   For instance, Triple Bottom Line (TBL) accounting is a tool to facilitate appropriate monitoring and feedback on the three legs of sustainability within an organisation, i.e. measuring and mitigating the costs of its impacts in social, environmental and economic spheres.   The Natural Step is based on the idea of four system conditions on which sustainability can be judged.   In a sustainable society, Nature is not subject to:

The Natural Step programme works with organisations to align and incorporate the above principles into their values and mission.   Similarly, Enviro-Mark NZ Ô , and ISO 14000 are accreditation systems aimed at helping businesses build systems to reflect and improve on their current practices with a particular, but not exclusive, focus on environmental performance.

All businesses have an inherent philosophy although it may not be clearly articulated. This philosophy may emphasise embracing or resisting change, maintaining profitability in uncertain markets, quality management, learning and innovation, social conscience or many other possibilities. The philosophy influences both the organisation's interest in taking up the challenge of becoming more environmentally sustainable, and the "fit" that various training programmes may have with the company.   For example, a learning-focused organisation that has been involved in processes of continuous improvement will have different training needs when it focuses on environmental sustainability compared with a business that has not had that experience. The latter may need more training on how to facilitate change and teamwork than the former.

Furthermore, the industry within which the business operates will influence the responsiveness of that business to messages about environmental performance or sustainability.   Businesses with known high environmental impact may seek to mitigate the effects of that reputation through adopting philosophies of sustainability, or those with an interest in the natural environment may deem such a philosophy as consistent with their existing focus. Thus, it is easier for some businesses to adopt the concept of sustainability and move towards improving environmental performance than it is for others without a focus that aligns with such concepts.

Sustainable practices - ideas and action plans

To improve environmental performance, an organisation has to know what to do to lessen their impact on the surrounding environment.   For many organisations, taking action to change something is the most obvious starting point.   Hence, the popularity of getting activities underway such as in-house recycling and reducing waste for organisations starting to improve their environmental performance or sustainability.   These activities are based on some objectives that are fairly self-explanatory to most people such as:

These objectives appear frequently on "sustainable business" websites and are probably the most recognised starting point for businesses trying to become sustainable.   These objectives often offer businesses considerable cost savings for a relatively small amount of effort, and monitoring these changes is relatively easy. There are many examples of such work and the costs savings associated with that on the Target Zero website.   Some of the companies interviewed, found making these changes also helped raise staff awareness of the effects of their behaviour on the local environment.  

•  Social processes

What is learnt through such activities (or not learnt, which results in their failure) is that to change current practices means helping people to learn and to change their behaviour.   Thus, the basis of sustainable practices rests on some fundamental understanding of the social processes of learning and change.

A range of stakeholders, including people both inside and outside the organisation in question, must learn and change. Companies embarking on the path to sustainability often voice this by saying "we need to get staff on-board", "we have difficulty getting everyone thinking along these lines" or "it's about hearts and minds".

The social processes underpinning sustainable practices (Robert et al. 2002) include:

What businesses need to know or learn might include how to look at problems in new ways, how to work in teams, how to create incentives for generating ideas, or how to run campaigns to raise awareness and shift attitudes.   There is much to learn about how to assist people and groups into more-sustainable practices. Much of it is associated with learning how to work effectively with other people across a range of situations, and working with a process of continuous improvement.   Thus companies who have used frameworks such as Total Quality Management and have developed systems to help them continuously learn and change in other aspects of their business may find it relatively easy to improve their environmental performance when they decide to do it.  

The structure of governance within the organisation is also likely to affect whether or how a business develops more-environmentally-sustainable practices.   Groups with good ideas for action who do not have good networks throughout the company and who have little company support will not be able to make much progress in actioning their ideas. Thus, organisational structure, the extent to which incentives match desired actions and responsibility matches power are all factors that contribute to the context for successful sustainability practice.

Feedback - monitoring and evaluating actions and outcomes

Companies need to learn to evaluate the effects of their actions on the environment and on the people with whom the business interacts (e.g. customers, shareholders, staff, suppliers).   "Measuring to manage" is a recognised principle in business and a core tenet of programmes such as Total Quality Management and Target Zero.   Generating and interpreting feedback is also a fundamental ingredient in improving environmental performance and a vital process for learning to effect change.   The tools and processes that companies use to monitor and audit their progress are essential for helping them to reflect on their actions and to understand what they are doing and how they are doing it.   In other words, the multifaceted nature of sustainability requires that these tools and processes must monitor more than just physical outcomes.   It is as useful to monitor the processes by which a business is improving their environmental performance (e.g. teamwork, governance, internal communication networks), as it is to measure more-concrete outcomes such as waste production, energy use, or CO 2 emissions.

Vandenberg (2002) reviewed the ways in which companies in Victoria, Australia, are utilising the Triple Bottom Line as a framework for improving their sustainable business practice.   She found that for the Australian companies she studied, the process of incorporating the principles of sustainability changed over time.   As a result, these companies had changed the ways in which they understood and monitored the effects of their actions. As she put it;

Some organisations believe that they required (sic) standardised measurement tools. Those organisations that have been integrating TBL for a longer period recognise that these tools did not enable the organisation to integrate TBL into its core values and strategies.   For example stakeholder engagement could be a more important driver for how or if they would measure and report rather than the utilisation of a standardised reporting template (Vandenberg 2002, p. 2).

Support structure for learning for business environmental sustainability

The challenge of applying new learning in an area such as business environmental sustainability is undoubtedly complex.   It requires innovation and has something of a fringe quality to it.   At this stage, certainly in Christchurch, the majority of businesses are not actively seeking this learning.   Rather, they are responding to approaches made by those offering training.   While there are undoubtedly early adopters of this new way of thinking, the majority of the "market" will lag behind.   To popularise such learning requires not just that training be available in all aspects of learning for business environmental sustainability, but that the concept itself is promoted, that information pertaining to it is readily available, that networks are easily tapped into, and resources easily sourced.   This requires an independent promoting-and-brokering structure - with an overview into the general direction of learning for business environmental sustainability.  

Summary

Our literature review and professional experience indicate that what manufacturing businesses need to learn to improve their environmental performance includes:

We expected that different organisations would respond to the components of this framework according to their own history and context. Consequently we expected that they would respond differently to the varying programmes and services offering training and support for improved environmental performance and business sustainability.

