Sustainability as a strategic pillar

There are a variety of ways to address sustainability in an organizational context. A right or wrong probably does not exist and depending on the company, different approaches can be the most effective.
In this blog post, we give you an insight into what our approach is like at SPIES.

In 2019, we at SPIES have started to explicitly deal with the topic of sustainability. For this purpose, an interdisciplinary team was founded, through which the first projects were launched and, among other things, the first sustainability report was published. Over time, however, it became clear that we would like to anchor the topic more strongly organizationally and strategically. That is why a full-time position was created for sustainability management. This organizational anchoring creates visibility and builds capacity to deal with the broad scope of the topic.

In parallel, a strategy process was developed in 2019 to serve as a roadmap for achieving our Vision 2025. The strategy work was structured according to the four classic perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard - finance, customers, employees, and processes. A team was established for each perspective to jointly develop and implement measures in the respective area. In addition, there was a superordinate group in which, among others, the CEO was a member. In a monthly strategy circle, progress, questions, and problems were discussed and jointly supported with feedback.

The topic of sustainability was of course also to be given attention here to anchor it well in the company not only organizationally but also strategically and to give it priority. Since the topic of sustainability with its 3 pillars finds a place in many areas and groups, there were sustainability measures in almost every group.

After four years of strategy work, it was time to update it fundamentally and so our "evolution" began. The next level of strategic collaboration was reached. Due to the importance of the topic, we decided to include sustainability as a fifth perspective. For us, this has the advantage of visibility, clearer structure, and more efficient meetings. There is also the view that sustainability has to be treated in an integrated way, since it takes place in all areas. But for us, the more efficient way is to manage sustainability measures centrally.

In the new strategy process, we work in the following structure:

The five perspectives - finance, customers, employees, processes, and sustainability

Strategic objectives - Condition description of the target

Sub-strategies - What needs to be done today to achieve the strategic objective?

Operational measures - Specific tasks implemented in small project groups to achieve sub-strategies.

In the case of operational measures, it is important to us to formulate a clear target image from the beginning and also to define key figures in order to be able to measure success. For a more structured implementation and organization of the operational measures, a project management tool was introduced. Here, all those working on the measure can organize the individual work steps together, track progress and communicate with each other.

In the sustainability perspective, we have agreed on these strategic goals:

• SPIES will produce climate-neutral in Scopes 1 and 2 from 2025 (if necessary, by means of compensation).
• Our sustainability management is transparent and constantly improving. We are perceived as a sustainable company.
• We develop and offer sustainable products.
• We protect our environment.

We achieve these goals by means of more concrete sub-strategies and operational measures. With the new structure of our strategy work, we are ensuring that the issue of sustainability is strategically anchored and becomes measurable.