Taking Action for the Future

How organisations make successful change for sustainability

ISBN 978-921733-13-0

Commonwealth of Australia 2010 This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney-Generals Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 or posted at http://www.ag.gov.au/cca. Acknowledgements This project was funded by the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. The case studies were researched and written by SallyAnn Hunting. Thank you to those organisations and their staff who gave time to share their experiences in sustainability in order to encourage others to do the same. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author[s] and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for Environment Protection Heritage and the Arts. These case studies represent the views and experience of the participating organisations. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication.

Contents
Overview Yarra Valley Waters Sustainability Culture
How Yarra Valley Water developed an organisational culture for sustainability

NABs Climate Change Strategy

How the National Australia Bank used stakeholder engagement to meet its commitment to carbon neutrality

Bankstown City Council and the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative:

How Bankstown City Council developed community partnerships for sustainable catchment management

Amcors Safety Integration Project:

How Amcor improved safety and reduced time lost through injuries by integrating sustainability policy and practice across its business operations

 Overview
Business and industry are acknowledged leaders in sustainability through innovation and operational improvement. Their involvement in the production, allocation and management of resources, and promotion of products and services, means they have responsibility for ensuring their decisions and actions are sustainable. Corporate objectives around sustainability can be supported by adopting an education for sustainability approach. This can lead to efficiencies and cost savings, better management of risk, improved corporate reputation and valuations, and increased morale and retention of staff. The premise behind education for sustainability is that the challenges organisations face in making a fundamental shift in their operations are different from challenges they have faced in the past. In order to make this shift, a different type of change process is needed. Change for sustainability requires a learning or education approach to better equip people to think about the future, understand the complex systems involved and empower them to work together to achieve sustainable outcomes. The four case studies presented here demonstrate how a selection of organisations have begun to incorporate education for sustainability into their strategy setting, policy formulation and everyday operations to achieve sustainable outcomes. The success of each initiative came from effective capacity building for sustainability. This means the organisation built the skills of its stakeholders to engage with sustainability and to apply core education for sustainability components.1 These core components are:

visioningdeveloping a clear, joint view of the future critical thinking and reflectionhaving a better understanding of what works, why, when and how participation in decision makinginvolving people across the organisation in change processes partnershipsbuilding strong links with stakeholders within and outside industry groups to involve different perspectives and share learning experiences systemic thinkingembracing complexity rather than simplifying things in order to really understand your organisations impacts.

Capacity building using these core components increases peoples ability to think differently about what needs to change and how to change it. It also improves peoples confidence in making decisions that can lead to more informed action, and encourages collaborative work arrangements to achieve more effective outcomes for sustainability.
1

ARIES, Education for Sustainability: The role of education in engaging and equipping people for change,2009.

Although each case study covers different aspects of a sustainability strategy, they all demonstrate that organisations need to:

understand the importance of building a strong organisation culture around learning and sustainability that welcomes staff input into the design and implementation of cultural change programs communicate the vision and the change process to all stakeholders, especially staff and customers work with staff, customers and other stakeholders to create a shared vision for the future make time to reflect on this vision and the strategies to achieve it and make adjustments if needed recognise that industry best practice and government regulation are important drivers for change ensure change programs have clearly defined outcomes, that outcomes are measured and that the results add to organisational success get Senior Management, including the chief executive and other executives, to buy in to sustainability and publicly support change programs use a bottom up as well as top down approach to harness support from all levels of the organisation.

By sharing their experiences in making change for sustainability, these organisations provide examples, encouraging others to rethink how they can take action for a sustainable future.

Yarra Valley Waters Sustainability Culture:

How Yarra Valley Water developed an organisational culture for sustainability
Summary Yarra Valley Water is an award-winning retail water company with a strong focus on organisational culture and on personal learning. It develops its employees capacity to be able to work collaboratively and effectively to deliver its vision for the futurethat the organisational culture, company structure, learning and development process should all be geared towards sustainability. This case study demonstrates how the company has created a learning organisation and how shared knowledge is applied to the projects it delivers. This case study shows how Yarra Valley Water: prepared itself for the future used its organisational culture to create sustainability outcomes created a learning and development program for cultural change. This case study demonstrates the following components of education for sustainability: visioning capacity building participation partnerships critical thinking and reflection systemic thinking. Yarra Valley Water achieved these business outcomes: more efficient use of the learning and development budget low staff turnover increased capacity to think about the future better outcomes for the environment effective ways of working internally and externally.

Introduction

 Yarra Valley Water is the largest of Melbournes three retail water companies and provides water and sewerage services across Melbournes northern and eastern suburbs. Melbournes population has increased steadily over the past 25 years and the company now services over 1.6 million people and 50 000 businesses. At the same time, Victoria has been in severe drought and Yarra Valley Water faces challenges to deliver clean water, process sewage and maintain the pipe infrastructure. The company engages with many stakeholders: the Victorian Government as its funder and regulator; other water authorities; customers; suppliers; local authorities; property and land developers; and community and environment groups. It proactively promotes sustainability by working with external stakeholders through: a Customer Consultative Committee to help develop relevant policies and programs for sustainability breakfast forums for business and industry to share sustainability outcomes and achievements an Environmental Strategic Advisory Committee, a think tank of practitioners, consultants and educators, which helps to define key environmental issues for the company. Yarra Valley Water sees its 400 staff, and the right organisational culture, as key components in achieving sustainability. It believes that in order to create cities of the future, organisations need to be fundamentally changed to be businesses of the future. These businesses need to have sustainability as a core strategy and proactively make the future, rather than letting it just happen. This is because operating in todays world is more complex; growth needs to occur with fewer resources; there are tighter environmental requirements; and there are higher community expectations.

For Yarra Valley Water this future has a different urban water cycle with more locally based water systems (known as distributed systems), stormwater harvesting and improved local waterways, all of which will improve community amenity and wellbeing. It sees a business of the future as one where staff: explore interrelationships and potential opportunities work more with other businesses and customers to design shared solutions plan better for uncertainty and risk understand how to motivate internal and external stakeholders to deliver better outcomes.

 To deliver its vision, Yarra Valley Water has established a formal learning and development program that supports staff to identify new ways of considering issues and developing solutions, not just focusing on technical development. This program, together with a non-traditional organisational structure, is helping Yarra Valley Water bring about the cultural change it believes is necessary for the future. The details of how Yarra Valley Water achieved this change are described below. Organisational culture Yarra Valley Water sees organisational culture as building blocks to allow us to deliver the future. In order to develop an understanding of the existing organisational culture and then work out ways it might need to change, the company has monitored organisational culture over a number of years. This assessment started in 2001 with the Human Synergistics Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI). The OCI is a survey which gives a snapshot of organisational culture by measuring the behavioural types people think are expected or implicitly required. Results from the OCI can be shown at an individual or company level and are compared against an ideal culture. The difference between the two illustrates which areas of organisational culture need to change and the organisation then develops strategies to achieve this. In 2001, 26 managers completed an OCI questionnaire about the preferred or ideal culture for Yarra Valley Water. This was followed up with a questionnaire to be completed by all staff to find out what the actual culture was like. The results were shared openly throughout the organisation and revealed that: the preferred culture was a high performance culture in which managers display constructive behaviours that facilitate high-quality problem solving and decision making, teamwork, productivity and longterm effectiveness. These were the criteria that managers thought were needed to deliver sustainable outcomes the actual culture was seen as defensive, avoidance-orientated, oppositional and competitive. The results demonstrated that there was a difference between the actual and preferred culture, and actions were needed to bridge this gap. On the positive side, the preferred culture included those elements seen as critical to successful change for sustainability. Developing a more sustainable culture

 To change the organisational culture a clear strategic intent or vision for the future was devised. In developing the strategic intent, Yarra Valley Water was just as interested in the process by which it was developed as the resulting statement of intent. The strategic intent was informed by a series of staff workshops in 2003 to explore what Yarra Valley Water should do to become an environmental leader (rather than just being a leading water retailer). The results were formulated into the strategic intent by senior managers, shown pictorially, and known within the company, as the Yarra Valley Water House as shown in the following figure.