Knowledge Needs of Christchurch Manufacturing Businesses

Section 5 identified five core areas of knowledge that businesses might need in order to work effectively towards environmental sustainability in the long term.   Our interviews with companies explored the extent to which they reflected these different knowledge needs and verified that these elements were recognised in "real terms" by companies working toward improved environmental performance. We expected that the different companies would have taken different paths on their journey toward sustainability and anticipated that different elements would receive different emphasis at different times.  

What we found in doing these interviews was that interviewees were most able to recount their experiences in terms of their own progress and developing-interest in issues of sustainability.   This would indicate that the Destinations model outlined briefly in the last section might be applied here. However, the different experiences of interviewees and companies suggest the model does not represent the experience of all companies involved in improving their environmental performance.   Some interviewees saw environmental performance only in environmental terms, while others saw it more as part of a wider picture of sustainability, including social and economic elements in with the environmental ones.   Still others saw environmental performance as part of their processes of continuous improvement - as just another aspect of overall business performance.   Companies came into the journey at different destinations and travelled back "down" through the destinations while others followed the model but may not have called in at all destinations on their way.   Likewise, the different market contexts in which different companies operated had very different effects on company progress and their imperative for change.

Our explorations with businesses focused more on knowledge needs than on training needs, since knowledge is a wider concept that encompasses training. By focusing on knowledge we could expect to get a better picture of what respondents wanted or needed to know than if we had focused only on training needs.   Despite this we did directly question respondents about their training needs.   However, they did not come up with a comprehensive list of all the training they used (or could have done with) along their particular journey, in those specific terms. It was necessary to glean "training needs" out of the more-general stories respondents told us of the stumbling blocks they encountered and the assistance they received, as well as what resources, ideas and frameworks they found helpful (or not) in negotiating those stumbling blocks.   This section is presented in terms of the experiences of respondents rather than in terms of the five areas of knowledge that we discussed in the last section.   The intersection of the two approaches offers some different insights that are discussed in more depth at the end of the section.

Where a company perceives themselves to be on the sustainability journey (e.g. as beginners or further down the track) significantly influences how they define their needs.   Broadly speaking, respondents from businesses with a substantial history of working on environmental sustainability distinguished between their early work of "picking off the low fruit" and their later work, which involved considerably greater challenges. This is consistent with international literature on aspects of business environmental practice, and similar to how our interviewee from The Natural Step programme described his experiences with companies.   It also fits with the fact that all the companies we interviewed began their work in areas of energy efficiency and waste management - areas that appear to have generic elements across all companies.  

Awareness

To take any action whatsoever towards becoming more environmentally sustainable, a company must be aware of its impact on the surrounding physical environment.   This awareness can come from a range of different places.   The motivation for improving environmental performance sometimes began with the need to comply with environmental legislation.   Certainly, in the case of two companies, the motivation to begin changing their practices came from the need to comply, but for both these companies, discussions with the CCC about complying with legislation raised their awareness and they started to work on their environmental performance more than if they were simply complying.   Awareness for one company also came from discussions and newsletters from organisations such as the Canterbury Manufacturers Association and the Chamber of Commerce, and more recently business interactions are being used to raise awareness.   For example, The Warehouse is now asking its suppliers to look at their environmental performance.   Other businesses in this study noted that they are starting to consider how they might influence suppliers to improve their environmental performance.  

One respondent suggested that for most businesses there are three main reasons for a business to embark on decreasing the environmental effects of their activities. These are:

Financial return is used as a way of convincing some companies to begin working on these issues, and for some companies, their customer base can provide them with an incentive to improve their environmental performance.   However, it appears that few companies set out on the path to environmental sustainability only because of the potential financial return.   Company staff with a personal interest in environmental matters can provide leadership for building change from the inside.   Without this personal interest, it appears to be difficult for companies to either get started on improving their environmental performance or for them to maintain their interest.   Many of the people that we spoke to were passionate about their work in environmental sustainability - it appeared to be something that carried them through the roadblocks and gave them the energy to begin making changes in the business.  

So saying, their passion was not enough on its own.   An external trigger was often important to get individuals started on turning their interest into action.   Likewise, where individuals have not yet been able to engage top management in their interest, it can be difficult or impossible to get things started.    An interesting aside is the implication that locating such individuals within organisations and finding ways to support them may be more productive than approaching top management.

For companies at the very beginning of their path into sustainability, the early stages are fragile. Keeping a group going and putting in place some measures to improve environmental sustainability requires that a team, or teams, of people within the organisation have both the enthusiasm to keep working to make gains in environmental performance.   In Christchurch, many teams go through the Target Zero workshops; but without the support of the structure of weekly meetings with a consultant or the support of having some time in their job to put into such activities, a significant proportion of them lose motivation and stop their work in this area.   Groups who have the support of senior management are more likely to last the distance simply because, with the support of senior management, individuals are given responsibility for monitoring, managing and making changes.

In one company we interviewed, changing an individual's job so that she no longer had environmental performance as one of her key performance areas meant that the (potential) team never got started. One consultant felt that Target Zero groups did sometimes continue with relatively low-key support from senior managers as long as there was someone within the group who took on the responsibility of calling meetings and keeping up motivation, and as long as the group had the skills to at least make enough progress to keep up their own motivation.   Maintaining motivation was an issue that a few different respondents mentioned as important and sometimes difficult over the long term as well as during the early stages of developing more-environmentally-sustainable business practice.

Establishment

Once a group is established within an organisation it moves into what many of them call "picking off the low fruit" stage. The "low-fruit" stage was characterised by small projects, often quite discrete in nature, with few significant behaviour changes required and few challenges to the overall manner and practice of the business.   Although seen as relatively straightforward in comparison to later stages, this low-fruit stage nevertheless has some very real knowledge needs.   Principally these are about problem-solving frameworks and about how to work with other people in different parts of the company to get them on board with the changes and assist them in changing their behaviour.  

Problem-solving frameworks include ways to identify problems (e.g. through factory floor "walk throughs"), ways to learn and think about those problems (e.g. learning to observe before acting, process mapping, using fishbone diagrams to analyse different aspects of the problem) monitoring/measuring to manage (e.g. through skip searches, or recording energy consumption), generating ideas and converting these to actionable solutions.   These frameworks can help a company break down a problem into manageable-sized pieces and to look at what they might do to make constructive change.   Different individuals may have different learning needs depending on their background.   For example, a respondent mentioned that about half their team had been trained as engineers and in doing so they were familiar with using spreadsheets and some of the problem solving frameworks that they were introduced to in their Target Zero course.   He noted, however, that while the staff without these skills had found some parts of the course more challenging than the engineers, the perspectives that they brought to framing and understanding the problems associated with cleaning up their production had been highly useful.

