ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the process of embedding sustainability, sharing the key challenges and solutions companies uncover along the way. In essence, embedding sustainability breaks the expected sequence of change management. While most successful transformations rely heavily on top-down commitment, a number of companies have succeeded by harvesting the power of line managers to champion and sponsor change. For most companies, the initial sponsorship comes from senior management. Getting senior management commitment and sponsorship creates a springboard for all future action and makes the job of aligning a company's many interests and functions all that much easier. Globally present Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Nike, Waste Management and many others draw insight and develop collective knowledge via the Society for Organizational Learning's Sustainability Consortium. On the opposite page is how the appreciative inquiry summit process looks when utilized for embedded sustainability. The 2005 summit laid the foundation for a complete overhaul of Fair-mount Minerals' strategy and practices.