The house formed part of an internal communication plan to help staff understand that the environment was part of the companys business and to help define their role at work. For each part of the house the company used a set of tools to deliver on the strategy, as outlined in the table below.

Component Customer Environment Culture

Tool Customer Service Strategy The Natural Step Human Synergistics methodologies

Efficiency

Six Sigma

Yarra Valley Water also introduced Blue Zone Days in 2003 (after the blue preferred culture zone in the OCI) to engage people at all levels in the change program and to set expectations of management practices. A series of fun and engaging team sessions were held to look at the actual and ideal behaviours identified in the OCI survey. This created a new common understanding and agreement about the way staff should approach work and relate to each other and an expectation of how managers should behave. Monitoring changes to organisational culture Yarra Valley Water has a range of formal and informal ways to measure whether cultural change is happening and how learning and development creates better ways of working together. For example, often at the start of staff development sessions each participant provides an example of how their discoveries (about themselves) have changed the way they work. This not only creates openness and honesty but also shares experiences, actions and ideas. The company also conducts surveys such as the Vibrant Workplace survey and uses regular focus groups to gather qualitative feedback about how people feel about their experiences at work. These methods of evaluation are forced points of reflection and a valuable tool in monitoring whether the organisational culture continues to be open, collaborative and engaging. The OCI questionnaire has been an important tool for monitoring cultural change. In 2009 the company repeated the OCI survey which had previously been conducted in 2001 (at the start of its new strategy), in 2003 and in 2005 (when many of the learning and development initiatives had been completed). The 2009 survey results showed that some of the cultural indicators which were so strong in the 2005 survey had worsened instead of improving. This result was not an unexpected outcome given the challenging business conditions from 2005 onwards that sought to address drought, price pressures, increased demand, and a government review of the retail water sector in Victoria. The results showed that although the culture had remained strong and generally in line with the ideal culture, which had significantly improved since 2001, some areas had regressed. The Managing Director and senior management team identified that these areas needed more attention. In the open manner in which the company operates, the results were communicated to all staff and the senior management team is planning how to reinforce the culture through another push for cultural change. This demonstrates that organisational culture is not a set and forget element of sustainability strategy. It needs to have a constant focus and be reinforced through times of change and business pressure.

 Refining the strategic intent Over the past five years Yarra Valley Water has faced some critical challenges. Victoria has been in extreme drought with water restrictions. The pipe infrastructure is ageing and there has been significant residential development on the fringes of Melbourne as the population increases. Yarra Valley Water also faces pressure from customers not to increase water prices (difficult in times of scarce water) whilst at the same time putting the environment first. Recognising that corporate strategies should never be static, the company began a process to further refine the strategic intent originally formulated in 2003. This is nothing unusual, as companies often modify strategic objectives to deliver a vision. However, it is the process that Yarra Valley Water used in 200809 which is unusual. The senior management team of 36 people, including the General Manager and the divisional managers, attended ten half-day sessions using the Landmark Education approach. Previously the team had spent three and a half days on communication skills and active participation in decision making. The Landmark Education approach is highly structured and practical. These sessions were also about changing organisational culture, especially building a culture of honesty and awareness. The half-day sessions over a few months consisted of a range of learning exercises, for example: explaining the company vision to each other in pairs, in plain language, rather than in corporate speak. This made participants think about what the vision really meant to them and how they could/should live it in daily life standing face-to-face and staring into each others eyes for several minutes whilst thinking about whether they could work with this person to deliver the vision. If they could not they had to articulate what was preventing them from doing that. This was a powerful exercise and helped identify and resolve issues between managers empowering everyone to provide input into the strategy. Everyone was asked to contribute in an open forum, even those who would normally be observers in group meetings. The group discussed and reworked the wording of the strategic objectives for the four components of the Yarra Valley Water House until every single person was happy with the wording and aligned with the objectives. Whilst this may be seen as an extravagant use of time it was absolutely crucial to getting everyone on the same page and buying into the objectives. The company believes that a vision is not just words, it needs to be lived and breathed by everyone.

 In between the half-day sessions the managers were asked to undertake individual reflective practice, which requires them to look at how they conduct themselves and to reflect on their decisions. The combination of workshop exercises and individual reflective practice increased collaboration between the managers, improved effectiveness of project delivery and gave individuals new tools for critical and systemic thinking. The output of this process was also a clearer strategic intent for 2013 which is: To lead the global water industry in serving the customer and the environment, supported by our high performing business culture and continuously improving our efficiency. The four components of the Yarra Valley Water House were reworked into four strategic elements and 15 underlying objectives. The strategic elements still have the same names of customer, environment, efficiency and culture and each of these now has a vision statement for 2013: Customer: Our customers recognise us as their best service provider and are engaged in what we advocate. Environment: We provide our services within the carrying capacity of nature and inspire others to do the same. Efficiency: We achieve our objectives at the lowest community cost and consistently meet our shareholders expectations. Culture: We have a vibrant workplace achieving exceptional business outcomes, successful partnerships and personal satisfaction. Linking the strategic intent to individual performance The strategic intent has clear links to strategies, activities and performance. Each employee can clearly link his or her daily work to delivering outcomes which help to fulfil the vision. A Balanced Scorecard approach is used to implement sustainability initiatives and each of the four strategic elements has a section in the corporate Balanced Scorecard. Each element has a number of objectives with specific actions and key performance indicators. Importantly, each objective is owned by a staff member who is accountable for implementing change and reporting on progress. The Balanced Scorecard information is then aligned with each individuals performance effectiveness plan so everyone is clear on who should be doing what and why. Performance effectiveness plans were introduced in 2009. Every six months the employee and manager meet formally to discuss how their roles support the strategic intent and progress against key performance indicators. In addition, business unit planning is aligned with both the strategic intent and the individual plans. Performance effectiveness plans aim to give clarity to staff on their role and how their manager can support them achieve the objectives of the role. Learning and development participation

