Malcolm McIntosh

More managers are learning to act as 'partisans' for the cause of sustainability. These are people working beneath the corporate radar to initiate and move forward the kinds of projects which can alter the perspective and direction of a whole organisation.

Why would they want to do it? This is a risky area. By questioning policy in areas which could affect costs, profitability and traditional practices, the partisans are immediately setting themselves up as counter-cultural. They essentially become 'intrapreneurs', entrepreneurs working within organisations who have a new business proposition, and they have to face the hard-nosed scrutiny that comes with sticking their head above the parapet.

I was recently involved in a series of roundtables on Sustainable Enterprise held in London, Cape Town, Brussels, Geneva and Toronto, which aimed to bring together partisans of this kind in an attempt to identify and draw together approaches for changing their businesses. In particular they attempted to reconcile two pressing issues: the need for resourceful, innovative and creative communities that reward enterprise; and the imperative for all enterprise to be environmentally light-footed and socially responsible.

The roundtables brought together diverse groups of stakeholders from business, government, non-governmental organisations and civil society – big and small; from design, finance, retail and fashion. Despite the differences, the participants shared a common motivation: not a sense of personal or organisational opportunity, but a genuine feeling that the current system of enterprise is fundamentally flawed and that sustainability is an imperative.

Our participants reflected on the fact that there is no roadmap for how to respond to the kinds of complex challenges that developing a sustainable business and a sustainable enterprise economy involves. Yet progress is being made and the partisans shared a number of strategies they have used to achieve change.

The first step in any successful partisan campaign has to be developing an understanding of the lie of the land. Take time over developing knowledge of the organisation culture, especially whoever pulls the financial and other strings at senior levels and how to gain their support.

Patience is also a virtue, according to our attendees. Go public with new ideas for sustainable operations too quickly and it's likely you'll be shot down. Instead, marshal the right evidence for the right people, and choose the right moment; getting the chief financial officer, or whoever it is who deals with the money side of the operation on board is key. In order to achieve this, outside expertise is often a powerful ally. Scientists or experts on specific issues relating to what the business is doing, and both the necessity and realistic potential for sustainable alternatives, often provide strong and independent credence to business proposals.

Certain characteristics are also essential. We found that successful pioneers tend to be comfortable with ambiguity and complexity but are also very practical. Furthermore they tend to work in small groups of not more than four or five people in any one organisation.

But if there's one issue which has emerged most clearly from the roundtables and the insights from the new breed of corporate partisans, it is the power of conversation.

It sounds very simple, but although organisations might have their own individual plans and interests, no-one is talking to anyone else to create a consensus on what's achievable and the way forward with regards to sustainability. It is simply by sparking these conversations that committed green partisans can often have the greatest impact within their organisations.

In a multi-polar world of competing stakeholder interests, who will stand up for people and planet above all else? Vested interest groups will naturally tend to work for their own causes, even while acknowledging the common good. New constitutions, arrangements and governance systems that address this hard reality will be needed to prove the success of the sustainable enterprise economy. And these roundtables have shown us the power in bringing together partisans currently forging those new systems to talk, spark new synergies, find inspiration and identify potential new ways forward for us all.

Professor Malcolm McIntosh is director of the Applied Research Centre for Human Security at Coventry University.

He is a former BBC documentary film-maker, a pioneer of corporate citizenship, and special advisor to the UN's Global Compact and DEFRA's UK Sustainable Development Commission.