BCorp is like looking in a mirror and finding a better version of you looking back.
Sure, business school can teach you how to run a business. But BCorp asks you why you run it.
It asks you to evaluate the impact you want your business to have – in terms of your governance, your workforce, your community, the environment and society at large.
So, what’s happened since I last wrote?
If I’m honest, not as much as I’d hoped (then again, I feel that way about everything in my life!). But I believe in small steps.
Here is the progress that we’ve made:
- We’ve measured our Carbon footprint, reduced what we could and offset the rest. In this way, we’ve reached our NetZero goals. Next stop is to expand our off-sets to cover the whole teams’ personal footprint.
- We’ve changed our governance structure to enable the company, through its business and operations, to have a material positive impact on society and the environment, taken as a whole.
- We’ve started sharing our experiences with anyone who’ll listen! It was great to be asked by the MRS to be part of their Sustainability summit.
- We continue to run monthly team challenges to be more environmentally friendly. Read about the team’s experiences and best tips to reduce household waste here.
Reflecting on the experience so far, it all needs to be much, much simpler.
I’ve wasted a lot of time chasing dead ends. Particularly when it comes to the environmental side.
This has got to be simpler. Because simple gets done. Complex doesn’t.
If we expect small businesses to go through the same hoops as big business – then it’s simply not going to happen at enough scale to make a difference.
They don’t have the time, knowledge or resources.
If I was the Government, I’d make simplifying the process and learning journey much, much simpler.
This path already exists. I found it. But finding it was way too complex.
So, what’s next?
We’ve completed our initial assessment against the BCorp spec.
What we’ve done so far has boosted our scores, which is great, but there’s more work to do.
My focus for the next few weeks is going to be on:
- Defining who our community is (tough because we’re all remote) and working out how to support it.
- Ensuring our team development process are where they need to be.
- Completing a few more governance stages.
- Working with the team to allocate tasks so that we can move on forward faster and ensure it’s a collective endeavour.
Until next time.
If there’s anything we can do to help your journey, please give me a shout.
The thing with BCorp is that it’s a community.
Be part of it.
By: Jeremy Hollow
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