To be purpose driven, you must drive others
How can working together help us all become more sustainable?
Metta is a small company. While our small team is spread throughout the UK and (most recently) Italy, we have a far-reaching global network we collaborate with on our accelerator programmes and other innovation and entrepreneurship work. We determined early on that while we need to be an impact-driven company and work sustainably, we also want to help in helping others to do the same. We live what we do — by teaching and empowering others to live and work more sustainably.
As the Sustainability and Innovation Lead, it sat squarely on my shoulders to kick that into gear and we’ve made some HUGE strides in the last few years. Firstly, we needed to define what our purpose and values were, as well as what sustainability meant to us. We did this through a number of long workshops and brainstorming sessions. Once we aligned as a team we started to embed that into everything we do. The largest and most key component of that was laying out what our business operations would look like. It was time for writing policies, processes and guidelines.
*Tip* We are in the process of applying for our B Corp Certification and the B Corp’s Impact Assessment (BIA) was an integral part of mapping out the areas we needed to improve. I highly recommend you reference this when starting your journey.
Business operations: the driving force behind Metta now and in the future
Even as a small business, we decided early on that we wanted to be impact-driven. To do that, we needed to build our foundations in a way that allowed us to do that in every way possible. Some of the important policies and guidelines we’ve implemented are:
- Diverse and Inclusive Events Guide,
- Sustainable Remote Working Guidelines,
- Employee and Supplier Codes of Conduct,
- Impact Purchasing Policy,
- Whistleblowing,
- Anti-slavery,
- Anti-bribery,
- Non-discrimination,
- …and the list goes on!
“In order to be able to run fast, you need to know what you’re allowed to do” — Lise Alm, Chief Strategy Officer at Worldfavor (learn more in our Metta Talks podcast episode with her)
Hiring & team
- Without our team, we are nothing and it’s important that we look after them. Last year, we became an accredited Living Wage Employer. On top of that, we also provide flexible working arrangements (including a share space allowance), offer shared parental leave and an above average amount of annual leave, budget for CPD and more. We are committed to being an inclusive employer and bring in colleagues who align with our values.
Crossing the Ts and dotting the Is
- To legally ensure that our social and environmental performance is a part of our decision-making over time, regardless of company ownership, we worked with our lawyers to update our articles of association to include a new Article 2A in July 2022 (which can be found in our Companies House filings).
Content
- Amongst other things, it is written into our team’s performance targets that we should create content with a strong focus on our sustainability journey, and what we’ve learned along the way. We write blog posts, post a monthly newsletter, host our #MettaTalks Podcast, and share what we’re reading to give our online community a plethora of resources to learn from.
Accelerator programme and customers
In all of the work we do, we aim to increase everyone’s knowledge of sustainability principles and how to be more inclusive. When designing and delivering our bespoke accelerator programmes, we work with startups and larger corporations across a range of industries. Through the delivery of our programme curricula, we are leading the charge in helping these businesses to reduce their environmental impact, drive social change and influence new policies by:
- Embedding sustainability into programme curricula and working with the startups 1:1 to understand their ambitions when it comes to sustainability. We also tailor our sessions to meet these needs where possible.
- Meeting with mentors on our programmes to align parts of their content to at least one SDG and/or add content relevant to the subject to bring sustainability principles in.
“It’s not about saying, Yeah, we’re done with this. We’re perfect. We’re nailing it in every area, it’s rather saying what areas are we working on? What areas have we come to?” — Lise Alm, Chief Strategy Officer at Worldfavor (learn more in our Metta Talks podcast episode with her)
We grew quickly in the beginning of the pandemic, defined our purpose, wrote the majority of our policies and measured our footprint for the first time. Since then, we’ve continued to grow and things have started going back to the (new) norm. As businesses grow, they may need to consider doing an emissions base year recalculation or reassessing normal business operating rhythm for changes in things like post-pandemic re-emergence (actually leaving homes to see each other and customers).
We have other areas for improvement but the focus for the near future is helping to empower our communities to live and work more sustainably. Most of us do some sort of volunteer work but we’re on the lookout for ideas — so please reach out if you have any for us.
Sharing knowledge and expertise to drive climate action is critical in the move towards net zero and to maintain a liveable world. It’s never too early to start on your journey.
For more information about Metta and the work we do, head to our website. Check out our podcast Metta Talks to hear the latest about startups, innovation, and sustainability. The team is also on Twitter — reach out to us @mettatalks.
Want to learn more about Metta? Let’s talk 🗣
Heather Baden — heather@metta.partners | linkedin.com/in/heatherbaden
