Why sustainability certification is a process or journey, not a destination

Organ­isa­tions can reap bene­fits while pur­su­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion, which can extend far bey­ond the acquis­i­tion of the cer­ti­fic­ate itself, accord­ing to Kev­in Phun.

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.)

We have often heard that: “Suc­cess is a jour­ney, not a destination”. 

The second part of the quote is: “The doing is often more import­ant than the outcome.”

BrainyQuote attrib­utes these words to Amer­ic­an ten­nis play­er Arthur Ashe.

The jour­ney is the main thing. Enjoy the jour­ney and seize the many oppor­tun­it­ies it brings. ‘Suc­cess’ may very well come along for the ride.

Some might say that the same prin­ciple applies to life in gen­er­al, and to travel.

I would say that it also applies to sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion; the jour­ney through the pro­cess of becom­ing more sus­tain­able rather than an end in itself.

Don’t miss oth­er “Good Tour­ism” con­tent tagged with ‘Sus­tain­able tour­ism and regen­er­at­ive tour­ism’

Cer­ti­fic­a­tion is a pro­cess through which we dis­cov­er how far away the cur­rent stand­ards of the organ­isa­tion are to pre­scribed stand­ards; pre­scribed stand­ards that are likely to evolve as new tech­no­lo­gies and dif­fer­ent ways of doing things emerge. 

Cer­ti­fic­a­tion and its renew­al is a pro­cess of bridging this dynam­ic gap.

The sustainability certification process creates change

The sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion pro­cess cre­ates change: Change in the per­spect­ives and mind­sets of all involved; change in the way things are done and in the way pro­cesses are designed; and change in how people, includ­ing lead­ers, per­ceive sus­tain­ab­il­ity to be an oppor­tun­ity rather than a threat. 

In order to max­im­ise the oppor­tun­it­ies that an organ­isa­tion iden­ti­fies dur­ing the cer­ti­fic­a­tion pro­cess, the indi­vidu­al and/or com­mit­tee selec­ted to assist it through the pro­cess is import­ant. Who gets to lead the pro­cess, or sit on the com­mit­tee, heav­ily determ­ines the qual­ity of the journey. 

They must be effect­ive change managers.

Don’t miss oth­er “Good Tour­ism” con­tent tagged with ‘Cer­ti­fic­a­tion, stand­ards, and best practices’

Meet­ing the stand­ards of cer­ti­fic­a­tion forces organ­isa­tions to look at exist­ing part­ner or sup­pli­er rela­tion­ships and con­sider for­ging new ones; assess new ways to engage guests or cus­tom­ers; and raise the stand­ards of products and employ­ee performance. 

For­ging strong rela­tion­ships with new sup­pli­ers, or even stronger rela­tion­ships with exist­ing sup­pli­ers, and enga­ging with cus­tom­ers dur­ing the cer­ti­fic­a­tion pro­cess — par­tic­u­larly if there will be a change in the per­ceived value equa­tion of costs versus bene­fits — are key steps towards help­ing extern­al stake­hold­ers bet­ter under­stand the new dir­ec­tion of the organisation. 

Enga­ging sup­pli­ers, cus­tom­ers, and employ­ees as the organ­isa­tion thinks about ways to meet the many sus­tain­ab­il­ity cri­ter­ia allows all stake­hold­er groups to under­stand the (hope­fully high­er) value of the end products. 

The sustainability certification process tests relationships

Need­less to say, intern­al and extern­al com­mu­nic­a­tions are vital. 

For many organ­isa­tions, the fin­an­cial invest­ment in meet­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion stand­ards is often less than the hours put into the pro­cess. This places great respons­ib­il­ity on employ­ees as they imple­ment what is required to become more sus­tain­able, acquire new skill sets, and per­haps even grapple with new ways of thinking. 

Employ­ees may there­fore expect bet­ter work­ing con­di­tions and/or remuneration.

Build­ing new rela­tion­ships with sup­pli­ers is some­thing that many do not read­ily asso­ci­ate with sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion. The pro­cess of meet­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion cri­ter­ia forces an organ­isa­tion to look into how sus­tain­able their sup­ply chain is lest they out­source poor practices. 

Read more “Good Tour­ism” Insights by Kev­in Phun

If an organ­isa­tion wishes to con­tin­ue work­ing with long-stand­ing sup­pli­ers, then they must encour­age them to also align with the stand­ards. This may cre­ate ten­sion. How­ever, should sup­pli­ers view the new expect­a­tions as an oppor­tun­ity rather than a threat, they may be able to attract new sus­tain­ab­il­ity-con­scious clients.

Sim­il­arly, edu­cat­ing cus­tom­ers about the pur­pose of sus­tain­ab­il­ity is anoth­er aspect of the cer­ti­fic­a­tion pro­cess that may test long-stand­ing rela­tion­ships, par­tic­u­larly if there is a change in price or product that neg­at­ively affects per­ceived value. How­ever, con­sumers increas­ingly buy into sus­tain­ab­il­ity stor­ies so there is an oppor­tun­ity to pick up new cus­tom­ers in an increas­ingly sus­tain­ab­il­ity-con­scious world. 

The sustainability certification process makes things better

The sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion pro­cess, if approached with an eye for oppor­tun­ity, can make things bet­ter for an organ­isa­tion across a wide range of aspects:

• Raised oper­a­tion­al stand­ards and qual­ity of work; from pro­duc­tion to cus­tom­er ser­vice to eth­ic­al standards;
• Improved image and repu­ta­tion and the oppor­tun­ity to be posi­tioned among the industry leaders;
• Reduced costs, where sus­tain­able prac­tices save money, can off­set sus­tain­able prac­tices that are more expens­ive but necessary;
• Renew­al and regen­er­a­tion, par­tic­u­larly in an organ­isa­tion that was pre­vi­ously stuck in a com­fort zone; the suc­cess­ful jour­ney towards sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion forces organ­isa­tions to engage new people, learn new things, explore new products, and even look to new markets. 

To con­clude, the pro­cess or jour­ney towards sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion is just as if not more import­ant than the cer­ti­fic­a­tion itself. It comes with changes, chal­lenges, learn­ings, new and strengthened friend­ships, and opportunities. 

Best of all, the jour­ney doesn’t end with the certificate …

Agree? Dis­agree? What do you think? Share a short anec­dote or com­ment below. Or write a “GT” Insight of your own. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog wel­comes diversity of opin­ion about travel & tour­ism because travel & tour­ism is everyone’s business.

Fea­tured image (top of post): Is sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion a jour­ney rather than a des­tin­a­tion? Singa­pore garden image by Paula Prekop­ova (CCO) via Unsplash.

About the author

Kev­in Phun is a spe­cial­ist in respons­ible tour­ism who com­bines tour­ism and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment know­ledge and expert­ise. He is the founder of the Centre for Respons­ible Tour­ism Singa­pore (CRTS) and can be reached at kevin[at]crts.asia.