Most sustainability efforts fail because they’re treated like a box to tick… not a culture to build.

If you want sustainability to stick, it has to belong to your people, not just your policy binder.

Here are 3 practical ways to embed it into your culture:

1️⃣ Appoint sustainability champions
These are volunteers across your teams who keep momentum going, share ideas, and inspire others to act.

2️⃣ Align KPIs and incentives with values
Create social & environmental company KPIs alongside your economic ones. When performance targets reflect your values, positive action becomes the norm.

3️⃣ Make time for reflection
Every quarter, ask: What worked? What didn’t? What can we improve? This keeps learning alive and ensures culture leads the change — not just policy.

While supporting Aubin & Wills to become B Corp certified, whose leadership team is based in Cheltenham, we embedded B Corp principles into their culture in real, practical ways:

• Asked staff their opinions on Aubin’s social & environmental performance and where they could improve
  
• Shared regular People & Planet updates throughout the transformation journey
  
• Rolled out a staff People & Planet newsletter
  
• Formalised onboarding, training & performance reviews to include social & environmental objectives
  
• Created an internship programme
  
• Introduced regular staff satisfaction surveys
  
• Updated the staff handbook to clarify benefits & opportunities
  
• Started offering volunteering opportunities
  
• Matched individual charitable donations
  
• Let staff choose which charities receive company donations

When your culture leads the change, sustainability feels natural, not forced.

If you’d like to talk about how to bring your team along with you on your social & environmental responsibility journey, contact Camilla Barnes of Better Business. Better World to arrange your free Green Gap Review (either online or at C2S HQ) camilla@betterbusinessbetterworld.org

[Photo: Camilla Barnes celebrating Aubin & Wills’ B Corp status with Charlotte Roberts, People & B Corp manager at Aubin & Wills at She’s Electric event at fellow B Corp Daylesford Organic]