 Although the senior management team has undergone a wide range of individual and team training to develop skills around thinking creatively and critically about situations and complex issues, other employees have also participated. The Human Resources department works with managers to develop a learning and development plan for each individual. In 200809 the organisation delivered 440 training sessions that included leadership programs focused on managing performance, managing change and team leadership; and efficiency programs such as systems training and information management, problem solving and risk management. Other informal learning is supported through staff secondments to project partners, a sustainability speakers program, an intranet site and the Yarra Professionals Group which showcases projects that demonstrate creative solutions to urban issues. Organisational structure: the Requisite Organisation framework In 2006 Yarra Valley Water began a major project to introduce a Requisite Organisation framework into the company. The framework is a business model that uses individual ownership and accountability to strengthen organisational performance and is aligned to Yarra Valley Waters learning organisation approach. The new framework was piloted in Customer Operations and then rolled out across the whole company over a two-year period. During this time there were significant changes to job design, evaluation, remuneration structure, recruitment processes, talent management, succession planning and performance management. The Requisite Organisation framework ensures that everyone understands where, how and why they fit in the company. It is also linked to Yarra Valley Waters strategic intent. All managers were trained in the concepts and methodology of the framework and it is now firmly embedded within processes and policies. One interesting outcome of this change in structure is that there is now no environment team or environmental manager. Environment is seen as part of everyones job whether they are in customer service or part of the engineering team. The sustainability-ready culture Yarra Valley Water sees learning and research as enablers to change as part of sustainability strategy. The company aims to generate excitement at work and wants people to come to work to learn from others. This is the essence of the learning organisation it has created. Even with these enablers in place, companies still need certain conditions for change to happen such as: strong values around improvement and innovation collaborative, open, supportive leaders

Importantly, everyone in the organisation needs to have an emotional attachment to the sustainability strategy and a personal commitment to deliver on the vision. This enables the company to make the future happen. The sharing of information across the organisation, both formally and informally, about projects and processes and a willingness to be open and honest are valued. Yarra Valley Water also believes strongly in trying different approaches, whether they ultimately work or not, because if we resist we lose out on the learning. Another vital condition is stability. This does not mean that Yarra Valley Water has stopped recruiting, in fact the company grew from 291 staff in 2001 to 427 staff in 2009. What it means is that the Human Resources processes have been critical in employing the right people, in developing them and most importantly retaining them. Over the past ten years the company has reduced staff turnover from 26 per cent to 9 per cent and fills 51 per cent of advertised positions internally. None of the 36 staff in the senior management team have left the company and although training costs have been reduced by 50 per cent they have a different focus and are considered to be twice as effective. Project management Yarra Valley Water delivers a range of projects each year such as replacing pipes, supplying water to new developments and implementing new methods of water storage and treatment. These projects are run using normal project management tools. They are planned, delivered and reviewed but the key is the quality of the inputs into the project. The planning stage aims to ensure that the right people are on the project and that they deliver. The team is formed using the requisite organisation model and it is very clear who is responsible for what and who each person reports to.

systemic thinking and embracing complexity diversity of thinking and doing contributions from all (although there will be natural leaders and innovators) empowered staff who take responsibility and think and act emphasis on what ifs and scenario planning.

 Projects are scheduled as part of group planning processes and also feed into performance planning for staff. Progress monitoring tends to be part of monthly business planning. Nothing is different apart from the way this is done and the quality of the staff involved. Creative, critical and systemic thinking skills are increasingly embedded in the way people work. It also uses collaboration and trust between members of the project team and the partners the team works with. Implicit in project delivery is that staff understand how their output adds value to the strategic intent. Yarra Valley Water allies itself with stakeholders who show the same commitment to sustainability for low environmental impact, low community costs and high community outcomes. The companys environmental policy states we strive to provide water and sewerage services within the carrying capacity of nature and will inspire others to do the same. As such the company happily shares what might be regarded as commercially sensitive information by other organisations in order to build the capacity of others via conference papers, award submissions, annual reports and being part of the sustainability and water communities. Next steps The results of the Human Synergistics Organizational Culture Inventory in 2009 showed that Yarra Valley Water should continue to focus on changing organisational culture and to use structured learning and development to reinforce values. The company still believes that in order to tackle the challenges of sustainability and create a better future, development of the individual and the creation of an innovative, collaborative and supportive culture is vital. As such, Yarra Valley Water continues to combine systemic thinking, critical thinking and reflective practice in daily work and shares its experiences of change with others. Further reading www.yvw.com.au/yvw/Home/AboutUs www.humansynergistics.com/products/documents/OCI.pdf www.stormwatervictoria.com.au/excellenceawards.html#_Kalkallo_Stormwater_Harvesting

 NABs Climate Change Strategy:

How the National Australia Bank used stakeholder engagement to meet its commitment to carbon neutrality

Summary National Australia Bank Limited (NAB/the Group) is a global financial services organisation operating in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States and Asia. The Groups global headquarters are in Melbourne and the bank employs around 40 000 people worldwide. Corporate responsibility at NAB means doing business in a way that respects the views of NABs stakeholders and takes into account the longer-term economic, social and environmental impacts of its decisions. NAB has reported annually on its corporate responsibility performance since 2003. In 2007, NAB decided to focus more closely on climate change. A key driver of this was employees desire that NAB take action on this issue. As part of its overall climate change strategy, NAB made a commitment to become carbon neutral and prioritised energy efficiency as the primary way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its operations. NAB implemented a detailed strategy to work towards meeting its carbon neutral commitment by the end of September 2010. The strategy involved consulting and working with internal and external stakeholders. This process was underpinned by a collaborative, highly participative approach using systemic thinking and capacity building of employees to empower them to take action. This case study shows how the carbon neutral program was delivered in the Groups Australian operations. This case study shows how NAB: designed and implemented a carbon neutral program implemented change across a variety of business units built internal and external partnerships and networks to support change. This case study demonstrates the following components of education for sustainability: visioning capacity building participation partnerships

critical thinking and reflection systemic thinking. NAB achieved these business outcomes: cost reduction through energy efficiency improved culture for climate change and sustainability strong working groups for sustainability across the organisation now seen as an industry leader on climate change.

 Introduction In 2003, NAB developed a corporate responsibility strategy and reported on progress via a stakeholder scorecard as part of its 2003 Concise Annual Report. Since 2004 NAB has produced an annual, standalone Corporate Responsibility Report. NAB has also: been an active member of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative, a global partnership between UNEP and the financial sector adopted the Equator Principles for project finance - these principles are a set of globally recognised voluntary guidelines to assess and manage social and environmental project financing risk, especially in emerging markets won awards for its environment and community programs in Australia and overseas. The challenge, as with any global business or company operating in multiple locations, is how to make corporate responsibility relevant and to create a clear link between employees daily lives (at home and work) and the future. One of the ways in which NAB has done this is by acting to address climate change through a dedicated strategy; its commitment to becoming carbon neutral is one step in this strategy. NABs approach to corporate responsibility is driven at the highest level by its statement of beliefs and behaviours. NAB believes that a company implementing corporate responsibility is most likely to deliver sustainability as an outcome of this behaviour. NABs beliefs and behaviours At the heart of our Group is a belief in the potential of our customers and communities, as well as each other. This shared belief unites us, and motivates us: to do the right thing to help our customers and communities to realise potential.

Supporting our beliefs is a common set of enterprise behaviours that ask us to always: be authentic and respectful work together create value through excellence.

Our beliefs and behaviours are the foundation of our culture and our brands, and guide our strategy.

 Practically, this approach is centred around three core commitments: 1. getting the fundamentals right with its customers by delivering fair value and quality advice 2. being a good employer through investing in the skills and capabilities of its employees 3. addressing its broader responsibility to society by supporting communities, managing its environmental impact and having a positive impact through its supply chain.

These commitments form the basis of NABs Corporate Responsibility Framework:

The framework is underpinned by: objectives, actions and measurements for each commitment area stakeholder engagement to understand the issues important to each stakeholder group and to help NAB define its corporate responsibility agenda and related strategic direction governance and leadership from executive and senior management. From 2006 onwards it became clear that NABs employees and other stakeholders were increasingly concerned about climate change, based on experiences in Australia and overseas. This occurred in the context of the release of the Stern Review,2 which brought climate change to the attention of the business community, and Al Gores film An inconvenient truth,3 which attempted to explain the issue of climate change to the general public and provide a sense of the need for urgent action.

