There’s a time in every organization’s sustainability planning when the rubber (er, bike tire?!) needs to hit the road. It’s critical to have a strategic plan in place, and in our experience, the best plans reflect an understanding of sustainability principles and are developed through the process of backcasting from success principles. However, the best laid plans can come to naught if they aren’t acted upon. Recently, we were with The Landmark Group of Builders to help them actualize a one-year action plan that moves them systematically toward achieving their long term sustainability goals.

Landmark is a great partner. Their sustainability work is almost unparalleled in the Alberta home builder industry.  They have sustainability goals, an understanding of their key challenges, have implemented many actions on the ground and have recently released their first sustainability report. But, as with all organizations, the journey to sustainability is ongoing. Where Landmark is going right now is really exciting.

Recently we worked on setting 5-, 3- and 1-year milestones for each of Landmark’s sustainability goals to leverage their assets and address their current challenges. Action planning flowed from that – what are the first-year projects that need to be completed to help hit the 1-year targets? Which actions are flexible platforms for future initiatives? Which actions will provide the necessary return on investment to seed future moves? What partners need to be engaged? What resourcing is necessary? Who will own each project charter that delineates the plan for each project, which enables the first year-target to be hit, and what budget is necessary to enable this? Answering these questions allows action planning to feed into fulfillment of strategy and to become embedded in business planning. It’s a way to make sustainability part of the DNA of the organization and it also eases the “What do we do on Monday morning?” question.

Keep your eye on the Landmark Group of Builders. They have a goal to ‘revolutionize the industry’ and with a viable, strategic action plan in place, I think they will.

If you are interested in learning more about our Service Path for Sustainable Business and how we can help your business develop a bold sustainability vision, strategy, and action plan, please contact us or join our next FREE Introduction to Strategic Sustainability for Business in Canada webinar.