One respondent, a high-level manager, noted that his company had trouble knowing how to convert their ideas into actions. Converting their overall philosophies into some do-able action had been a significant stumbling block.   This was reiterated by an individual from a more middle-management level of the same company. As one of the first companies to become interested in environmental sustainability, for a time they had had no contact with other companies trying to achieve the same things.   This meant that they had few concrete examples of what other companies were doing, and without that information they found themselves struggling to work out how to make the changes that they desired.  

This example illustrates the value of networking and on going to seminars etc. to see what had been happening in other companies both locally and around the world.   All interview respondents talked about the importance of exchanging ideas with other companies for cleaning up their production.   Many of them also noted that they felt that they did not use the networks that they had to best effect nor were many of them working to extend their networks, even though they found that meeting people with similar interests from different companies was productive in terms of developing ideas for further action and for thinking about issues associated with environmental sustainability.   For most, they found that taking time out to visit another company or to meet with others was not something that was easy to organise.

All interviewees identified the need to communicate understanding of a problem and its possible solution throughout the company.   Some particularly noted the importance of presentation skills and interpretive skills (including learning to use relevant computer packages such as Excel). Most often, middle managers found these useful for trying to gain upper-level-management support for cleaner-production initiatives.   Some companies also mentioned that presenting ideas to shop-floor staff was also an important aspect of their work in this area.

All companies on the path to environmental sustainability commented on how difficult and how necessary it was to influence the behaviour of staff, and to get them actively involved in carrying out the desired changes.   One respondent felt that the most useful approach to doing this was to assume that people have enough to do already, so any new practices had to make it easier for them. This person saw his job as working with staff to find out how to improve their conditions and the jobs that they had to do.   This meant that any new measures were seen as benefiting everyone involved, which increased the likelihood of the changes remaining.   In comparison, another respondent mentioned that in his company there was some resistance to making changes just to save the business money.   Staff were not intrinsically interested in the sustainability aspects of their measures and felt that the benefits of making any changes did not accrue to them.  

For most companies, teamwork appears to be central to developing cleaner production practices and were an important part of getting projects off the ground.   Working in teams and getting the most out of people in groups was identified by several respondents as something they had needed to learn about.   The exception to this rule was a small company where the CEO was the main supporter of greener production practices. This company did not have a formal, ongoing team working on these issues.  

Another interesting feature of the "low-fruit" stage was the tendency for companies to relate the projects of environmental compliance or improvement to other forms of compliance they were already practising.   For some companies, this was health and safety monitoring and compliance or adherence to RMA regulations.   For one company, with fewer issues in health and safety, it was "food safety compliance". This suggests that companies were recognising the common social processes of raising and maintaining standards within an organisation, and suggests a possible way of linking training needs.   One company noted that compliance with health and safety requirements or with a certification process such as ISO 14000 was a learning opportunity in itself due to the discipline required to document activity, and measure the effectiveness of improvements.   The formal documentation and the resulting process of reflection may be the important common factor across all these processes.  

According to one interviewee, systematically recording what is going on now was one of the most valuable lessons that he learned from Target Zero.   He noted that his instinct would have been to launch in and make changes, but that had he done that he would not have realised exactly what could and should be changed for maximum return for effort.   Effectively he felt that he had learned to look at his workplace in a new way and to look more closely at the things that he took for granted as the norm.   He also noted that his formal recording of the situation made it easier to make a case to senior management to continue working on environmental sustainability.

Although not a formal training process in itself, the act of monitoring and recording actions and assessing their effectiveness prompts a process of reflection and better understanding about the opportunities for improvement.   It is effectively a tool for ongoing experiential learning in the workplace.   In effect, teaching people how to monitor, reflect, and plan sets up the opportunity for them to continue learning and changing what they do.   This is an important part of the Total Quality Management approach and explains why companies who have worked with these systems are able to take up the challenge of becoming more environmentally sustainable and quickly make them a focus of their systems.   Companies with these systems in place have already learned much about teamwork, problem solving, getting buy-in from staff, and making change in the workplace, and they find it relatively easy to include environmental sustainability in their focus.

Table 3 summarises learning needs for the "low-fruit" stage. This stage is not named that way because of the minimal contributions made towards increased environmental responsiveness. In fact, quite large efficiency gains can be made through such projects.   Rather, in making these easy gains, the fundamental "way of doing business" is not challenged by these actions.

The "top of the tree"

Three respondents described more-advanced steps towards business environmental sustainability as significantly more difficult than this earlier stage.   Here, businesses were making decisions that affected and were affected by the contribution of suppliers and customers as well as by their own staff.   This second, more difficult stage then is thinking about the "footprint" of the company, and the influence it could have and the extent to which their market would support changes.   This is a stage when a company begins to weigh up social gains against possible environmental or economic ones and to look critically at their core products. It can require changes to be made in relationships with suppliers as well as changes to manufacturing processes and sometimes even products.  

For example, Bowrons tannery have completely changed their tanning process - a change that required experimentation and research to eliminate the heavy metals involved in the standard tanning processes that they originally used.   As a result of their work, they are now considered world leaders in their field and overseas tanneries are looking at adopting similar processes.   It is important to note here, that part of the success of this change process comes from a growing market for chrome-free tanned skins.   Bowrons were able to leverage a great deal from developing more-environmentally-sustainable practices.   This is not always the case, as occurred with Serra foods, who introduced more environmentally friendly packaging on some of their products and met with significant customer resistance.   As a result they have returned to using the original packaging.   These two examples illustrate how the wider business context can have a large effect on the success and outcomes of initiatives that businesses put in place.   In the case of Bowrons, it illustrates the magnitude of the changes that companies might have to make and the level of risk that they may have to take at this "top of the tree" stage.

Because of the size of the change and the level of risk, and because such changes usually require considerable investment in thought and research, this stage requires more support from upper management.   The effect of this is that businesses for which the drive for more sustainable practice has come primarily from the top do not distinguish so clearly between the two stages.   In businesses where the drive has come from lower down, this step requires more effort, skill, and dedication on the part of staff to gain the support of upper management.   Company size or maturity may also be important in this process.   Clearly a company will need some spare resources to put into such research and into redesigning manufacturing processes and networks.

A few interviewees commented that it was difficult to move from the "low-fruit" stage without some framework that helped to generate goals and a basis for understanding how to weigh up the different elements of sustainability. One company had used The Natural Step as their framework. However, it was not until a second look at this framework that it was adopted.   This story highlighted the importance of using language that businesses can connect with immediately. The need for a "guiding set of ideas" was identified by another experienced business, as was the need for this philosophy to be well integrated with the company's market climate and commitments.  