NH Stern 2007, The economics of climate change: the Stern Review, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK. 3 D Guggenheim (director), A Gore (presenter) 2006, An inconvenient truth: a global warning, Lawrence Bender Productions, Participant Productions.

 Externally, the community and environmental stakeholders reflected a growing desire for companies to respond to climate change. Internally, there was strong global support for action from employees. In particular, employees in Australia wanted NAB to take action to reduce its greenhouse emissions and broader environmental impact (in 2006, 90 per cent of the Groups greenhouse emissions came from its Australian operations). NAB strongly advocates a leadership by example approach to change. In March 2007 the incumbent Group and Australian CEOs, John Stewart and Ahmed Fahour respectively, announced that NAB intended to be carbon neutral globally by the end of September 2010. Defining carbon neutral An increasing number of organisations and individuals around the world have set out to make their operations carbon neutral. This means they cancel out the direct, and sometimes indirect, greenhouse impact of a defined set of emissions from their operations. There are different approaches to becoming carbon neutral, but the steps usually include: measuring and monitoring your carbon footprint reducing energy consumption as much as possible purchasing green power or using alternative, cleaner sources of energy purchasing carbon offsets for the remaining greenhouse gas emissions verifying that the emissions have been offset. How NAB developed its carbon neutral plan First of all, NAB developed a climate change strategy with the following five elements: 1. Leading by example: establishing and minimising our carbon inventory, making our operations carbon neutral, publicly reporting on our progress and being involved in the debate and development of solutions to climate change. 2. Engaging and helping NAB staff: supporting our people who wish to personally take action on climate change. 3. Understanding and supporting NAB customers: through advice, as well as developing product and service offerings to appropriately support local markets. 4. Building partnerships: with a range of stakeholders, including suppliers, to help identify and implement solutions that assist our people, customers and communities to take action. 5. Continuing to grow NABs understanding of climate risks and opportunities: to consider the impact of climate change on our lending decisions, as well as other areas of relevant operational policy.

NAB took steps to involve all staff and also established a high-level Group Climate Change and Environment Committee as a forum for group-wide governance and oversight, strategy development, advocacy, shared learning and critical thinking. The committee monitors implementation of the climate change strategy according to milestones and targets and reports to the Group Risk Management Committee and the NAB Group Board. At a regional level, local management committees provide governance and oversight. In Australia, this committee is the Australian Environmental Leadership Committee. It has representatives from operational areas such as property and procurement, product lines, corporate functions, sustainability related functions and risk. This committee oversees development of local strategy and implementation plans and contributes to global strategy on environment and climate change. A flagship program of NABs climate change strategy is the Carbon Neutral 2010 program which aims to: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by being as energy efficient as possible switch to alternative energy sources offset any remaining emissions. How NAB defined, measured and verified its greenhouse gas emissions This task was huge and included first establishing what emissions NAB should include in its carbon inventory. To do this NAB developed carbon inventory guidelines in consultation with external stakeholders in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, including local government, regulators, non-government organisations and experts in carbon markets and management. The guidelines set out the boundaries for NABs carbon footprint and the principles used to select emissions sources included in the footprint. Additional internal reporting guidelines cover how greenhouse gases should be measured and converted to a standard unit. After the guidelines were established, NAB started to measure a broader set of greenhouse emissions from across its global operations. The previously reported sources of emissions were expanded to include: business travel, including emissions from car fleets, taxis, use of personal cars for work, air travel, hotel stays, train travel in the UK and rental cars (but not employee commutes) building-related energy, including electricity, gas, diesel and refrigeration waste to landfill and paper usage

water in the UK (guidelines for water emissions factors are produced by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. No such guidelines are available in any other country in which NAB operates).

NAB also put in place action plans and targets by country for key emissions sources. In Australia, that included establishing a pipeline of emissions reduction projects to track the identification, prioritisation and implementation of measures to reduce emissions in NABs building portfolio. Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility teams worked together to ensure that the action plans were realistic and achievable within timeframes. The plans were reviewed to check they would result in emissions reductions and increase employee understanding and engagement. In Australia, employees have voluntarily driven the push for change. For example, a volunteer Green Team community of more than 640 employees champions certain green initiatives and encourages employees to reduce their environmental impact in the buildings where they work. NAB has engaged an independent external auditor to help ensure that emissions are correctly defined, measured and offset. Currently, NAB is undertaking pre-assurance activities in advance of an assurance audit to verify it will become carbon neutral by the end of September 2010. How NAB built support for its climate change strategy Building a strong support base for acting on climate change in a large organisation requires creating partnerships at all levels and areas within the organisation. In order to do this the Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility teams identified key people at NAB in positions of influence (positional power, technical knowledge and gatekeepers) and created links with and between these people over the course of the three-year strategy. In Australia, NAB conducts an annual employee environmental survey. For the past three years the survey has shown an increasing shift in awareness about what NAB is doing to respond to climate change and other environmental issues. The survey has shown a strong growth in employee support for NABs carbon neutral program. Similar surveys are now being conducted in other regions. There is also a general recognition within the company that NABs response to climate change needs to be a core part of its business.

 NAB also uses external benchmarks to see how it is performing relative to other financial organisations and other companies generally. For example, NAB uses the Business in the Community survey in the UK and the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index globally. Liz Minchin, The Ages multi-award-winning environment reporter, followed NABs journey to see what drove support for the Carbon Neutral 2010 program. Ms Minchin concluded that after NAB had built momentum and internal support for its strategy, NABs employees became more empowered to make change themselves.4 Employees felt they had the right level of understanding about what NAB was trying to do and had increased their skills and knowledge to get involved in the action plan. This strong grass roots push from employees was built on the goodwill created by NABs positive stance on climate change, and more broadly on corporate responsibility, since 2003. NAB has worked to support and engage employees, recognising the advocacy role they play amongst their peers and their communities outside work. Examples of initiatives to engage employees include: green teams set up by employees, now operating in most of NABs commercial offices. The teams work to minimise use of resources such as paper, energy and water and are now supported by a full time coordinator environmental awareness advertisements on nabTV, an in-house television station also available on the companys intranet. The Environmental Sustainability team produced the advertisements which involved every member of the Group Executive team displaying positive environmental behaviours to showcase what leaders thought about the environment using the walls in the lifts at NABs Melbourne headquarters for environmental messages which people can read when travelling between floors. How NAB has reduced its emissions Buildings: NAB now has a policy that the design of its commercial buildings should attain a minimum 4 Star Green Star rating, aspiring to a 5 Star Green Star rating. For example, NABs new headquarters in Melbourne achieved a 5 Star Green Star rating by working with the architects, the building project manager and the Melbourne City Council. Having sustainable buildings is another way NAB hopes to lead by example. Air travel: NAB aims to reduce air travel related emissions which account for a substantial proportion of its carbon emissions. In Australia the target is a 20 per cent reduction by September 2010. To reduce its global air travel emissions NAB has:
4

D. Green and L. Minchin 2010, Screw light bulbs: smarter ways to save Australians time and money, University of Western Australia Publishing

implemented an employee-driven Target Your Travel program to encourage Australian employees to reduce their air travel improved and increased video conference facilities globally instigated two travel-free months each year in the UK implemented a taxi-share program in New Zealand and Australia piloted the offset of air travel emissions in Australia and the UK since 2008.

