Case study: Building buy-in with the Executive team
As part of the publication of the brand new Catalysing Bank Climate Action: Lessons from the Inside report, we share key insights, lessons and anonymised case studies in this blog series. This Climate Safe Lending Fellow shares how developing their leadership skills is helping them to progress the climate agenda at their bank.
Business has the power to make change
“A lot has happened during the time I’ve been on the Fellowship – some of these things might have happened anyway, they were in-flight pre-Fellowship, but they wouldn’t have been nearly as successful without the learnings from the Fellowship. I can say that with a great deal of confidence.
“I’ve been able to talk about ESG and climate change for an hour in front of our leadership team – that’s a huge allocation of time with that group of people. A year ago, if I had been given 15 minutes with our CEO I would have hit him with facts and stats and been disappointed with the results. The Fellowship has changed all of that. I had the opportunity to talk to 90 senior people. While I couldn’t completely get away from facts, I focused on emotional cases which was very different for me. I made them feel uncomfortable and it was kind of scary. I told them that business has the power to make change. I used an analogy with cars: they are the leaders who sit behind the steering wheel powered by the motor of business. I asked, “where are you going to take us?” I tried to make them think and understand they are the ones who have the ability to make change.
We are no longer debating that green business is good business.
“We have a centuries-long corporate history; the thought of losing that legacy if we fail to adapt has been a strong motivator.”
“On the heels of the above, we had a project team present a big eight-month project on green business. A series of concrete, discrete and directional recommendations were shared with the Executive team. Our CEO remarked that green business and climate will be the next frontier for us. His leadership in turn gave direction to the rest of our leaders – these are serious, strategic business issues. The biggest challenge now is implementation. But we are no longer debating that green business is good business.
ESG now has a seat at the table
“I think what is most importantly ‘mine to own’, is to bring climate initiatives forth confidently, firmly, unapologetically. Sometimes it feels that we lead with “we know you have a lot going on, but we need to focus on this too.” I’m working on shifting this to, “This is the lens through which we need to view our business, if we fail to do so, we risk losing business”. We have a centuries-long corporate history; the thought of losing that legacy if we fail to adapt has been a strong motivator. What’s different has been my ability to change the way we go about discussing these issues in a direct, more forceful way.
“ESG now has a seat at the leadership table. I’m pushing for us to go beyond green and sustainability, getting to the core of my Critical Shift which focuses on a just, equitable and sustainable approach to business. If I hadn’t taken the time to think about my Critical Shift, or if I’d backed off on the loftiness of it, we wouldn’t be in the position right now to propose this approach at the bank. Hopefully, we are on the verge of some transformative transitions in our organisation, and that is really quite exciting.”