As the two examples above illustrate, companies operate with markets that have differing degrees of sympathy with environmental goals, which impacts on their motivation for working at this more advanced level. Companies with a market that directs them to undertake change have a clearer mandate than those for whom those signals are ambiguous or in opposition.   These latter companies are challenged by the amount of research they often have to undertake to understand their product's environmental (and often social) impact history.   They also have to understand the capacity of their market to accept product changes, and learn how to influence suppliers.

Goal setting, problem identification, monitoring, and feedback are all important at a project level, and they are also important for determining the overall direction of the company and identifying whether the steps it is undertaking are working. Goal setting and monitoring at higher than single-project levels, however, usually require sophisticated frameworks and information that can be difficult to obtain.   This might include finding out how to:

Consequently, such work requires staff skilled in research, data analysis and building appropriate frameworks. There is also, company-wide, a greater need to foster innovation, and to deal with the issues surrounding changes in behaviour and practice from the shop floor to management (including dealing with the uncertainties, reluctance, and resistance that this may engender).  

Companies who were dealing with this more challenging level of business sustainability also identified the need for staff to have good presentation skills and to be able to summarise findings on projects, or prepare proposals for new ideas for a range of audiences, including production line staff and senior management.   This was particularly important where the driver for change was not coming from the top hierarchy in the decision-making structure of the company.   Table 3 summarises training needs identified by companies moving towards more-committed efforts in business environmental sustainability.

Table 3: Summary of what respondent-businesses needed to know

"Low-fruit" knowledge needs

"High-fruit" knowledge needs

Guiding world view

Awareness of company having an impact on the environment

Understanding "guiding world view" of company.

Applied philosophy

The company in context

Understanding compliance requirements

Awareness of company environmental impact

Becoming a more reflective company

Having an applied philosophy to guide goal setting

Unification of company "world view" with applied philosophy

How to weighing up competing social, environmental and economic impacts

Social processes

Networking - learning from others

Getting buy-in, support from staff

Helping people change what they do

Building good staff relations

Effective team work

Processes for engendering and dealing with behaviour change across the company (including managing conflict)

Institutionalising change - developing a system for supporting the desired changes that is self-sustaining.

Developing staff networking skills

Developing staff research skills

Developing staff problem-solving skills

Ideas and action plans  

Analysing and presenting material (including skills with computer packages).

Problem-solving frameworks including: ways of problem identification; ways of analysing problems

Generating ideas

Translating ideas into action

Ways to foster innovation across the company

Ways to promote understanding throughout the company

Who can help with research/ thinking

Feedback

Target setting, Monitoring/measuring to manage

Learning to observe before acting Documenting progress

Monitoring and measuring product life-cycle impacts

This can involve a wide range of activities at this level


Summary

Each company had experienced a number of different "roadblocks" in trying to become more environmentally sustainable.   For many companies, the first block is a lack of awareness.   Awareness may come from the interest of a few key individuals within the company, from the need to comply with environmental legislation, or from material supplied by other firms or organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce. Awareness can start to get companies interested in learning about how their businesses fit into the wider physical and social environment and how those environments might start to impact on the longer-term sustainability of the company itself (i.e. they start to build the environment into their guiding world view).  

In the early stages, companies tend to focus mostly on energy use and waste production - the kinds of changes that they call "picking off the low fruit".   These changes essentially require little change in the production processes associated with the core product.   These is little investment required and little risk associated with making these "low-fruit" changes.   At this stage, thinking about company performance tends to be very action focused and requires a relatively simple level of problem analysis, some recording systems, some changes to improve performance, and some way of monitoring the effects of those changes. Improvements at the "low-fruit" stage are immediate and considerable. Companies have saved thousands of dollars with relatively small changes to the way they think about waste management or energy use.   Despite their being relatively simple changes from a technical perspective, bringing in these changes may not always be simple in terms of getting other staff in the company to change their behaviour and participate in sorting rubbish or turning off machines, for example.  

Learning to work with company staff to assist them to change their behaviour is an important part of instigating more-environmentally-friendly practices at any stage.   Similarly, the processes of working in a team, and mixing a range of perspectives in order to see problems or generate solutions, are important skills at both stages of becoming more environmentally sustainable.

When a company moves into looking at its core products, the risks and investment required become more significant, and the problems generally become more complex and intertwined with social and economic issues.   At this "top of the tree" stage, some kind of sustainability framework, a strong company mission, and an articulated set of values become important for assessing and considering complex issues associated with becoming a more sustainable business in every sense of the word.   Likewise, company progress depends on factors such as market demand, the level of competition, and the buy-in of staff at all levels of the organisation.   A useful way to conceptualise this is that a company can make "low-fruit" changes with a purely internal focus.   The "high-fruit" changes where a company may be able to leverage market advantage may well require the active participation of that market - i.e. of stakeholders who may be very difficult to influence.

The actual experiences of different companies differ, although a common pattern is to begin working on the easy aspects of improving environmental performance.   Some companies begin work on environmental performance when they are called upon to comply with environmental legislation. Some companies interviewed set out to improve their environmental performance with a company culture that already valued continuous improvement and strategic thinking, while still others came into the process already interested and motivated to make their business environmentally friendly but without having established any way of working towards this practically.   Whether a company can move into areas of strategic innovation may well depend on external factors such as market response and the choice a company has between different suppliers and materials.

Training Provision

Section 6 has outlined the knowledge and learning needs that companies have in their various pathways to becoming sustainable entities. This section looks at the sources of information and training that the companies in the study used.   Overall there is information and training in the form of university courses, polytech courses, and seminars, and potential in-house training using consultants with expertise in different fields.   However, businesses do not always recognise the different forms of training available to them, or they may not be prepared to pay in either staff time or in dollars to avail themselves of the training.  

When asked about training, few companies felt that they did any training once they had completed a Target Zero programme or a Natural Step programme. Given the ways that they answered this questions, respondents tended to think of training as being formal classroom or seminar-type sessions, and yet it was clear that many companies had accessed information from a wide range of sources and were using what they learned from training that they did not clearly associate with improving their environmental performance.   For example, an individual discussed how important management was to the process of becoming more environmentally sustainable and yet did not feel that the management paper he was doing might be considered as part of training to improve the company's environmental performance.

What training do companies use now?