Cars: In Australia, NAB reviewed its car fleet policy with its main supplier, Toyota. Most of the fleet was reduced from six cylinder to four cylinder vehicles and gradually NAB is switching to Toyota hybrid cars, the Prius and Camry. Some employees with company cars have undertaken driver education to increase awareness about how their driving habits influence car emissions. Similar, but locally specific, initiatives were implemented in the UK and New Zealand. Efficient technology: Data centres are very energy intensive and NABs two data centres in Australia account for about 30 per cent of its Australian greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009 NAB commenced a tri-generation project using a gas fired generator at one of these data centres. This project will allow NAB to generate 80 per cent of its energy requirements for this data centre and reduce emissions by 20 000 tonnes CO2-equivalent each year. Partnerships for climate change NAB uses the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard as a basis for its stakeholder engagement. The company monitors stakeholder relationships to ensure the partners it works with are aligned with NABs values and that NAB itself is being an effective partner. NAB has used the Edelman Relationship Index to measure the quality of its relationships from a stakeholder perspective. This tool examines stakeholder relationships via four key dimensions: trust, mutuality of control, commitment and satisfaction. It surveys stakeholders in the media, general public, opinion leaders, regulators and government and provides both qualitative and quantitative feedback. The survey results have helped NAB develop stakeholder engagement strategies for climate change and other areas of interest and concern, as well as tracking how the quality of the relationships change over time. NAB has developed relationships with stakeholders as part of its climate change strategy including: the Total Environment Centre (an Australian environment not-for-profit organisation): NAB provides long-term support for the Total Environment Centres Green Capital Events program and works with the Green Capital team in areas of mutual concern related to environment and climate change

key suppliers: NAB works closely with suppliers to ensure they understand why being carbon neutral is important to NAB and how together they can achieve this goal. In 2009 NAB set up a Supplier Sustainability Program in Australia to educate, support and influence suppliers. The program is based on Supplier Sustainability Principles which specify the minimum sustainability requirements for NABs suppliers. Development of the principles and a related accreditation scheme for suppliers involved collaboration with other financial institutions as part of the UNEP Finance Initiative community groups: NAB supports a number of community organisations in their advocacy and awareness raising for climate change including the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Run for a Safe Climate and World Wide Views.

How NAB offsets its emissions NAB consulted the same group of stakeholders who provided input on the carbon inventory guidelines in developing its carbon offset acquisition guidelines. These external stakeholders provided valuable input on what could be used as carbon offsets in different jurisdictions. NAB recognised that the offsets needed to be credible, quantifiable and permanent. This led to one of the most significant carbon offset procurement projects by an Australian company. A competitive tender was conducted involving 36 suppliers in seven countries to establish an international panel to advise on purchasing carbon offsets. The procurement process involved a comprehensive global market analysis, review of international offset standards and evaluation of offset projects in other countries. How NAB builds staff capacity for change NABs leadership role on climate change is strongly supported by its learning and development program, most notably the NAB Academy which runs learning and development programs for staff from entry to executive levels. The NAB Academy helps employees to build critical and systemic thinking skills and provides staff with capabilities they will use across all areas of the business. In collaboration with the NAB Academy, NAB is developing an e-learning module to help employees understand what it means to be carbon neutral. NAB also supports the Green Teams with awareness raising initiatives such as Ride to Work days and participation in Earth Hour.

 The network of dedicated Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility personnel and voluntary Green Teams helps to implement the climate change strategy and this has had a knock-on effect in the business units where these green champions sit. Not only have they built knowledge and understanding in their business areas about climate change, they have also been able to develop new ways of working across business units to achieve change in other areas. NABs achievements to 2010 NABs three-year Carbon Neutral 2010 program has had a range of carbon reduction outcomes. To date, achievements include: completing 314 energy efficiency projects in Australian properties saving 45 000 tonnes CO2-e,5 with plans to exceed the targeted 46 000 tonnes CO2-e savings by the end of September 2010. Another 80 projects are in various stages from scoping to implementation supporting the renewable energy sector by purchasing 10 per cent of electricity from accredited Green Power generated from Victorian wind farms. To date, NAB has invested $2 million in Green Power offsetting travel related emissions for measured business travel in Australia and the UK in the 200809 reporting year. In addition, NAB has been involved in government consultation as part of the emerging regulatory environment. In Australia, NAB participated in piloting the Australian Governments online reporting system for National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting and in the UK, has been part of the taskforce on the implementation of the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme. NAB has also engaged in climate change advocacy through responding to the Carbon Disclosure Project information request to companies in Australia and being a signatory to the Bali, Pozna and Copenhagen communiqus on climate change. Next steps NABs initial climate change strategy was planned to run from 2007 to 2010. In 2009 NAB decided to undertake a staged review of its climate change strategy and carbon neutral program, beginning in late 2009, in order to develop the second phase of its strategy from 2010 to the end of 2013. This review process comprises: Feedback sessions with stakeholders. Focus groups and face-to-face interviews cover what stakeholders know NAB implemented to reduce its greenhouse emissions, what they think of this and what they expect of corporates, and in particular banks, in terms of climate change. The sessions include stakeholders such as regulators, environment and sustainability non-government organisations, specific internal groups such as Green Teams and the Australian Environmental Leadership Committee, and Australian customers.

Equivalent carbon dioxide concentration of CO2 that would cause the same level of radiative forcing as a given mixture of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

A survey of employees in parts of the Group who have not yet been surveyed. This will focus on what a sample of these employees think of NABs actions to date and what they consider future goals should include. A visioning session held as part of an internal Climate Change Conference in August 2009, facilitated by futurists. Futurists track relevant trends, analyse them and think creatively about their direction and meaning. The session critically examined what employees thought NAB should and could do for climate change in the future. It also covered the measures NAB had already implemented and explored what the next phase of the strategy and the carbon neutral program could be.

Feedback from the review is contributing to the development of the post-2010 phase of NABs climate change strategy building on the achievements to date. Further reading www.nabgroup.com (Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Responsibility Report) www.climatechange.gov.au

 Bankstown City Council and the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative:

How Bankstown City Council developed community partnerships for sustainable catchment management
Summary Bankstown City Council is a partner in the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative. This project aims to improve the quality of the water in the Cooks River in Sydney, create new relationships within and between the project partners and develop a vision and action plan for six local subcatchments. The council engaged stakeholders in order to develop a vision and actions for the Rookwood Road subcatchment and to build capacity within the council and the community to think about water as an integral part of long-term environmental management and land use planning. This case study shows how Bankstown City Council: used visioning in its long-term water planning developed partnerships for sustainable outcomes worked with internal and external stakeholders to build their knowledge and understanding so they can take action for sustainability. This case study demonstrates the following components of education for sustainability: visioning participation capacity building partnerships critical thinking and reflection systemic thinking. Bankstown City Council achieved these business outcomes: increased engagement with the community improved community and council capacity to integrate water issues into long-term planning

contributing to cleaner water in the Rookwood Road subcatchment through water-sensitive on-ground works in 2010/11 and by engaging and informing the community strong, ongoing partnerships with other councils.

