The model includes the community (stakeholders) within an organization and those external to the organization, the combination of which we call the Organizational Community. Thinking about the Organizational Community from a different perspective, the analogy in Sustainability would be to compare the Broader Organizational Community to include the people, all the immediate and residual effects and impacts on the environment and people included in Scope 1, 2, and Scope 3 GHG emissions would include. 

In the context of the extractive industry, the strength in the overall Collaborative Community Development Model is to build while working with the community around their needs by weaving personal development, leadership development, education, health care, infrastructure and community-based enterprise into each aspect of the community and its development. This builds trust and creates an environment where the community feels and experiences a sense of ownership and the ability to autonomously create the future and environment they want for their children and their communities.

The key to the success of Collaborative Sustainable Community Development is Mindset and making Mindset integral to the implementation of the model. When we consider the amount of investment into human capital most organizations make it is significant. Understanding the people within your organization can lead to substantial rewards if you act on what you learn by engaging your employees at a deeper and more relevant level while embracing and developing mindset focused on specific and targeted outcomes. The benefits of an integrated model of employee engagement that promotes and integrates the Mindset of Sustainability™ within an Organizational Community can be significant; from higher sustained levels of customer satisfaction; high employee satisfaction; to corporate growth in both net earnings and revenue and the perceived value of an organization in the eyes of the consumer. The benefits are all talked about and reported on extensively; saying it is one thing. Bringing it into reality in a meaningful and measurable way is another.

The good news is that it really can be done through a focused, incremental step-by-step and iterative approach built around common concepts and principles.

Let’s begin by creating a picture using an analogy - Collaboration vs. Teamwork

The concept of this analogy was shared with me by a partner, Sarah Miller Caldicott. 

Teamwork - You’re the fastest person on your running team and at a team meet while running the race, you slip and fall and cannot continue, your teammate who’s been running ahead of you to give you the benefit of the slip stream to preserve your energy sees it and pours on the energy finishing the race for the team, while your coach gets you off the road. The Team WINS! Why? Well in a team you all work together and we have built in redundancy and support, so the team can prevail without all members of the team having to make the same contribution. The end result is good but not necessarily the best the team could have provided.

Collaboration - You and your teammate are running a race together, except in this race you each HAVE to work together, support each other AND contribute your best to be successful. Why? Well, it’s a 3-legged race and you’re physically tied together. The two of you learn, adapt, grow AND finish the race TOGETHER. Collaboration is a little different.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Start with the individual - Understand the NOW

Why is collaboration is so important? For an organization to succeed at every level and to grow sustainably it is important that EVERY person be able to contribute their best to the ultimate benefit of the broader organizational community and each of the individuals it touches. To accomplish this, we need to start with the person; to begin the process to understand ‘the now’ at an individual level. How do the individuals in the organization think? What are their perceptions of themselves and the organization and its leaders? What are they truly passionate about? Who is the leader within? In other words, what is their current Mindset and who are your champions? By creating a listening, an understanding, and embracing the individual we create the context to develop and move a team in the direction we want to go. During this phase it is important to not only understand the mindset but to enhance the mindset by enabling individuals to see they matter and can contribute in the context of the whole. Empowering the individual begins by creating the space for each to participate and contribute to creating the ‘rules of the game’ that they each see as important to being able to create change, include what they are passionate about and to be enabled to contribute. We’re really defining policy and creating governance at a micro level, self-governance if you will.

Build the team to surface talent and broader perspective

Look around you; I’m sure you can identify a number of successful teams perhaps at work, in your family, in your leisure activities or in professional sports. What works in the team environment? Champions lead the effort to create buy-in. They support the adoption of the ‘rules of the game’ helping to create group-centric approaches to building and supporting vision, values and alignment. This serves the team as more individual talents and perspectives are surfaced and create visibility as to how they apply in the team environment. People start to think creativity and look for innovative ways to accomplish objectives and do things ‘better’, more efficiently. The team moves from individual values to team values to a cohesive set of principles that allow individuals with teams and whole team to collaborate.

Collaborate to truly engage employees and stakeholders - Take it to the MAX

By building a collaborative environment from the individual up through teams and to the entire organization we provide the organization with a ‘toolbox’ and reference to enable sustainability and corporate responsibility within the fabric of the corporate decision-making process. This enables individual passion and accountability at each level, driving change and growth across the entire organization and within the broader Organizational Community. The ‘toolbox’ includes the processes, systems and techniques that assist in the evaluation, understanding and ‘simplification’ of corporate decision-making, current policy and guidelines, new initiatives, projects and undertakings to be able to embed, coach and support sustainability and ‘community development’ in each area of the business rather than simply departmentalizing it. Engagement and development takes place at every level of the team spanning from the Front-line to the Executive team and Board-level.

As the teams at each level within an organization move out of their comfort zones and engage the broader notion of Organizational Community and apply the principles of a collaborative environment to tailor the concepts and strategies learned by drawing on leadership experience as part of the strategic planning and ‘corporate liberation’, the organization can bring the notion of ‘Giving Back’ into the now to truly drive corporate sustainability and growth.

Collaborative Sustainable Community Development is about engaging iteratively at a personal, team and organizational (community) level to enable innovation and creativity that empower your employees to implement organizational strategies and create real, sustainable change and growth for the benefit of the entire Organizational Community.

Your Comments: Let us know what you think. For more information and to find out more about our work and how we can support your organization, please contact us using the information provided below.

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Manzimvula® is a values-based as a consulting practice and a Certified B Corporation, and specializes in sustainability and corporate responsibility. To stimulate ingenuity and create growth, we work alongside our clients, guiding them through our Purposeful Path to Sustainability Program™ utilizing our Integrative Strategy Approach™ to help them engage their organization at a deeper level to understand mindset and create alignment with core strategies and principles.

For more information please contact us at:

e-mail: info@manzimvula.com