iigy / ESG Interest Group Problem Framing Meeting

What is it like to be on the hot seat for a decision with ESG content?  What can Decision Professionals do to help make ESG decisions a little easier?  Join us at this meeting where we review Empathy Maps from executives describing their experiences wrestling with these issues and collaborate with fellow decision professionals to develop “How Might We” problem statement that focus our own innovation efforts.  SDP’s Innovation Interest Group (iigy) and ESG interest group are conducting a joint Design Thinking project to improve ESG decisions.  Curious about what these decision are actually like?  Have perspective on decision making in this area?  Want to learn about innovation and design thinking?  Join us at this working meeting. No prior experience required.

Executives have shared with us their experiences in the following decision situations:

1. Have your cake and eat it too – ESG goals are attributes in an offering (e.g. low carbon), and we will deliver on what customers are willing to pay for.  How do we know if customers will really pay for it?  Where should we place our bets on what customers will buy?
2. Skate to where the puck will be – It is clear that the world is changing, and we can make an ESG-related move now that will clearly result in greater profitability later.  There is a small cost now, and we need to tweak our P&L accountability metrics a bit to make it happen.
3. Do we trust the process? – Our robust supply chain process vets suppliers on ESG criteria and delivers the qualified vendors we need to meet our cost and ESG targets.  But what choice do you make if you don’t like the recommendations the process delivers?
4. Brave New World – We have ESG objectives, but they aren’t fully built into our business processes (e.g. AI or substances of concern) and so individual decisions are all over the map.  Can we get ahead of a developing trend by creating an ad hoc decision committee to make choices and set precedent?
5. Second Fiddle – We are excited about our positive role in ESG and have ambitious goals, but we are also really busy running our core business.  When an attractive ESG opportunity pops up, is it really worth our executive time?  Maybe we have more important problems to work on.
6. Null Hypothesis – I have a big title and important role in ESG efforts at my company.  But my job is fundamentally compliance, PR, change management and advocacy.  I don’t really have decisions to make or substantively contribute to them.

Have you encountered any of these problematic decision scenarios in your world?  Help us figure out how Decision Professionals can make a difference for these frustrated executives!

Join our iigy / ESG project and join our meeting on 16^th January!