Integrators are crucial for a business due to the rapid expansion of new technologies and hybrid work models. These people can make or break a company and directly influence positive business results.
First – What’s an Integrator?
Integrators drive revenue and bring organization to all aspects of a business. When you’re hiring an integrator, it should be simple to see why they’re perfect to head up a sustainability team.
Still, how do you choose the right person for the job with such a vague definition?
First of all, prospective integrators are graced with a certain skill set and personality traits that not everyone possesses. Some of the skills you should be looking for in an integrator include leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and strategic thinking. As for traits, desirable ones include reliability, responsibility, flexibility and adaptability.
Lastly, the nature of a person matters a whole lot. People likely to become stellar integrators possess these manners:
- A balanced orientation – the capability to strike balance between the extremes that sometimes arise between the members of the departments whose efforts they are integrating
- Balanced behavior patterns – the capability to demonstrate appropriate behavior patterns towards each individual whose efforts they are integrating
- Decision-making based on knowledge and competence (as opposed to positional authority)
- Sense of unity where overall results are being valued over integrator’s individual performance
- Ability to resolve all kinds of disputes and conflicts efficiently
When choosing the right person, keep in mind that the candidate should possess skills compatible with your industry and shares the same vision and goals with the business.
How Important Are Integrators for Sustainability?
Nowadays, everyone seems obsessed with sustainability. Businesses are investing heavily in making their operations more sustainable in the long term.
While this is certainly a praiseworthy effort, it is not enough to simply declare a business is now becoming sustainable.
These efforts portend a lot of hard work and it may be difficult — especially for large businesses to keep everyone on track with the rapid developments in this regard.
Integrators are essential in the process, as they can balance out discrepancies and introduce viable transition without much fuss.
What Can Sustainability Mean for Your Team?
How can integrators help with sustainability?
The first obvious way is in achieving differentiation and integration across the board. When it comes to green technologies, there is much to learn and implement.
Setting up your own sustainability team is a great idea. Use integrators to help you bring forth innovative ideas and make sure integration is taking place.
There are some patterns that will help you initiate sustainable ideas into the company culture, with a focus on clean tech. Here are some ideas:
- Define the business’ long-term purpose
- Draft the economic case for sustainability
- Create sustainability knowledge and competence
- Co-create sustainable practices with your employees
- Encourage healthy competition
- Make sustainability visible inside and outside the company
- Demonstrate higher purpose by creating transformational change
- Create a sense of purpose and productivity
- Make every employee a sustainability champion
To be able to do this across the board, integrators are a crucial link. Make sure to hire people who share the same vision and know how to bring forth new ideas.
Start Your Own Sustainability Course
Did you find what you were looking for when learning how to build a sustainability team? If so, then you can even go on to help others do the same thing. Check out these online course templates to help you get started.
Many people look forward to the opportunity to learn more, so you can go one step further and encourage them to actively participate in the change you’re promoting.
Personalized courses are always a sign that the employer is invested and ready to help the employees to cope with the change, which is always appreciated.
Learn From Others
There are sites and sites online to help you build a sustainability team and provide real learning solutions.
For example, you can learn much about large undertakings like solar panels and EVs. Solar panels are becoming more popular and prices are going down. You may want to rent or buy them and qualify for tax credits.
Even smaller things a sustainability team can perform can be simplified by listening to other people’s experiences so make sure to learn from others and pick up best practices.
Key Takeaways
Integrators can make a huge difference in sustainability efforts for a business, but you should look for the right people for the task. It’s not only the preferred skill sets that you should be aware of; you’ll also need to find people who share the same vision and are mild-mannered in their ways.
Make use of all eLearning options and go one step further — create your own courses to help your sustainability teams cope better, having integrators oversee the transition.
In time, you’ll start seeing rapid advances as a result of everyone’s joint efforts and successful differentiation.
