There are people who are simply inspiring. Are you one of them? If you’re a gifted leader, why not use this ability to influence those around you to be more eco-responsible?
Positioning yourself as an ecoleader can not only help the planet; it can also be a winning strategy for your company to promote your brand image, increase your competitiveness and establish your reputation with your investors and customers.
Do you have the required skills?
So, you’ve decided to go green, and you want to have a positive impact on the world around you. However, to become an ecoleader, you must have or develop certain skills, including the following:
- Be focused on the environment for the long term
- Seek to innovate in an eco-responsible manner;
- Know how to adapt;
- Engage in eco-responsible approaches;
- Feel comfortable dealing with complex issues and challenges;
- Build and maintain credibility in order to influence the people around you;
- Have good communication skills.
It may take you a while to fully master the various skills of an ecoleader, but the payoff is well worth it.
What path must you follow to become an ecoleader?
There are many aspects that can mark the path of an ecoleader, but one of the first steps is to be curious and not to take anything for granted. Questioning current practices and analyzing what programs are being undertaken by other organizations will guide you in your reflections.
It’s therefore important to consider your approach in the context of environmental, economic and social development. Because, in fact, taking this path is not just an environmental initiative.
First, you’ll need to decompartmentalize your networks in order to develop your processes from a sustainable standpoint. Forget closed silos. To develop, it’s essential to be open to various departments, different companies, and even to other regions of the world. This is the only way you’ll be able to effectively innovate.
In addition, as an ecoleader, it’s important to promote the circular economy. It’s essential to seek symbiosis between the industries and the companies with which you do business. To do this, you need to analyze the life cycle of your products and consider the waste from your activities and from other industries. You’ll thus be able to invest in the waste recovery that will prove useful for you or your partners.
Becoming an ecoleader also means aiming for energy efficiency and anticipating technological developments in order to meet and even exceed environmental standards.
The process also requires:
- Reduction in the use of raw materials, greenhouse gas emissions, residual materials, water use and packaging.
- Increase in reuse and recycling.
- Turning to ecodesign.
- Sourcing locally and in an eco-responsible way.
Once you’ve implemented an eco-responsible approach, the job isn’t quite done. As an ecoleader, you need to communicate your successes simply, clearly and honestly. It’s important to rely on hard evidence and choose the right words for your message to be effective. This is how you build your credibility and motivate other companies to join in.
Can you get help?
If you’re interested in ecoleadership, you may be called upon to act now, although sometimes the results may be slow in coming. In short, the important thing is to innovate quickly, but intelligently.
To do this, good ecoleaders know how to surround themselves with the right people; to get the support of their team, exert their influence and inspire motivation in their community. Indeed, to position yourself as an ecoleader, you need personal motivation, but also that of the business and society.
Are you worried you don’t know everything in this area? This is completely normal. That’s why it’s recommended to contact various technical experts who can guide you in your steps. The role of an ecoleader is not to provide all the answers, but rather to create opportunities to bring together people who will question, reflect, propose solutions and adopt eco-responsible behaviours.
You can also turn to organizations such as the Écoleaders Fund, initiated by the Quebec Government, to obtain support for your projects and receive funding to help you achieve your goals.