If companies have a sustainability department, its role should not be to actually do the sustainability work. It is like the HR department not doing the actual leadership work. Sustainability – like leadership – is a management task. The sustainability department helps, trains, supports, designs frameworks and processes, and monitors targets and results.

In that sense, planetgroups – while they are independent and not integrated into the formal structures of a company – are a natural extended resource to the sustainability department. They should operate together like brothers and sisters in the best possible sense: supporting and enriching each other’s work, helping to embed sustainability into every role and responsibility within the whole organization.

Planetgroups and the sustainability department are allies, since they share the same target. And that`s true for everybody in the company. We all want our organization to be successful with the best possible impact and value for the planet, for its employees, and of course for the customers and their communities, right?

There is no minimum time you need to invest.

The relevant question is: How much time do you want to invest, and what does your professional and personal situation allow for?

Often employees tell us that they have no time left for engaging in a planetgroup. And since we know that our work days are usually filled and our to-do-lists are long, we fully understand that response. However, please read our answers to this concern, it may make you more comfortable:

• Generally we see planet work as a process: It matters that you are involved, regardless of how much. If you contribute as much as you can, it will be enough and welcome. No reason to feel bad about not having more time than you do. We are human beings, not superheros, and there are limits to what we can deliver. Just like the planet, we have to regenerate.

• We have designed our processes to be fun and fulfilling. Ideally, you will not experience a planetgroup as something “on top”, but as something different which you enjoy, where you feel a sense of impact, or purpose, of ownership and of community.

• Developing a fully planet-positive business model is a change process. So yes, initially it means extra work. However, in the medium term we have to stop seeing sustainability as something we do “extra”, but something we embed into our regular business cases. It makes no sense to destroy the planet with our “normal work”, and then try to repair it in our free time. We have to create businesses which don`t destroy it in the first place. Ideally, this will ultimately mean less work in the future, not more.

To make a long story short, you should invest as much time in your planetgroup as you enjoy, and be proud of it. In addition, you should also talk to your direct superior about how much of your work time you are allowed to spend on your planetgroups activities. Your company is benefitting from your planet work in numerous ways (please see the illustration of that below). Your management should ideally understand this and offer you some flexibility to invest a certain portion of your wok hours in this effort.

Everyone can make a difference, regardless of the type of education, the level of seniority or the specific expertise you have. Taking care of the planet is actually a pretty intuitive thing to do.

To support you with your thoughts and efforts, planetgroups facilitate an easy process to identify actions, to implement solutions and to provide guidance on the way. You will learn a lot along the way. On our PlaNet we also give you access to introductions on sustainability, films, articles, statistics, examples of planet action in your specific sector, and the like. However, ultimately this is a learning process for all of us, there is no blueprint for a planet positive business world. The more of us who are on this journey, the faster we will learn together.