SDGs, or Sustainable Development Goals, are universal guidelines established by the UN that call on organizations to participate in a collaborative effort to address social, economic and environmental issues.
Prioritizing SDGs creates socially responsible businesses and enables leaders to identify growth opportunities. When implementing SDGs, business leaders should choose goals that align with the mission and purpose of the company. This will ensure that SDGs are intertwined with the company’s broader goals, ultimately supporting the company’s growth.
For example, AVANA’s journey, now spanning more than two decades, reflects our mission: Capital for a better tomorrow. Our company strives to positively impact the next generation. This concept inspired AVANA’s mission and, ultimately, inspired our team to align our success directly with SDGs. Therefore, one SDG we picked to focus on was “reduced inequalities.” Our team chose to implement that SDG because we believe in job creation, purpose to be in lockstep with profit, and democratizing investments across all socioeconomic classes.
Leaders must understand that aligning company priorities with SDGs will not happen overnight. Leaders and team members will have to commit to interlacing those goals within the company structure, which will take time and deliberate action.
Get Company Leaders on Board about Setting up SDGs
A key part of aligning a company’s mission to SDGs is getting its staff on board. The business leader should start the conversation by highlighting the business benefits: Explain how SDGs can help companies articulate what they stand for, why they matter and what their contribution is to society. Aligning profit and purpose can be beneficial to a company’s success because it can help build an employee following. SDGs can give team members a greater purpose beyond day-to-day tasks, boosting willingness to collaborate and overall productivity. Success without a greater purpose can feel hollow to team members, while finding goals that truly help communities thrive can be more fulfilling. Practicing SDGs can also give a company a competitive edge. Remind leaders that a successful business practices introspection, meaning leaders can look inward at their company and what it could look like if growth also focused on changing lives globally.
Identify Milestones and Use Impact Data to Make Ongoing Improvements
After identifying the SDGs that best fit their business and getting their staff on board, business leaders need to put together a system to track milestones and monitor progress so they can use impact data to improve. Communities are integrating sustainable standards that companies must meet, and customers are paying more attention to ethical business practices. Sustainable measures or initiatives don’t have to start big, but it will be easier in the long run if leaders can find a way to start somewhere. Think of SDGs as a continuum; it’s a journey, so one must make a conscientious effort to take on the tasks slowly and deliberately. Eventually, the company will have met and changed its course toward prioritizing social impact and profit.
Leaders should also analyze impact data to identify trends and patterns to find areas of improvement. What would be most relevant for the company to focus on in terms of SDGs — is it financial inclusion, is it eliminating poverty, is it gender equality? Based on the impact data collected, is the company achieving what it wants to focus on or should the company pivot its SDGs to more relevant issues?
Make Sure Your Company Meets Its Goal
In addition to analyzing impact data, leaders need to organize it and document team achievements to show company results and accomplishments. It’s important to show the strides the company has made to meet its goal and remind team members that meeting SDGs is a necessary part of company success. This will ensure that SDGs become naturally ingrained within projects and thinking processes.
Remember, to be more equitable and to have a social and environmental impact, leaders must be able to prove it. It is not enough to say, “We have an impact.” Businesses must make an upfront commitment to properly measure their impact. This is something AVANA is taking seriously as we’re being intentional about measuring impact and hiring a third-party company to independently measure the clean energy we’ve generated and jobs our customers have created. Through this process, we are creating a baseline that will measure our social impact so that we can continue growing.
Sundip Patel is co-founder and chief executive officer of AVANA Companies, a small-business lender, and private credit investment and asset manager. Since founding AVANA Companies 22 years ago, Sundip has cultivated a family of seven world-class lending and asset management brands that use capital to provide private debt financing in the United States while also offering private credit commercial investment opportunities to institutional and individual investors. Each brand is committed to AVANA’s mission: Delivering Capital for a Better Tomorrow, with a keen eye on social and environmental impact.