The manner of delivery for training (i.e. through seminars, courses at recognised training providers, remote learning, consultants, in-house training programmes, project-based learning programmes etc.) varied considerably and it appeared that companies who were actively engaged in improving their business sustainability had made use of all of these.   However, this is not to say that all companies used all possible forms of delivery.

Because of the general lean approach to employing staff, it is difficult for companies to remove staff from ongoing work to take part in outside training.   One trainer felt that this meant that an efficient way to manage her tutorial work was to go to a worksite and work with small groups of people over the course of a morning.  

Nevertheless, both small and large companies stated that they had committed teams to training programmes or to attend seminars.   From interviews it seems that this is more likely to occur when the training option is directly relevant to the staff member's work and if it can be integrated with that work and the priority the company sets on the issues of improving business performance in this way or on upskilling staff in general.   Most of the companies interviewed had put at least one team through the Target Zero programme.

One company that recently put a team through the Target Zero programme had also put the team through a Christchurch Polytechnic course on business sustainability that was designed to sit alongside it.   This course uses the "homework" from the Target Zero programme as the assessment for the course, which offers participants a qualification at the end of their work.   The view of the participants was that the two programmes complemented one another well.   About 70 percent of participants in the Target Zero programme choose to do the associated Christchurch Polytechnic course, although not all participants complete the latter.   For some course participants, it is quite daunting to engage with such a formal course because of their lack of confidence in writing and presenting their work.   Only respondent stated that his company regularly encouraged staff to take part in Target Zero and The Natural Step seminars and "it would send them on more if they were available".  

Individuals wishing to upskill were those most likely to be undertaking some form of private distance learning - such as the individual doing an extramural course in management from Massey University.  

Some respondents identified ways of learning that would not be considered formal training.   These included learning to observe, monitor, and improve through compliance with standards and learning from student placements and student projects.   For example, one company we spoke to had had a student come in to work on a project, and in the process, the student passed on some valuable skills and tools for thinking about associated issues. Many respondents also used sources such as their own networks and the Internet as a way to get information and to work through problems that they had.   While these do not constitute formal training, they are important sources of learning.

Interviews with consultants who have worked with the Target Zero programme mentioned that much of the work that they do was aimed at helping the teams work together and think through the problems that they chose to solve.   Likewise a few company respondents also mentioned that learning to work in teams and to manage meetings was an important part of the learning that they had to do to make gains in environmental performance.   In addition most respondents mentioned how difficult it was to get people on board with change and were looking for ideas on how to do this better.

What other training is needed?

Overall, there are training options available for all of the learning needs identified in Table 3.   However, these options are not always recognised by companies or are not seen as useful because of their method of delivery.   University courses, for example, require a significant commitment of time and money by either an individual or the company and may include information that is not considered relevant. In many cases, companies want the kind of information provided in the Target Zero programme, which offers concrete tools and methods for implementing energy-efficiency measures or waste management that they are helped to tailor to their own needs.

So, while essential knowledge needs for business environmental sustainability have been distilled from these stories, the timing and appropriateness of different delivery methods for training is personal to each company. This depends on factors less straightforward than size or where they are on the path to sustainability, although these are influential.   Other factors such as the history of the company, its guiding philosophy, the skill base, and attitude of key staff are all significant variables.   Consequently, having both flexibility within training courses and between training options is important.   Again, the flexibility in the delivery of the Target Zero programme through the combined use of workshops and consultants is the basis of its strength as a programme.   Resistance to it appears to come largely from its cost to the companies involved.   The cost means that companies have to be interested in becoming more environmentally sustainable before they will invest in the training.

One important aspect of flexibility within training courses is the need for companies to be able to select appropriate starting points for their situation, and set appropriate subsequent steps.   Standardised entry points or stages can create unnecessary stumbling blocks when the chance to just start "somewhere" is really what is most needed, followed by the need to maintain momentum and make progress. Another way in which training can be flexible is in focusing on providing principles rather than specific solutions or processes, and tools to find out answers, rather than the answers themselves. This way people can take away the tools and use them to assess their own situations.

No respondent could pinpoint a valuable training delivery method that they had not been able to find, but some respondents mentioned that they sometimes had had trouble finding the information they needed - for example, two respondents felt that it could be difficult to find an appropriate consultant or organisation to help them with a particular problem.  

One respondent felt that an easy-to-understand package might be useful.   He noted that any training designed to help companies with interpreting ISO 14000 needs to help them adapt the framework for their own business.   Another respondent observed that many companies are not aware of the legal responsibilities and that some training centred around this might be useful for them.

While not a formal training need, a respondent suggested that a possible avenue for effective learning could be having companies involved in ISO 14000 auditing each other.   This individual saw the auditing process as a valuable learning tool but felt that if companies were involved in each other's auditing, the learning would be increased and that process would be valuable for both parties.   Valuable learning may therefore be achieved through thinking laterally about training in this area.   For example it might be possible to set up workshops on ISO 14000 in which companies using the standard can learn with each other and be part of a network of companies trying to achieve similar objectives.

This observation sits alongside the comment made by most of the business respondents that one of their most valuable sources of information, learning, ideas and motivation were contacts with other organisations trying to walk the same path.   This was often accompanied by the observation that this networking had been limited to the companies who had done a Target Zero course with them and that the contact had largely dwindled once the programme had been completed, or had dwindled over time as the result of a number of different influences.   Companies that have done The Natural Step also have some access to a network of companies with similar interests. However, it appears that at the current time that has also reduced its activity - partly because companies feel that they had too much on their plates already.

A consultant noted that a significant percentage of the companies who have employed him to audit one aspect of environmental performance do not necessarily go on to make changes in any other aspects of their environmental performance even though he had observed that they could easily do so.   This may be an indication of the differing propensity of different people to take and idea and "run with it".   Another consultant remarked that about 20 percent of the individuals that he deals with get interested in the ideas that he brings into a company and then take them further once he has completed the project he was employed to do.   This points to the fact that different companies are more able to learn than others and therefore will need different kinds of training.   In addition, for a company to move into the "top of the tree" stage, they need to learn how to learn.

Finally, what also became apparent through the interviews was the extent to which companies struggled to make sense of the path of business environmental sustainability, to access the information they needed, to find out the range of training options available to them and judge the potential of each to meet their particular situation.   This points to the need identified in Section 5 for a support structure for promoting learning for business environmental sustainability across the Christchurch community.   This support structure (to some extent already existent through the CCC) would take on the role of coordinating and promoting environmental business sustainability, would foster networks, raise awareness, and publicise good ideas.   It might also help to encourage businesses that have started but stalled by giving them a "restart" - (even visiting companies as we did in this study was described by one participant as an encouraging boost to their efforts). Another useful function of such a structure would be to link currently unfamiliar partners such as business associations and environmental business trainers.