Introduction Bankstown is located in southwestern Sydney and covers around 77 square kilometres. In 2006 the population was approximately 170 000 people with 35.9 per cent born overseas and 32.3 per cent from a nonEnglish speaking background. Bankstown has a well-developed business community of more than 15 000 businesses which employ over 70 000 people. In addition to the central business district, Bankstown City Council area includes an airport and a Strategic Employment Corridor around the M5 Motorway. The Cooks River starts in Bankstown and flows 23 kilometres east and southeast through successive council areas into Botany Bay. The Cooks River catchment covers about 100 square kilometres and has suffered extreme degradation since the start of European settlement. Most of the natural vegetation has been cleared. Dumping of industrial and domestic waste including sewage, and stormwater pollution, have led to a significant decline in water quality. Bankstown City Council is a partner in the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative, funded from 2007 to 2010 by the NSW Environmental Trusts Urban Sustainability Program. Other partners include Ashfield, Canterbury, City of Sydney, Hurstville, Marrickville, Rockdale and Strathfield councils, and the National Urban Water Governance Program at Monash University. The Cooks River Sustainability Initiative aims to: improve the quality of the water that flows into the Cooks River create new relationships within and between councils and the community that will provide ongoing long-term benefits for the Cooks River develop a vision and action plan for six local subcatchments, one of which is the Rookwood Road subcatchment. The project team A project team, physically located at Strathfield Council, administers the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative. A steering committee includes project officers and managers from each council. Members meet every two months to discuss progress on subcatchment planning and action implementation, to share experiences and information, and to provide updates on the governance framework for the river. In addition to the steering committee, there is an Executive Champions Committee consisting of managers and directors from each council. The committee meets every quarter to review an update from the steering committee and discuss any barriers to implementation. The key role of the Executive Champions Committee is to support their project officer (who sits on the steering committee) to manage the work required and to be a strong advocate for change within their own council.

 Research Although the Cooks River is heavily polluted throughout its length, there are different challenges within each council area: there are different types and uses of land, many cultures and communities, and the councils in the catchment are at different stages in their understanding and response to sustainability. To address the diversity of issues in the catchment and to inform the vision and action plan for each subcatchment, research on each council area and the catchment was conducted. This comprised social, physical and organisational profiling. The Cooks River Sustainability Initiative Project Team developed two social profiling questionnaires which were reviewed and approved by the steering committee. The first questionnaire surveyed community attitudes towards water and the environment. This was mailed out. The second surveyed how businesses used water, how they saved water and their current environmental management strategies. This survey was carried out by mail, online and by phone. Physical profiling looked at land use, drainage and water flows in and out of each subcatchment in order to develop a water budget. It highlighted the amount of potable water which could be saved by harvesting and using rainwater, stormwater and wastewater. Organisational profiling involved three components: 1. A high-level survey within each council to find out what staff understood about the environment, sustainability and urban water management. The survey also covered what staff knew about how these areas were currently managed and how well their council performed. 2. A more detailed survey of staff with a direct role in urban water management to drill down into some of the findings from the highlevel survey. 3. A half-day session with key staff involved with urban water management, facilitated by staff from the National Urban Water Governance Program (NUWGP) at Monash University (one of the partners in the project), again to gauge the level of existing knowledge and skills for change within each council. The organisational profiling was extremely valuable because it gave all councils feedback on where they stood in terms of staff capabilities to implement and support integrated urban water management. Bankstown City Council is also involved in the Mid-Georges River Sustainability Initiative (MGRSI). This project provided another opportunity to assess organisational capacity and to learn from the research undertaken at the NUWGP as follows:

The MGRSI focused on Advancing Water Sensitive Urban Design in the Georges River Catchment: A Rapid Assessment of Institutional Capacity in two local government agencies. Early in the project two half-day workshops were held at Bankstown City Council to help staff to gain a better understanding of how the Council manages water and what actions are needed to move towards a more water sensitive city. The workshops for the MGRSI confirmed the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative organisational profiling results with regard to Council's current capacity for sustainable urban water management. The NUWGP had recently completed a three year research project investigating the institutional barriers to sustainable urban water management and the governance factors required to transition to Water Sensitive Cities in Australia. The research highlighted the lack of suitable institutional capacity (skills and knowledge) as the most significant challenge to implementing sustainable urban water management.

The research conducted early on in the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative gave each council a holistic view of the current situation and key issues within its subcatchments. It helped councils understand what the community and business thought about water and how water was viewed as a resource. Importantly, it gave a significant amount of detail as to the current capacity of each council to implement change within the subcatchment so that a plan to develop a vision for the Cooks River could be devised. Developing the vision Following the research stage, the steering committee developed a community consultation plan to feed into development of subcatchment visions and action plans for 2050. The visions and action plans were to focus on four areas: our suburbs, our green spaces, our waterways, and our community. Most councils consulted with their communities as a stand-alone process. However, Bankstown City Council felt that water vision and action plans should be formed more systemically, looking at all the pressures on the subcatchment and acknowledging the conflicts between land use, water and population growth. Council wanted a broader approach rather than just a focus on water because so many other issues were interlinked. Consequently, the team decided to: change the vision end date to 2031 (rather than 2050) to be in line with the NSW Metropolitan Strategy and the local area planning process formulate the vision as part of the local area planning process. There are seven local area plans, one of which covers the Rookwood Road subcatchment, and they are informed by the Bankstown Community Plan. Drafting the community vision and action plan

Council held a community water planning forum for the Rookwood Road subcatchment in October 2009. The participants included 25 people who responded to an open invitation to the community (a broad cross-section was selected) and key stakeholders such as Sydney Water, Landcom (a NSW Government owned developer), TAFE, two councilors and a local community environment group. Before the forum all participants were given background information on land use in the subcatchment, the water budget for the subcatchment and the results of the community water survey. During the forum they were divided into groups and used visions developed from community engagement in Councils Local Area Planning Process to develop goals and actions that would help to turn the visions into reality. Participants were encouraged to work together, to ensure all voices were heard and to think holistically. At the end, the participants voted on the goals and actions they thought had the highest priority. The outcomes from the forum were then used to create the following vision for the subcatchment for 2031: Our streets are beautiful, interactive spaces that are used day and night by the community. Our parks are safe, accessible and sustainable living spaces that connect the community to each other and the environment around them. Our waterways are clean, rainwater and greywater are collected for reuse and the community and other stakeholders work together to promote water conservation and recycling. As a result of this process, participants now see water as an integral part of environmental management and land use planning. Council staff who led the forum increased their knowledge about what is important to the community and how the community views water in the context of councils operations. How to get community ownership of the goals Council sees community involvement as vital to improving water quality. It has supported the community to take ownership of the subcatchment vision, rather than it just being led by council. Examples of community involvement are: local people selecting plantings for regrowth sites and water gardens community events, such as barbeques, at remediation sites when work is completed water tours with residents and businesses to show where water comes from in the subcatchment and where it goes to. These tours show residents and business owners how council treats and reuses water at the council depot; the Padstow raingarden which captures runoff; and the Chullora wetland area which is being rejuvenated by the SouthWest Enviro Centre. After the forum

