An effective corporate sustainability strategy should be flexible enough to adapt to changes that impact it, making it a dynamic set of goals. If your policy is more static, you could be missing out on many potential benefits. According to a recent article published by GreenBiz, if the once innovative business practices you’ve outlined to drive sustainability for your organization are more than three years old, it’s time for a review.

From the article:

Leading companies adopt new sustainability visions periodically to stay relevant and thrive. They continuously shift their approach from improving upon today’s business models to imagining what a different, truly sustainable company would look like in the future.

Sustainable business practices, if part of a company’s broader corporate strategy, are intended to have a beneficial effect on the environment (or the “planet” part of a company’s triple bottom line). But what once worked well might now need a retooling, as businesses who have been pursuing green goals for some time tend to adapt their sustainability strategies.

Also from the article:

Companies that have been on the sustainability journey for a decade or more typically evolve their sustainability strategies every five or 10 years. They transition from a mostly operational focus in the early days to a strategic focus on providing sustainability solutions to customers.

Leading companies looking to make a significant positive impact on the future often develop “sustainability vision stories” to help shape these adjustments. Common tactics used to guide such aspirational outlooks can include:

• Identifying long-term factors that impact business and customers
• Adapting or modeling other sustainability trends
• Clearly articulating long-term goals the company wants to pursue

Visionary companies are often credited with disrupting their approach to business by enacting strategies that challenge the status quo of their industry. They begin to view sustainability as a vehicle for growth rather than simply a social and environmental responsibility.

Even if an organization’s corporate strategy goals are more modest, enacting a new sustainability strategy on a regular basis can help ensure continued and steady progress toward reaching those goals. So if you haven’t reviewed your corporate strategy recently, now may be the time to take another look.

Read the full article here.