Business as usual. That’s what BAU stands for, just in case, among the millions of acronyms doing the rounds, this one slipped by you. ‍After 3 years of global pandemic, you could be excused for wondering if there is such a thing as BAU. Anxiety, lack of trust, uncertainty, unpredictability, a decline in mental health - these conditions and more, have, in the last 3 years, risen in most developed countries. And depending on who you read, Covid-19 is pegged as one of, if not the, most major causes of this rise. According to the World Health Organisation, “As people grapple with these (Covid’s) health, social and economic impacts, mental health has been widely affected.”‍“What has this got to do with ESG?” You ask. Periods of uncertainty are an opportunity for organisations to take stock of the context in which their people, customers, and stakeholders are living, and inject confidence into that context. Context is everything when forming an authentic approach to sustainable future growth.

In our January article we talked about the importance of your people and how critical it is to attract, nurture, empower and obviously retain them. Empowering them will have a very significant impact on how they buy into your company vision, mission, values and purpose. We have lots of sayings around the Barefoot Citizens Consulting office these days, but this is one of my favourites: Purpose Drives People. People Build Communities. Communities Change The World.‍ And this saying has provided us with the proverbial ‘fire in our belly’, inspiring us to create our learning and development modules.‍Some organisations are doing great work, making great strides towards the implementation of their Sustainability or ESG strategies. Others have great strategies and are facing the first - and most significant - hurdle: how to start. Our L&D modules apply to both. Whether your company needs a kickstart, or a boost to momentum, the modules work hard to get your people on board.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its final “synthesis report” - the result of 6 years of work by hundreds of scientists. The news isn’t good. Emissions reduction needs to be, in their words, "deep, rapid and sustained". So with such a chasmic disconnect between public perception of undeniable data, not to mention the urgency that the IPCC is pressing for action, when I started thinking about the role technology plays in sustainable practice, I immediately leant towards the communication problem. The message is out there. Why isn’t it landing? For me, the answer is a combination of context and engagement. We must frame climate action within a context that makes it personal. We also can leverage technology to bring true engagement to that context. We need to make it active.

Let’s look at the bad aspects first. “Bad?” you say. “But ESG is good!” Of course it is. Having a rigorous and purposeful ESG policy is a good thing for so many reasons. However, if you're not tracking, measuring, and reporting your progress, someone is going to find out. Very quickly things can, will, go south. The media finds out. Articles are written. Your organisation is removed from critical indices. Your shareholders and customers react. And your brand, having taken a significant hit from all sides, has a long journey back to a position of trust.

If you haven’t heard of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) here’s a short explainer: The Sustainable Development Goals are a call to action with three overarching aims: fight for equality and justice, end extreme poverty, and tackle climate change. The UN SDGs are a universal call to action to ensure peace and prosperity for all people by 2030. There are 17 of them, each with a noble goal to be reached. Each goal has specific targets and indicators to measure progress and to guide actions by governments, civil society, the private sector, and individuals. The UN SDGs provide a framework for us all to work together towards a more sustainable future for the planet. For this post, we’re going to focus on number 17 - Partnerships for the Goals.

Everybody’s talking about Artificial Intelligence again. The challenge when discussing AI is to do so without wheeling out the usual movie tropes focussed on the menace of it - Terminator movies, ex Machina, the Matrix Trilogy, 2001 Space Odyssey etc. Oops. Failed already. Then there’s that time two Facebook bots developed their own language and had to be switched off before they took over the world. (Not quite the true story btw). Confession time. This article was written by a human. I know, right? I have had a play with the ChatGPT functionality. Not extensively, but enough to know that if I was 16 again, the app and I would become best friends and I’d be handing in my history assignments on time, every time (unlike in the 90s).

In 2023 treating your people well goes beyond the provision of good pay, benefits, and a positive working environment. More and more people are looking to work for a company with Purpose. The flip-side of this statement is that companies who are reinvigorating their Purpose, solidifying their ESG strategies, and engaging their people in the process will create the conditions for a more resilient workforce.

Well, it’s that time of year again - the festive season. And I say the festive season because we all know it’s not just Christmas. Between now and the end of January there are important cultural events around the world for Sikhs, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Wiccans, Baha’i, African Americans… the list goes on. In Sydney, Australia the streets are lined with the trimmings of Christmas, people are out shopping, socialising, holidaying and preparing for December 25. It's an amazing time of year. Every year the discourse begins anew about what the true spirit of Christmas is.

If you haven’t yet heard about the idea of ‘quiet quitting’, I’d have to ask you where you’ve been the last 12 months. COVID-19’s effects on the workplace were significant and manifold. One of the slow burn changes to emerge from the pandemic is ‘quiet quitting’ - the idea that you only do exactly what you’re being paid to do. No more, no less. No late nights or additional weekend workathons. Another name for it is ‘acting your wage’. What’s the silver lining to this cloud then? Is it a challenge or an opportunity? Of course it’s both, but for every challenge, there is a unique opportunity to engage your workforce.