What is currently being provided?

The kind of training provided in Christchurch again falls generally into the two categories we outlined in Section 6.1.   Firstly there are those who principally work with companies to start projects to improve efficiency and environmental sustainability (generally "low-fruit" project focused efforts).   This working through the elements of problem solving to address business environmental sustainability at its most pragmatic level is covered through courses such as Target Zero, and by independent consultants.   The Christchurch Polytech course that sits alongside Target Zero extends the framework of Target Zero slightly so that it is largely still focused on cleaner production but also gives participants some introduction to the concept of sustainable business

A number of consultants offer services to assist companies in addressing the environmental sustainability of their companies (such as those focusing on energy issues, contactable through EECA).   However, not all of this assistance can be seen as training.   Often, consultants are asked to supply a possible solution to a problem but not necessarily to address further problems - or any enhanced capacity to identify problems or monitor the effectiveness of solutions.  

However, some industry interviewees noted that they learned to look at their shop floor in new ways when Target Zero consultants did walk-throughs or skip searches with them.   As one company respondent noted "Once people have been here a while they start to take it all for granted and don't question anything."   Drawing attention to things that have always been there, but have not been noticed before, raises their awareness of those aspects of their everyday surroundings that may be worthy of attention. When an organisation is set up for learning effectively, individuals within that organisation are quick to start questioning and learning about issues that are first noticed by an outsider.  

Other training providers focus more on the strategic, visionary aspects of sustainability. The understanding of whole systems and development of an applied philosophy of sustainability is offered through programmes such as The Natural Step (TNS), which is also part of courses run at The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Canterbury University and Lincoln University.   The postgraduate course in advanced environmental management systems at Lincoln University, while currently aimed at postgraduate students, combines an exploration of frameworks for sustainability (including TNS) and a chance for students to work with companies to evaluate their activities with a view to accreditation through Enviro-Mark NZ TM (Landcare Research).  

Integrating these ideas into the activities of businesses is clearly the ultimate aim of such training. Such integration is achieved by the main training opportunities currently offered to companies.   For example, the Christchurch Polytechnic course works alongside the Target Zero programme, which uses consultants to help students apply the principles of waste management and energy efficiency to their own company.   Similarly, The Natural Step runs in-house courses aimed at getting companies to think through the principles of sustainability as they apply to their own practices.   They also assign a consultant to each company to help them interpret the concepts in their own context.

It should also be noted that while not strictly "training providers" companies identified a number of organisations that acted as information sources for their efforts in improving environmental performance.   These are listed in Appendix 3.   A summary of points associated with training providers considered in this study is in Appendix 4.

Conclusions

This study suggested a number of important conclusions to the researchers that were then discussed and agreed upon with members of the CCC - Target Zero programme and staff of the Christchurch Polytechnic involved in the cleaner-production training programme.

Summary

First, once businesses begin to consider their environmental performance to the extent that they want to make changes in their practices, they move into what they call a "low-fruit" stage.   Here, by focusing on energy use and waste management, companies can potentially make very big gains with relatively little effort.   At this stage, companies usually need to learn how to work in teams, how to get all staff to buy into new ways of doing things - e.g. turning off, sorting rubbish, conserving water.  

At this stage, technical thinking tools tend to be action focused and require a relatively simple level of problem analysis, some recording systems, some changes to improve performance, and some way of monitoring the effects of those changes. Improvements at the "low-fruit" stage are immediate and considerable. Companies have saved thousands of dollars with relatively small changes to the way they think about waste management or energy use.   Making these changes is just good business from a financial perspective.

The training provided in the Target Zero programme and the Christchurch Polytechnic course in Cleaner Production provides a good basis for groups within companies to begin working on these low fruit.   Consultants also work with this programme to help teams apply the ideas to their work environment.   These consultants can also sometimes help teams to work together more effectively.  

After this stage, a few companies move to a "top-of-the-tree" stage where the changes have more effect on the way they do business and produce their core product.   The "top of the tree" stage needs a much broader, systems approach to thinking about sustainability.   Such an approach must include a good understanding of the social, economic and environmental system in which the company operates.   Hence, external factors, such as market demand or the level of competition a company has, become important.   This stage also requires a greater level of communication with suppliers and a greater concern with how those suppliers do their business. Similarly, in the factory itself, the kinds of changes that are seen in this stage may require a complete re-engineering of how the core product is produced.   Some of the companies we interviewed also considered the impact of their product on the environment after it left the factory.

Overall, this stage requires more of an outward focus than the "low-fruit" stage and the issues are more complex and require a much higher level of analysis. The support of senior managers and business owners is vital, because of the quality of the required internal changes, the level of risk involved in those changes, and because the company must change how it interacts with its suppliers and its market. Similarly, the complexity of the issues associated with this stage can mean that the change is slower to show benefits, and that the benefits are not easy to measure.

To deal with the more complex issues at the "top-of-the-tree stage", the same skills are needed as at the "low-fruit" stage but two extra factors become important.   These are having a clear vision and value set, and having some good tools for thinking about and understanding sustainability in its widest sense.   A clear, guiding philosophy and a well-articulated set of company values that include environmental sustainability are important beacons for keeping companies engaged with improving their performance, particularly when the path becomes difficult. This also provides some explanation of the importance of the support of top managers.   These are the people who must carry the company vision.   If the CEO does not support environmental sustainability, there will be few resources put into improving performance in this area and it will be difficult for the company as a whole to focus attention on them. Thus, for companies to move into the "top of the tree" stage, environmental sustainability must fit in with the company vision and values. Visioning and articulating values and considering a company mission are the subject of courses in management, which are well provided both extramurally and at Christchurch Polytechnic, Canterbury University and Lincoln University.

However, on its own, vision and values are not enough.   The company also needs tools or frameworks for thinking about how to turn their overall values into appropriate actions, or how to consider and weigh up the pros and cons of a particular course of action.   To understand and use such frameworks, people must have a good understanding of the principles of sustainability and how those principles might be applied within the company's operations and business networks.