The vision, goals and action plan were formally drafted and published on the Rookwood Road subcatchment website for community access. The subcatchment management plan will soon be finalised and council will incorporate the actions as part of a new water management framework. Council took the communitys inputs and ensured the goals and actions were linked to strategies in local area plans. The project team then reflected on how best to ensure the community goals were implemented. Council is continuing to use the Executive Champion role to drive this process. The council project team will liaise with the relevant council departments to ensure that the action items are included and prioritised in long-term plans such as the four-year Stormwater Levy Plan and Corporate Plan. Keeping the community informed The Cooks River Sustainability Initiative has a Media and Communications Committee made up of representatives from each council. The committee developed promotional material and media releases on the results of the community water survey and maintains a comprehensive website. A bimonthly newsletter goes to interested community members and Council has reported on the initiative in its environmental newsletter Sustainable Bankstown. Increased sustainability knowledge for council staff The funding from the NSW Environmental Trust specifically allowed for capacity building within the community, Cooks River Sustainability Initiative staff, council staff directly involved in the initiative and other council staff. Steering committee members have increased their understanding and awareness of community issues on water and the environment. They have also gained significant skills in working collaboratively and in thinking critically as a team. The committee is now developing a governance plan to ensure that the actions are implemented, the efforts of each partner council are consolidated and the Cooks River ecosystem is restored. One of the key findings is that change should go beyond planning, implementation and review: it should also be adaptive and respond to new information and feedback. Following its involvement in the Mid-Georges River and Cooks River sustainability initiatives, council invited all staff to a technical workshop about sustainable urban water management. Over 60 staff attended and heard speakers from the University of Western Sydney and the National Urban Water Governance Program discuss the environmental, social and governance issues associated with urban water management. The workshop demonstrated how staff from different backgrounds think differently about solutions to urban water management and water sensitive urban design. The workshop also helped participants think about the backgrounds and values of fellow staff and how to work more effectively with them in the future.

In addition, the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative has: organised technical working group meetings with engineers across the eight councils to discuss and workshop the design of water sensitive urban design initiatives funded council officer attendance at a number of sustainable urban water management training, workshop and conference events in Australia. The partnerships developed across the eight councils in the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative will bring long-term benefits to this part of Sydney through both the technical knowledge gained over the past three years and better ways of councils working with each other and their communities. This group has a huge opportunity to provide valuable input into other urban issues such as land use planning, urban design, energy, waste and population growth in terms of planning, process and policy. The project team made presentations to other council staff on the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative and their work in the Rookwood Road subcatchment, to share the process and outcomes and to develop holistic and critical thinking capacity within council. This included creative thinking about how to fund the initiatives and link them with other actions such as planning car parking (including gardens in the design to capture rainwater runoff from these hard surfaces) and using rainwater harvesting (at the council depot) to reduce water use. The project has also helped Bankstown City Council identify champions who are willing to become involved in more holistic planning and decision making about water. This has created a support base which will help ensure actions are implemented. Next steps As part of the new governance framework that is being investigated for the Cooks River catchment, it is likely that Council will now develop visions, goals and actions for the remaining two subcatchments in its jurisdiction. Council staff will review and reflect on the effectiveness and efficiency of the Rookwood Road process and outcomes and share their conclusions with the steering committee. This process will also be supported by the development of the new governance model for the Cooks River catchment. Critical thinking will identify barriers and levers to successful implementation and staff will reflect on the skills and tools needed to address the issues and continue to improve water quality. Further reading
www.ourriver.com.au/cooks-river www.bankstown.nsw.gov.au/ www.urbanwatergovernance.com

Amcor Safety Integration Project:

How Amcor improved safety and reduced time lost through injuries by integrating sustainability policy and practice across its business operations

Summary Amcor is a large global packaging manufacturer with multiple sites in the Asia Pacific region. One of the challenges Amcor faces is how to implement complex supply chain and service delivery across a range of cultures and regulatory environments. Amcor uses a continuous improvement model, which empowers employees to lead change from the bottom up. Safety is a core part of Amcors sustainability strategy but safety and the creation of safe workplaces often mean different things in different countries. In 2010 Amcor faced the challenge to integrate consistent safety policies and processes in its sites in Australia, New Zealand and several countries in Asia. This case study shows how Amcor: implemented change across multiple sites, divisions, business groups created a strong project team used a capacity building approach to change. This case study demonstrates the following components of education for sustainability: visioning capacity building partnerships critical thinking and reflection. Amcor achieved these business outcomes: less time lost through injuries stronger safety procedures and policies improved culture of safety partnerships across sites and countries

 better reputation internally and externally.

Introduction Amcor manufactures a broad range of plastic, fibre, metal and glass packaging products, and provides packaging-related services. It operates in 43 countries at over 300 sites with approximately 35 000 employees. Amcors belief statement or strategic goal is we believe in responsible packaging. Its core values are about:

Amcor has a goal of no injuries and aims to provide a safe working environment for its employees, contractors and site visitors. In manufacturing companies this goal is vital and Amcor uses a best practice approach to ensure its machines and manual processes are safe. In February 2010 Amcor purchased Alcans manufacturing plants in Asia from Rio Tinto. These, together with Amcors existing sites in Australasia, were combined to form Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, with a head office in Singapore. Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific is one of Amcors six business groups and manufactures flexible packaging for the food and healthcare markets. Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific sites are located across Australia, New Zealand, China, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand and additional sites in India are currently under construction. The Australian and New Zealand operations have high levels of capital investment with state of the art machinery and about 80 to100 employees per site. The Asian operations generally have older, less technologically advanced machinery and are more labour intensive, with up to 400 employees per site. At the time of the February 2010 purchase, all sites had very different environment, health and safety policies and procedures and all operated under different regulatory regimes. At the same time of the February 2010 purchase Amcor created a new Amcor brand allowing both companies to move forward together and create a new Amcor. As part of the move to the new Amcor a 100 day Safety Integration Project was proposed to implement best practice across Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, with a focus on benchmarking safe working practices to ensure Amcor retained its strong safety record. The project team

 The project had strong backing from senior executives, who recognised the need to improve workplace safety as a component of sustainability strategy. The Asia Pacific Vice President of Technical, Research and Development and Continuous Improvement was appointed as project sponsor. The Vice President has extensive experience in manufacturing plants in Asia. An Australian-based project manager (covering Australia and New Zealand) led the project team which included the Asia Pacific Vice President and three Senior Safety Managers from China, Indonesia (also covering India) and Thailand. Of the project team, only the project manager had experience in education for sustainability, having used this change process in previous environment, health and safety improvement programs. Beginning the process Amcors continuing licence to operate depends on how well it manages environmental risk, employee risk and reputation risk. It was clear before the Safety Integration Project started that these risks were identified and managed differently across the sites now part of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific. One of the first actions taken by the project manager and project sponsor was to meet each other and develop a highlevel overview of the existing operations in the three areas of the business which were now amalgamated. They met in Thailand and spent three days looking at each countrys operations in detail. They concluded that, within the newly merged entity of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific (Australia, New Zealand and Asia); the old Amcor Australia and New Zealand sites had strong environment, health and safety systems in place due to a history of strong regulatory requirement and enforcements. Although common systems, the implementation of the systems was decentralised and managed at a site level. Amcor calls this bottom-up approach freedom within boundaries the old Amcor Asia sites had only basic environment, health and safety systems in place although a culture of awareness of safety issues existed the old Alcan sites had strong environment, health and safety systems and practices, despite less strict regulatory environments and enforcement. Risk was managed by a top-down approach of directives rather than consultation with employees. Alcan had also a rolled out a behaviour safety program based on management safety observation tours. Developing the project plan The project team decided that in order to ensure the success of the project they needed to meet face-to-face in the planning stage in order to develop working relationships which support the implementation stage. The project team allocated three days for a visioning workshop in Thailand, led by the project manager.

