The Natural Step Framework for Long Term Sustainability
Download a Summary of The Natural Step Framework.
In nature, nothing operates independently. This is also true for our economy and society. But the visions that drive our decisions often focus on one at the expense of the others.
The Natural Step Framework provides a systems perspective for long term sustainability. It focuses on the triple bottom line, recognizing the interdependence of our decisions on nature, the economy and society. The Framework is a comprehensive model for balanced, responsible decision making. It is based on science and has been successfully applied to hundreds of complex organizations and communities.
The Framework is constantly tested, refined and improved. The results speak for themselves. Strategic sustainability is the necessary foundation for real transformation.
How Strategic Sustainability Supports Success: Systems are dynamic. What happens in one part of a system affects every other part. Think of a soccer team. To understand how the team wins or loses a game, we must examine how each player contributed to the total effort. Focusing on an individual player will not give us a complete picture. The TNS Framework gives an organization the tools to look at the whole team, understand the rules of the game, define success, create strategies and align actions.
A successful team needs a common language and vision to perform effectively. The Framework guides everyone to a clear view of the entire system within which the goals and strategies will be tested. This helps eliminate assumptions or habitual approaches to solutions, creating opportunity for innovative thinking.
Green initiatives tend to be tactical, focusing on specific tasks or isolated outcomes. While these may be successful, they do not address solutions within a systems context. They may only divert the problem rather than solve it. The Framework is strategic. It coordinates and aligns initiatives under a broader vision to maximize return on effort and investment.
Using The Natural Step Framework creates a unified view of the activities necessary to achieve sustainability. It helps organizations act strategically to achieve goals throughout the organization.
The Framework evolved over 20 years of experience, successes and challenges, with the influence of many different management concepts. Successful application involves
a strategic process that is a guiding compass, providing direction and flexibility.
Change is about creating and maintaining momentum in dynamic groups of people. Each practitioner may approach implementation differently, but we share a common vision for change.
What is the organization’s relationship to the biosphere? In soccer, this level is governed by the rules of the game and the shape of the field. Understanding this reveals what is possible, what is habitual and what is limited by assumptions. Innovation is often triggered by these realizations.
What is your organization’s vision for success? Filtering innovative ideas through the four principles or system conditions can create a transformative vision for success.
Not all innovations generated will align with principals of sustainability or with the organization’s goals. Through a process called Backcasting, we work backwards from the ultimate goal to establish the steps and prioritization of actions to successfully achieve the vision.
With clear strategies in place, step by step coordinated actions are possible, building each success on the previous. This alignment of actions reduces misdirection, conserves resources and improves overall organizational performance. Equipment, real estate, vendor contracts, carbon offsets – all actions are guided by a sustainable strategy.
These are the management tactics and metrics, the means to monitor our actions to execute strategies and arrive at success within the system. At the beginning of a chess game, we don't know what the final moves will be. But, each decision is guided by a clear understanding of the definition of success - checkmate. It is the same with sustainable development. Applying the principles of sustainability within the system is a step-by-step approach to achieve those principles of success.
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