This kind of information is the subject of the work done by The Natural Step in Christchurch. This information is available through the Open Polytechnic and is found in the tertiary courses available in Christchurch.   Of course, some companies find this information through reading or using the Internet and put it together for themselves into a framework of their own.   It appears that companies that do this successfully have a strong learning focus and a good understanding of the notion of systems thinking (as outlined by Senge 1991 )

An important learning need that every respondent in this survey mentioned was how to "get people on board," how to assist people to change, how to work in teams and to foster the generation of new ideas for achieving improved environmental sustainability.   Two respondents had offered some ideas for how to manage this better, and one in particular felt that most of what he used was covered in the university-level management papers that he had done.   The other used the same principles in his work with people from different parts of the organisation.  

Training gaps

As outlined above, the five key areas that business needs to know about largely match the stories companies told us of their journey through business environmental sustainability.   It appears that training for the kinds of levels of analysis needed for the "low-fruit" stage is available through Target Zero or the Polytechnic in Christchurch.   However, a neglected area in the overall framework of learning for business environmental sustainability is in the social processes to support change.   While some university or polytechnic management papers may address this need, these tend not to be a good form of delivery for manufacturing staff who are not confident about their ability to manage all the course requirements.   The issues of learning how to influence people at different levels in the company (shop floor to management), how to learn to work in teams effectively, how to foster the generation and uptake of new ideas etc. were the most consistently identified stumbling blocks for companies in achieving changes toward environmental sustainability.   Ideally, a more practically focused form of training delivery might be useful for people trying to introduce change in manufacturing companies.

Another training/learning gap that some respondents identified is moving from the "low-fruit" stage to the "top of the tree" stage.   The problem is partly to do with moving from an area of relative simplicity into one that requires people to grapple with much more complex issues including the need to enlist the active support and participation of senior management.   It appears almost impossible for the transition to occur if senior managers and business owners are not engaged in the process themselves.   Thus, those people who attend Target Zero courses (mostly middle managers) are unlikely to be able to move into working on "the top of the tree" on their own.   The only thing that training might offer these people is an insight into the complexity of this stage and some insight into the fact that they are unlikely to find it easy without the active participation of these senior people.

Another aspect of the gap appears to be that respondents were unaware either of what training options were available or of the relevance of the opportunities that exist.   Many management papers are relevant to learning about how a business operates in the wider economic, political and social environment.   Similarly a wide range of papers are available from Lincoln University, Canterbury University and the Christchurch Polytechnic and extramurally from Massey University and the Open Polytechnic that look at linkages between sustainability and business. The Natural Step also has much to offer companies moving into this "top of the tree" stage of their path.  

While companies appear to follow a similar basic set of actions to becoming more environmentally friendly, it is still evident that different companies need different kinds of training based on their past experiences, on their ability to learn as a company, and the resources that they can put into training. For example, according to Rhys Taylor of The Natural Step, different companies make change by using The Natural Step at very different rates.   This means that their delivery has to vary its pace and material according to the company in question.   Clearly, then, variety is important both within training programmes as is variety between options for learning/training.   One facility that is missing is an easily accessed, tailored and independent source of advice on information sources, and on how to distinguish between training options, accreditation schemes, and other learning opportunities.

Many companies suggested that they would like to see more local seminars and short-duration workshops.   However, in direct contrast to this, The Natural Step have decreased the number of seminars that they run because companies were not attending them.   Connected with this, although not a formal training option, is a well-interconnected network of companies trying to achieve similar goals.   At this point in Christchurch, it appears that these networks are at best not being actively fostered and used, or, at worst, not well developed.   At this stage the networks tend to be limited to people or companies who have participated in either Target Zero or The Natural Step.   It would be good to work actively on fostering a wider and more active network of people to participate in seminars or to present them, by building on the networks and systems of communication that already exist within this part of the business community.

Improving the use of training opportunities

There was an observed phenomenon of   "drop off" in achievement for companies once courses had been completed or consultants no longer met with staff.   To achieve substantial and long- term change, companies need committed encouragement that fosters their learning.   This can be achieved through supportive networks, exchanges with other companies, the establishment of mentor companies, or continued periodic contact.   It is also important that training providers develop a "client maintenance" approach, recognising the equal importance of providing businesses with increased skill levels and capacity to further their efforts as well as the immediate achievement of savings or changes during the period of intensive contact with the business.  

Finally and significantly, to make possible the new learning that is required by businesses to improve their environmental performance, there needs to be an environment that fosters the market for this and provides an infrastructure to support the easy access to ideas and training opportunities.   Training providers identified that they did not generally anticipate that their efforts alone would bring about all necessary changes within businesses.   Rather, they saw themselves as sowing seeds that need the nurturing of a range of partners and processes.   Furthermore, companies undertaking a sustainability journey needed to have some sense that there was an overall direction that their efforts might be contributing towards.

These comments point to the need for a support structure that helps define, describe and provide accessibility to the path of sustainable business management.   Such a structure would raise awareness of the issues and opportunities in sustainable business management, act to increase the capacity of companies to undertake this by fostering networks and providing continuity in the learning process, and further develop the portfolio of training and learning opportunities providers are offering.   It is important to expand the links to the ideas that could be accessed through management courses and training programmes rather than those targeted specifically at aspects of environmental management.    In other words there is a strong need for a coordinating body to present a picture of the kinds of training that are available and how these options might help companies manage the process of becoming more environmentally sustainable.

Another aspect of this enabling-and-promoting structure would also be to assess all the stakeholders involved in the challenge of business sustainability and provide targeted learning opportunities for those whose influence with businesses might be significant in progressing environmental sustainability (e.g. accountants and business consultants).   It might also be to forge alliances with organisations such as manufacturing associations (etc.) who may bridge important "language gaps" for companies tackling the new and somewhat "fringe" concepts of sustainability.

Recommendations

While there is training available in most if not all of the learning needs that companies have, what is provided may not be recognised as part of the path to sustainability or it may not be delivered in a way that suits the companies or the individuals who are working on furthering cleaner production.   In particular, at the "lower-fruit" stages, a major difficulty that companies mentioned was getting people on board with change. This can be provided through tertiary papers in management, for example.   However, as the popularity of the Target Zero programme indicates, companies find it easier to learn to use tools and techniques and they often also need some help applying them to their own systems and contexts.   A similar approach might be used for providing training in assisting behaviour change.

In addition to this, there is a clear role for a public-good-focused agency such as the CCC in awareness raising, supporting local businesses that are working on increasing the sustainability of their business practice.

CCC has a role in raising awareness by:

•  Working in an ongoing way to get articles and information into the newsletters of organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce, or the Manufacturers Association.
•  Actively fostering and building local networks of businesses interested in environmental sustainability.