 At the workshop the participants defined the key issues for the project, which included: differing policies/procedures between countries and sites differing regulatory environments between countries different safety cultures different languages different approaches to building capacity for change for safety i.e. bottom-up versus top-down different factory operations i.e. high versus low levels of capital investment in state of the art machinery and high levels of manual processes in Asia (due to lower cost labour). The divergence of policy and practice, regulatory environment and safety culture identified by the project manager and project sponsor was confirmed at the workshop. In addition, the team agreed that not one site had all elements of best practice and that they could probably get a better outcome for the project by combining best practice examples from all the different and new Amcor sites. The project team worked collaboratively over the three days and thought systemically about the issues. The team developed a vision to integrate and synergise the currently existing environment, health and safety systems to ensure the way to zero incidence. From this vision, they agreed to a set of objectives and key outcomes. This involved comparing and contrasting the specific operating environments at each of the sites and agreeing how to combine the best features from all of them. The planned outcomes were grouped under Amcors three-pronged safety program of leadership culture, good systems, and safe workplaces. The team also wanted to develop and/or strengthen a culture of continuous improvement rather than imposing a huge one-step change. The project team developed a plan for the next 100 days, with timelines for each deliverable and quick wins, which would help build momentum and support for change. At the end of the three days, the project team had formed a strong bond and a good working relationship and better understood the cultural contexts in which they were working. Rather than imposing a single set of policies and practices across the new Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific the project team were able to work creatively to work out the best approach to deliver the safety vision. Importance of the project plan The project plan became critical during implementation when the participants went back to their offices. The plan was designed to be highly visual and to fit on one page. This one pager allowed quick identification of issues, challenges and stumbling blocks. Having all the deliverables simply written in clear English helped overcome potential language barriers between the participants and ensure that everyone understood the priorities and timeframes.

 The project team held fortnightly phone conference calls during the 100 days of the project. Before each meeting team members submitted a progress report (standardised across the sites) to help them understand how the project was progressing. The project manager reviewed the individual reports and summarised them in one page, allowing for a comprehensive birds eye view of progress. Capacity building during implementation Led by the project manager, the team used reflective practice to share and evaluate progress and to build an understanding of what was needed to create a culture of continuous improvement. In the conference calls the project manager used a series of questions to get the team to think about why something had happened faster, slower, or with more or less difficulty than expected. This helped identify country, culture or site specific barriers to implementation. Importantly the conference calls enabled the project team to share their experiences and critically examine their own role in driving change within their respective locations. It especially enabled the team to understand and acknowledge how their own cultural background and values influence their assumptions about change. In between the fortnightly meetings, the project team shared best practice examples and trialled changes at individual sites before rolling out new processes and policies across all sites within a country. There was a high level of phone and email interaction between all project team members and these communications were made easier because of partnerships formed in the three-day visioning session. The project manager also met each fortnight with the team who had overall responsibility for all the integration projects (other than safety integration) that were happening at the same time. This allowed transfer of information and knowledge about successes and barriers to change more broadly across Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific and built capacity and understanding about the cultural and operational differences across the sites. How employees learned to improve workplace safety Implementation at the site level focused on working with site management teams to engage employees in making decisions about safety. This was to empower employees to help drive the changes required and give them permission to create a safety culture rather than it being imposed on them.

 For example, although the ex-Alcan sites in Asia had a program to improve man- machinery interface and safety controls there had been little learning and development to build the capacity of the employees to think about safety and actively develop new processes and operations to improve safety. To build capacity the project team developed the modified Safety Behaviour Program, which was rolled out across all sites in the business group. The purpose of this program was to develop strong partnerships with employees with the message We care about your safety because you are important to us and your family. The program includes a Safety Leadership Tour. The employees working on the factory floor give managerial level staff (technical and nontechnical) at the site a tour of their work, walking through their daily machine and manual handling activities. The manager then asks questions like: That was a risk, how could it be improved? and What do you think you could do to increase safety?. The questions are open-ended and designed so the managers can observe the processes and get feedback from factory floor staff. The purpose is to give ownership of safe working practices to factory floor employees so they become more aware of how safety can be improved and assist site managers in making change. The manager is not allowed to take notes during this half-hour tour. The manager needs to be, and to be seen to be, listening and asking questions. After the tour the manager completes a short report about any unsafe behaviour, ideas for change and follow up which is given to the site manager for action. In order to build these tours into normal factory operations, the project team was able to include a site level key performance indicator of the number of safety leadership tours per million hours worked into monthly site safety reporting. This will help monitor how many tours are conducted and whether the tours help build capacity and reduce injuries and reportable cases. The project team also introduced a program to share good practice solutions for reducing risk in our factories. Outcomes of the Safety Integration Project Outcomes were planned over different timeframes. In the short term the focus was to ensure that the activities undertaken at each site delivered the intended change. Each fortnight for 100 days the project team measured actual outcomes against objectives, both in changes to policies, systems and procedures and whether project deadlines were met. The project one pager summaries were an invaluable tool as they effectively measured progress whilst allowing adjustments to the original plan.

 In the medium term the focus was on capacity building to improve existing and create new safety cultures. Through this process each project team member identified key site staff who could be moved into a safety leader role. This helped to reiterate the value Amcor places on safety and also to provide an accessible point of contact for factory floor employees. This role is especially important in those sites where safety was not originally part of the site culture. There was also significant capacity building within the project team. The team members developed ways of working together across geographic and cultural boundaries and used critical and systemic thinking to plan and implement change. They have already used these skills and the strong working partnership they formed for other projects. In Australia, the project manager made a presentation to the Amcor Australasia Executive Team about the project, including the success of the Safety Behaviour Program and how the Safety Integration Project has improved risk management across Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific. The Safety Leadership tours will now also be rolled out across the Amcor Australasia business. Site managers indicated that the Safety Integration Project quickly created a much more bottom-up approach to change with a clearer direction around what a safety culture looks like. Staff at all levels started to suggest ways to improve safety. Some ideas came through the Safety Leadership Tours. Partnerships Amcor Australasia has a Safety Leadership Council, set up for senior safety managers across all business units of Amcor in Australia and New Zealand. The council meets each month and its purpose is to transfer knowledge and lessons learnt across the business. The project manager is part of the council, to share the thinking processes involved in the Safety Integration Project and how the objectives were delivered. The project manager also gained from being part of the council as the safety leadership culture component of the integration project was sourced from discussion with this group of managers.

 Safety Action is an external training organisation which has delivered safety training for Amcor and designed and run staff surveys in Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific. Safety Action has a strong background in manufacturing and safety and runs quarterly breakfast meetings attended by leading safety managers. The purpose of these meetings is to showcase projects implemented by Safety Actions clients and the project manager has been invited to present the outcomes of the Safety Integration Project at this forum. The presentation will hopefully strengthen connections with other manufacturing companies, as many of the attendees face similar business risks to Amcor. The partnerships formed in this forum are a valuable source of industry information and best practice in safety. Next steps The project team will continue to monitor and measure the outcomes of the Safety Integration Project over the next 12 months in order to ensure change is embedded within Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific. Shared projects will continue beyond the 100 day integration project and the members of the team are still very much in contact with each other and consult either individually or as a team on a range of issues. The project manager has become a mentor to the senior safety managers and supports them to think creatively, aligned with the vision of no injuries. Significant corporate knowledge has been built as a result of the project and the challenge will be to continue using this knowledge in the future. Further reading www.amcor.com/about_us/sustainability_amcor www.beingamcor.com