Develop Talent

Identify your desired sustainability competencies

To bolster your sustainability efforts identify the competencies your team members need, such as an understanding of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues, lifecycle and systems thinking, supplier inclusion and diversity, and the capacity to communicate the value of sustainability to suppliers and internal business partners. Consider integrating these sustainability competencies into your existing competency matrix to build a sustainability-focused team that can contribute positively towards your procurement function.

You should also ensure procurement role descriptions reflect the importance of these sustainability competencies and that progress towards them becomes a key topic in feedback sessions, performance reviews, and promotion decisions.

EXAMPLE: HP's Eco-advocates program

HP drew on sustainability experts worldwide to craft its internal education platform, providing employees access to podcast and webcast modules on various subjects, including conflict minerals, greenwashing, and the circular economy. Through the program, employees across the organisation learn to brief others on these issues.¹

Create a procurement team development plan

Identify your procurement team's sustainability related skills gaps and establish a development plan to address them. Sustainability-focused upskilling involves facilitating training and development opportunities. This may include building your team’s understanding of sustainability issues or equipping them with communication tools to articulate the value of sustainability when engaging with value chain partners and other stakeholders.

Draw on your sustainability team to assist in addressing these skill and knowledge gaps. You will also need to ensure that the necessary resources are allocated to development, including budget and release time.

EXAMPLE: Microsoft's Holistic Approach to Upskilling for Sustainability

Microsoft recognises the value of on-the-job training and promotes the growth of sustainable skills within its existing workforce.² It utilises a comprehensive strategy that includes setting sustainability training goals, promoting in-house academies and rotations, and employing an upskilling strategy. The aim is to build a talent pipeline while also encouraging a broader, skills-focused approach to identifying potential talent, including from diverse backgrounds and unrelated previous roles.

EXAMPLE: Patagonia experiential learning tours

Patagonia attributes its adoption of organic cotton to employee farm tours that instilled deep and lasting support to drive its supply chain transition to organic. ³

EXAMPLE: Energy company cascades companywide sustainability direction down to the functional level

INNIO, a natural gas and hydrogen company, has created a "Sustainability Review Board" to coordinate procurement efforts on sustainability. It communicates the team's overall direction, shares trends, and raises awareness of regulations. To ensure everyone has the knowledge they need, it organises monthly training workshops and sends targeted communications to different roles.⁴

EXAMPLE: Sustainability tip sheet at Walgreens Boots Alliance

Walgreens Boots Alliance launched a sustainability tip sheet that highlighted key ESG targets and goals to increase baseline knowledge about sustainability within the organisation. A greater understanding supported the procurement departments abilities to advance sustainability conversations with suppliers and created a foundation for meaningful supplier engagement.⁵

Provide opportunities for external learning

Leverage opportunities for experiential, cross-industry, and cross-sector networking activities to provide practitioners with new perspectives. These experiences can help deepen their understanding of sustainability issues and galvanise their commitment to sustainability. The type of experiences can vary. For instance, you could tour supplier facilities or local communities to better appreciate sustainability issues on the ground.⁶ Or you could invite guest speakers to share new ideas. Their insights and perspectives will be received more openly if you bring in peer experts with an insider understanding that they can trust.⁷ You could also organise reflective exercises that allow employees to examine their thinking on sustainability topics.

EXAMPLE: Bringing community leaders and procurers together⁸ The Belgian NGO CATAPA hosts speaker tours featuring Latin American activists discussing mining impacts, Indigenous rights, and environmental degradation. They connect with procurers, highlighting procurement's role in mitigating these impacts and providing insights on fostering sustainable practices through supplier and community collaboration.