CCC has a role in supporting businesses at the "low-fruit" stage by:

•  Acting as a neutral information source that business people can use to find out the training options available to them locally.
•  Continue their work in the Target Zero programme and maintain the linkages between that and the Christchurch Polytechnic.
•  Providing some form of coordination between training providers that would create greater coherence in the industry of training for sustainable practices.  
•  Improving links between training providers, which might help further the training gaps identified in this report - notably the gap in learning around social processes.
•  Providing information on how different kinds of training (e.g. management courses; courses in working with teams) might be relevant to organisations trying to change their practices.
•  Providing some overall direction for Christchurch businesses in the area of sustainability and some analysis of the way in which businesses progress in this area.

CCC has a role in supporting businesses at the "top of the tree" stage by:

•  Bringing together businesses that have started addressing the more complex issues found at the "top of the tree".
•  Facilitating seminars and workshops to learn more about how businesses address the complex "top of the tree" issues.
•  Keeping in touch with what kinds of issues and information needs are arising with companies who are at the top of the tree stage and if necessary acting as an information broker by assisting companies in their search for information sources.

At this level, businesses need some framework for understanding the complexity of what they are doing and the kinds of training that might be useful to them. However, the training in question may need to facilitate businesses through their own issues and problems in the way that Target Zero currently helps businesses work at the "low-fruit" stage.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Christchurch City Council Target Zero programme for funding this research, and Karyn Durham and Christine Byrch for their help and comments.

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Vandenberg, M. 2002: TBL Victoria: Scoping study:   How Victorian businesses, governments and non-government organisations are taking the journey towards the triple bottom line.   Report produced by Encompass for The Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria State Government.   (Available at www.ethyka.com.au, accessed September 2002)


Appendices

Appendix 1: List of manufacturing companies spoken to about their training needs for business environmental sustainability

Bowron   Macpac
Canterbury Laundries   Serra Foods
Electrolux   Skope Industries
General Cable Tumblar Products

Within these manufacturing companies we talked mainly to staff in middle or top management. (In two of the companies we spoke to two individuals.)   In the rest, usually we spoke to the individual who coordinated the work on sustainability.

Appendix 2: List of training providers spoken to about their training for business environmental sustainability

                                                     

Canterbury University Lincoln University
Landcare Research Christchurch City Council - Target Zero        
Christchurch Polytechnic   The Natural Step
Private consultants: Helene Mautener, John Nederpelt, Chris Wilson, Martin Ward, Tall Poppies

Appendix 3: Additional training/information sources reviewed through literature/web

Appendix 4: Providers of training for business environmental sustainability

Group or organisation (and qualification)

Information source

Type of information provided

Natural Step (TNS)

Rhys Taylor

www.naturalstep.org.nz

Website, talks, seminars, events, in-house training, and workshops

Philosophically focused

Works on introducing concepts to companies, follows up with personally tailored work. Helps company redefine conditions in own language.  

Expects businesses to progress in variable ways according to resources, staff, culture etc.

Addresses strategic elements of business sustainability

Second stage gets more involved with individual services, e.g. participatory auditing based on four system-conditions or materials analysis

Consultants for TNS can be first port of call for some companies  

Landcare Research

Triple Bottom Line accounting (TBL)

Enviro-mark NZ

Measure to Manage

Jim Watt

Jeska McNicol

www.landcareresearch.co.nz

Tools to assist companies in "way of thinking"

Training in-house and when requested

Target Zero

Jim Watt

Helene Mautener

Martin Ward

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/TargetZero

Course participants

Project-focused

Good for "low-fruit" stage

Provides frameworks for problem solving

Features "learning to observe before act"

Often seen as fitting with compliance

Fits with "continuous improvement" philosophies

Standardised process with some personal tuition

Some learning about team work

Offers workshop series, talks /seminars & newsletters

Independent consultants

Helene Mautener

Chris Wilson

John Nederpelt

Martin Ward

Tall Poppies


ChCh Polytechnic

Barbara Dolamore

Course on sustainable business

Sits alongside Target Zero Workshops - uses Target Zero "homework" as assessment.   Extends to concept of sustainable business.

Provides qualification

Lincoln University

Ken Hughey

Postgraduate course on environmental management systems

Course on Environmental Impact Assessment available to consultants

Canterbury University

Lin Roberts

MBA elective paper "The Manager and the Environment"

Massey University

www.massey.ac.nz

course participant

General management paper

Some papers with environmental focus

The Open Polytechnic

www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz

R Taylor

Open Polytechnic

Programmes in Business Management and Environmental Management aimed at helping students to promote environmental management systems in business

 

Other sources of information and training

New Zealand Quality College

www.ianz.govt.nz/nzqc

Runs three day training courses in environmental management systems and environmental auditor training.

Total Quality Management

http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~rpollock/tqm.html

http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/~jarvis/bola/systems/sys.html


Standards New Zealand

http://www.standards.co.nz  

Offer seminars in a range of standards including environmental standard frameworks and their application to New Zealand situations

ISO 14000


Accreditation process - companies identify learning from the need to document, compare with peers, and be evaluated

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA)

www.energywise.co.nz

Provides list of possible consultants - focused predominantly on engineering/practical system solutions to energy issues for businesses

Offers website, talks, events

New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable development

www.NZBCSD.org.nz

Aims to provide business leadership as a catalyst for change toward sustainable development, and to promote eco-efficiency, innovation and responsible entrepreneurship

Also offers talks/ seminars/ events

Recovered Materials Foundation

Interview participants

Concrete information on recycling and waste management

Canterbury Manufacturers Assn.

www.cma.org.nz

Also produces newsletters

 

Page last updated: Oct 2003

Research areas

Communication and dialogue Evaluation and reflection Indigenous knowledge and values Knowledge management for integration Social aspects of ecosystem management Supporting collaborative approaches

Programmes & OBIs

Building capacity for sustainable development Integrated Catchment Management Low–impact urban design & development Te Tapoitanga Māori: Growing Regional Māori Tourism

Tools & Services

Collaborating with iwi Stakeholder analysis Team–building evaluation guide

Related areas

Community engagement with low–impact stormwater management Integrated Catchment Management Lifestyles & Consumption Perceptions of urban intensification Restoring wetland ecosystem functioning

Publications

Presentation Publication

Resources

Collaborative learning research publications

Media releases

Research builds bridge over troubled water

Past Events

Conference: IntSci - Integrated science for sustainability. e-conference Workshop: Sustainability Appraisal Conference: NZ Association of Resource Management conference, and Motueka ICM AGM.