Positive Difference
As a B Corp we absolutely believe in Business Being a Force for Good and it’s important for us to carry on a bit of “cheerleading” in this area. Every month we highlight content, which showcases the positive difference businesses are making together with data and insights on how to create a better world…
Connecting Your Employees to a Higher Purpose
In this article by top customer service expert, Steve Curtin there are some useful pointers on connection organisational purpose to your team’s daily work activities and leveraging company purpose to inspire great employee engagement. Steve’s article opens with his recollection from his presentation to a group of senior managers at a company’s annual leadership summit on the topic of connecting to purpose at work. With his client he devised a quick activity to determine how many of the 222 leaders in attendance could recall the company’s single-sentence corporate mission statement.
Can you guess how many could accurately recall the company’s one sentence mission statement. Spoiler alert – it wasn’t a big number! The figure was so low because company leaders were disconnected from the organisation’s purpose. It was too far removed from the reality of their workdays. And this disconnection cascaded from senior leaders to the frontline employees.
Steve stresses that it’s not enough to articulate your organisation’s purpose and core values. You must bring these guiding principles to life by revealing them to employees, clarifying their meaning, and labelling behaviours that support these ideals. Then, incorporate specific actions and recommended behaviours into the processes that govern employees’ daily work. As we all know already, you’ll yield greater employee engagement, higher customer satisfaction scores, and employees at all levels of the organisation who are genuinely connected to a purpose.
The magic for Purpose to flourish
Multiple studies have confirmed that, for any work involving cognitive or creative skills, financial rewards do not drive motivation and performance. So, what does? According to former Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, it takes several mutually reinforcing elements to create an environment that unleashes the kind of human magic necessary for a company purpose to take root and flourish. The six ingredients to create your company’s unique recipe for human magic are:
1) Meaning
2) Authentic human connections
3) Psychological safety
4) Autonomy
5) Learning environment
6) Growth
You can read the article in full here.
Making a positive difference
Just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. So where better to look when tackling global social & environmental issues than with those having the greatest impact?
‣ Has a brand or company reduced their CO2 emissions?
‣ Has a new product benefited a community in need?
‣ Or has a production facility polluted an entire ecosystem?
Impaakt is the place for you to read about, rate and write about the impact companies have and where you can see their impact as to influence your own buying and investment decisions.
Local climate initiative
It was great to hear about Northumberland County Council’s trial of a pilot scheme to collect residents’ food waste for recycling. Householders selected for the trial will receive a letter and collection timetable in early September, and a small kitchen caddy along with a 23-litre bin will be delivered the following week. Weekly collections will start soon after with a specially procured vehicle designed to collect food waste. Residents will have the opportunity to sign up for electronic messaging reminders when their food waste bin is due for collection. Collections will then be taken to an anaerobic digestion plant where micro-organisms will break down the food waste. This process produces renewable energy in the form of a biogas which can be used to produce heat, electricity, and transport fuel, as well as producing a nutrient rich biofertiliser that can be used to replace chemical fertilisers in agriculture. The trial will run for an initial period of 10 months after which it will be subject to a review. This will inform officers and members of the scheme’s costs and benefits, and help facilitate a decision on the potential to introduce a county-wide scheme once the government confirms support for food waste collections nationally in England. You can read more about it here.
If you are personally interested in your own food waste footprint and what to do about it, then take a gander over to www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for tips on how to waste less and save money.
Happy Days
If you’re thinking of spending the summer seeking out British wildlife, the papers have you covered for recommendations. In the Guardian, this article recommends the ten best UK holidays for wildlife. The trips range from red stag safaris in Exmoor and badger watching in Dorset, right the way north to kayaking in the Hebrides and rewilding in the Cairngorms. Meanwhile, inspired by the recent expansion of the Somerset Wetlands, the Telegraph picks 12 beautiful British nature reserves perfect for a summer staycation.
The Future of Power
The four most meaningful trends from BP plc’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy :
1. Renewables are now 13% of global power generation
In 1985, coal-fired power was 38% of global electricity generation. Hydro was 20%, nuclear, 15%; natural gas, 14%; and oil, a bit over 11%. Three and a half decades later, coal still rules at 36%, and gas has increased to almost 23%. But every other major generation source of the mid-1980s has lost relative share — and more than gas alone can account for. That is because renewable power (wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and small hydropower) has grown from 0.8% of the world’s electricity mix to 13%.
2. Wind and solar now generate more than nuclear power
In 2021, wind and solar surpassed 10% of global generation on their own, and overtook nuclear in annual generation.
3. China is now the world’s biggest importer of liquefied natural gas
4. China generates more renewable electricity than Europe
Not every development in energy last year was positive. Coal consumption, for instance, rebounded sharply and was very close to its all-time high of 2013. Primary energy consumption reached an all-time high as well. But primary energy consumption per capita has been more or less flat for a decade; it peaked 15 years ago in OECD countries. And growth rates matter. Coal consumption grew only 0.1% per year from 2011 to 2021, and gas grew at 2.2%. During that same 10 years, renewable power generation grew at 15% per year on average. The global energy system is huge and complex, and massive consumption of fossil fuels still dominates the mix. Zero-carbon power, however, is where growth lies.
Charity Bank reports biggest surplus to date, expands services to smaller ventures
The UK’s Charity Bank has reported its largest surplus to date in 2021 at £0.9m, its latest annual report shows. The bank, which serves social enterprises and charities, also provided a record £51m in new loans last year.
Positivity and Social Media. Really?
New research from Sky Mobile has found that one in three Brits actively seek out positive content on social media, with each of us spending on average two hours a day searching for uplifting content.
The study found the most popular sources of positivity included animal videos and memes, and posts describing random acts of kindness. Following closely behind was light-hearted ‘when things go wrong’ videos, travel or holiday photos, childhood TV clips, and British pop culture.
“What we consume online impacts how we feel. Even small positive mood boosts can make a difference,” says positive psychology expert Vanessa Kind. “And these don’t just feel good, science shows these can add up – for example helping us be more open to others, more flexible in our thinking, better at creative problem solving.” 45% of respondents agree that when they view positive and inspiring posts online, their mood was boosted for the day – and the research found that Brits love to spread that positivity, with 19% going on to share the posts with friends or family.
World Localisation Day
The folks at Local Futures celebrated World Localisation Day on 21st June with the release of their film, Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution. Featuring figures like Noam Chomsky, Jane Goodall, Vandana Shiva, Joanna Macy, Brian Eno, Gabor Maté and Russell Brand, alongside a chorus of profound and eloquent thinkers and activists from every continent, Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution is a timely and compelling call to action.
And finally this month’s Positive News.