About the webinar

This introductory session to Future-Fit Foundation explored who they are and the transformative impact they aim to achieve. The Future-Fit Business Benchmark is a holistic, science-based, open-source methodology designed to drive systemic change by acting as a navigation system for companies, guiding them towards true sustainability through the provision of necessary tools and skills to develop credible business strategies. The session provided a comprehensive overview of their unique science-based methodology and gave attendees practical information on how to join and actively participate in their movement, fostering a future where business success aligns with the health of people and the planet.

The full recording is available to ISSP members and can be access via their member account.

Resources

• Join the free online community: https://futurefitbusiness.org/changemaker-community/ 
• Learn about becoming an accredited advisor: https://futurefitbusiness.org/partners/ 
• Explore becoming a system changer: https://futurefitbusiness.org/system-changer/
  

Q&A Responses from Martin

These are questions from the audience, compiled here because we did not have enough time to answer everything live.

How close are future-fit partnered companies to reaching neutral? Has any company gone beyond neutral?

I’m not sure there’s a single company that is truly “Future-Fit” - or indeed beyond that neutral point - due to the fact that we’re all operating in a very non-Future-Fit global system. Even the smallest service company needs a phone and a computer, and neither of those are (yet!) Future-Fit. However, that shouldn’t mean we give up hope. Firstly, this is very much about a journey and the need to bring others along with us on that journey. Some things we can achieve on our own today; for other things we need partners to play their part too - and the more of us there are, the easier it will become. And secondly, companies can (and are!) creating positive (so, beyond neutral) impacts already today. We shouldn’t be complacent about that (as per my point on positives not offsetting negatives) but rather the journey is about how do I create more and more positive impact whilst I reduce - and eventually eliminate - my negative impact.

What are the key components that most businesses have in place to be successful in adopting the Future-Fit framework? For example, leadership commitment, cross-departmental collaboration, and dedicated sustainability team or champion.

The most critical component is undoubtedly leadership commitment. The other elements cited in the question are certainly necessary for success, but without the buy-in of senior leadership departmental- or team-based initiatives will always be limited in what they can achieve. Such things may be helpful in “starting the fire” and showing others what can be done, but true sustainability can only be achieved by embedding the concept into the very heart of how a company delivers its products and services, and that has to be driven from the top.

For solo business owners and micro companies, are there different levers or considerations to include?

Very small businesses have certain advantages in that they can be nimble, make decisions quickly and often have a very small number of stakeholders to bring along with them. In a solo business the CEO is also the owner, so she can make whatever decisions she wants! That makes certain elements of the Future-Fit framework much easier to achieve, e.g. around employment conditions. Of course, the opposite side is that the impact of a micro company will be very small with (probably) negligible ability to influence its supply chain, for example. That said, with bigger organisations looking to show progress in their own supply chains, micro businesses have a greater opportunity to differentiate by utilising a framework like Future-Fit. As a final point here, one of the tools we developed with our partners is particularly targeted toward SMEs: https://sbt.virginmoney.com/dashboard