Applying the system conditions

The Natural Step (TNS) System Conditions define a set of basic issues that must be met in a sustainable society. How can these System Conditions be applied to a business's everyday operations?

TNS has developed and tested an approach to help businesses to incorporate sustainability into their business strategies.

The A-B-C-D Analytical Approach includes four elements, which are repeated as the business progresses along various pathways towards sustainability. The process usually begins with a short, intensive session with key decision-makers, and proceeds according to the capacity, priorities and resources within the business, covering all four steps with a team drawn from across the organisation.

A = AwarenessThe first phase involves aligning your business around a common understanding of sustainability and the 'whole-systems' context for their organisation.

A presentation of The Natural Step principles of sustainability, basic science and whole-systems approach provides a platform from which strategies for living in balance with nature and our global community are developed. Participants review details of the state of the earth's systems, including the ecological, social and economic trends that are undermining our ability to create and manage healthy and prosperous businesses and communities.

B = Baseline MappingWhat does your business look like today?

This phase consists of conducting a Sustainability Gap Analysis of the major flows and impacts of your business, using the System Conditions, to see how your activities are running counter to sustainability principles. This allows the business to identify
critical sustainability issues, the business implications and opportunities for moving forward.

Bounded by natural systems and communities, this analysis includes the impacts of a business's entire supply chain and an evaluation of products and services, energy, capital and human resources from 'cradle to grave'.

Another critical component of the assessment is the social context and
organisational culture, which provide dimensions to the analysis essential for understanding how changes can be positively introduced into the system.

C = Creating a VisionWhat does your business look like in a sustainable society? Imagine what your operations will look like in a sustainable society based upon the four System Conditions.

In this phase, key decisionmakers and stakeholders work together to create a compelling long-term vision for a sustainable enterprise. It is here that businesses often begin to identify the service they are providing the world independent of any one product (for example, providing energy services versus oil).

Incorporating this awareness into the visioning process unleashes innovation and releases the company from certain existing limitations.
From this vision, businesses develop a strategy and action plan for moving towards sustainability.

Strategies are developed based on looking backwards from a vision of success, a method we call "Backcasting" from principles. This prevents the group from setting a direction based on simply overcoming the problems of today. Instead, they begin moving towards a shared vision and goal of sustainability, with each action intended to provide a platform for further improvement.

Opportunities and potential actions are identified and prioritised, with priority given to measures that move the business toward sustainability fastest, while optimising flexibility as well as maximising social, ecological and economic returns.

D = Down to ActionSupporting Effective, Step-by-Step Implementation.

Businesses set their priorities for improvement, based on the vision they have created.

Phase four consists of advising and supporting the execution of specific initiatives by providing appropriate training, techniques, and tools for implementation, followed by measuring progress towards goals and suggesting modifications as needed. Backcasting is used on an ongoing basis as a method for continually assessing decisions and actions in terms of whether or not they move the business towards the desired future outcome identified in Step C.

Sustainability principles provide new design parameters that drive product and process innovation throughout the business system. This phase also incorporates organisational learning and change methods, which are both essential for effectively moving people into new ways of thinking and behaving together.

Once a person masters the principles, they can get more and more skilled at handling the details. In a sense, the principles help people to stay on course as they process the myriad bits of information and
decisions involved in long-term planning. What is considered to be realistic today never determines the direction of change, only its pace.

The approach is fundamentally based on systems thinking, setting ambitious goals, and developing realistic strategies for moving forward.

Systems Thinking

One aspect of systems thinking is analysing and adhering to the overall principles of a system. These principles ensure that decision-makers have clear guides for assessing various options.

Setting Stretch Goals

The visioning process is one place where individuals are encouraged to come up with ambitious goals for their businesses, which may require radical changes in how an institution operates.

Some goals may take many years to achieve. Once sustainability stretch goals are set, TNS advocates astep-by step implementation strategy.

Step-By-Step

Businesses are not expected to achieve long-term goals immediately. On the contrary, they are encouraged to move systematically by making investments that will provide benefits in the short-term,
while also retaining a long-term perspective.

Businesses can use the Framework to map-out a series of steps that will eventually lead to sustainability.

Finally, businesses using the Framework are encouraged to start with the "low hanging fruit," and to take the steps that are easiest and will achieve results that help move an business closer to its goals.