I love a good accent. More specifically I love trying to do a good accent. If you have an accent, I’m more than likely trying to do it in my head when I’m talking to you. So if my face takes on a strange expression at any stage during our conversation, you now likely know the cause. Am I any good at doing accents? Sure look, what’s good? Good is in the ear of the beholder. My tone-deaf family don’t think I’m great but they have their own auditory crosses to bear.
So anyway, accents, Mary Poppins and making the company bed, where is this all going I hear you ask. The Mary Poppins bit is really just to allow me spend some time in my head alternating between Dick Van Dyke saying “Maaaaaaaary Poppins” and “Alright guv’nor”. Did he really say “Alright guv’nor”? And is Dick Van Dyke as an American doing a cockney accent really the right muse for my accent training? I digress but yes that is the main reason for the Mary Poppins angle so I’m determined to work her in!
Ok, so now making the bed, what’s that about? Has there ever been anything as fundamental as making the bed? I think it could be one of the things that unites us all as human beings. No matter what our background, upbringing, circumstances, etc., were we not all told at least once, but more than likely a million times, to make our beds growing up?
I’m not sure about you but in my childhood the state of my bed seemed to represent whether or not I was going to be able to make it as a human. Could I imagine going out into the world, trying to pass myself off as a functioning member of society if my bed was unmade or in a bit of a state at home? What kind of duplicitous, low-life would that make me? How could anyone trust me to have their back if I couldn’t even do the very basics of pulling up my duvet before leaving the house? And if I didn’t do it properly? Is that where the ominous, “well you’ve made your bed now…” saying comes from? (By the way my parents never actually said any of this, I got all this from a look.)
As well as being a direct representation of my soul (allegedly) and all of my potential, my bed also had the ability to massively impact my livelihood back in the day. Not made? No pocket money for me! My choice apparently.
So for these reasons, making the bed before doing anything else has come to symbolise, for me at least, that there are some fundamental things you need to do in life before you do anything else regardless of whether or not you want to do them. “I’m heading out”, “Is your bed made?”, “I have to go training”, “Is your bed made?”, “I don’t have time”, “It takes 2 minutes”.
To my mind, this is exactly where companies are with sustainability. Sustainability being the proverbial bed. While we rely on companies for so many of our basic human needs and for our comforts, owning and running a company is still a privilege rather than a right. Therefore, regardless of how useful or beneficial a company is to us and to the world around us, there are just certain things it needs to do before it can do anything else. These things, which form the umbrella of enterprise sustainability, are encompassed in the term Responsible Business Conduct (RBC).
Many companies don’t know this but there are actually a number of international instruments that set out the core responsibilities and obligations of businesses. These are enshrined in international law through each country’s membership of the United Nations, the OECD and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Therefore, if you do business in any member country of these organisations, these obligations apply to you.
The instruments that define each company’s responsible business conduct (RBC) obligations are as follows:
- OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, 2011
- UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, 2011
- ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 1998
- ILO Fundamental Labour Convention
- ILO Tripartite Declaration on Principles concerning MNEs and Social Policy, 2017
These instruments are described in more detail in STS Plan but fundamentally they outline that businesses must do no harm; remedy any harm caused; respect human rights; ensure the safety and wellbeing of their employees; pay a living wage; ensure freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining; ensure they do not engage in child or forced labour; avoid corruption and bribery; employ governance and due diligence; engage stakeholders; ensure equal opportunity; avoid discrimination; protect the environment; pay tax fairly in the countries they operate in; comply with legislation and avoid unfair competition.
In addition, particularly when it comes to the environment, businesses are obliged to apply the Precautionary Principle which states “Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” (Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992, Principle 15). This means companies need to be proactive in their efforts rather than reactive. Basically they should make their beds before being asked to do so.
If you own or run a company I know that you most likely already conduct business responsibly because to do otherwise is a breach of trust and would result in reputational damage. Can you prove however that you are conducting business responsibly? Are you doing everything you are obliged to do or are you only doing some of these things? Do you have the evidence to show you are compliant and responsible? Do you have formal structures and processes in place to ensure you continue to conduct business responsibly no matter what changes occur in your supply chain, business operations or general circumstances? Does your company’s culture encourage everyone to think about and assess impact and to take responsibility for remediating any adverse impact identified? If you answered no to any of these questions, it’s probably time to make your bed.
As you may know from previous articles, I believe companies should take a systematic approach to sustainability transformation to ensure they establish solid foundations within their organisations for ongoing impact assessment and disclosure. While that’s easy for me to say, transformation itself is never easy as it requires significantly more focus, effort and staying power than standard change.
If that sounds daunting, this is where Mary Poppins comes in (I knew I’d work her in somehow). Mary was a great one for selling difficult tasks to less than willing participants. She was a big advocate for a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down and maintained that “🎶 in every job that must be done there is an element of fun” as she illustrated the importance of adopting the right mindset before starting out.
From a sustainability transformation perspective, you can do this by reviewing the benefits sustainability will bring to your business such as increased trust, the ability to attract top talent, a reduction in risk, more competitiveness, additional cost savings and peace of mind knowing your national and international obligations are being met. Then, once bought in and mentally prepared for the road ahead, you can follow the stages and steps of RBESG’s sustainability transformation system (STS) to establish the foundations for sustainability and RBC within your business and to implement and report on the sustainability initiatives relevant to your organisation (“🎶 every task you undertake becomes a piece of cake”…).
Once on that journey then no matter what happens, wherever your company wants to go or whatever it wants to do, when someone says to you “sounds great but is your bed made?”, you can answer “yes, it is” or that it soon will be.
