CBODN: About - Interview

Triple Bottom Line: Stewardship and Sustainability

Kat Morgan interviews Bev Kimble

What IS the Triple Bottom Line?

It can be summed up as “People, Profit, Planet.” It combines ecological, economical, and social concerns: profit margins and expenses; people (both internal policies as well as community impact) and the planet, the environment.

How did you get interested in the Triple Bottom Line (TBL)?

Fifteen years ago I was finishing my graduate OD program at GMU. I started having conversations Connie Meyer, an OD consultant, and she used the term. At that point, it wasn’t in the mainstream. When I heard it, I said “yes, this is right.” I got more and more into the green part (sustainability) as I developed my OD practice. A year and a half ago, I created a Triple Bottom Line assessment.

Why should someone come to the March CBODN program?

If you are interested in what comes after us, we need to be asking ourselves what is ours to do. What can you do NOW? The industrial revolution served us well but we did things that we now see weren’t the best [in terms of impact]. We did it step by step and now we have a new awakening. How will we get to the next new place? We will again move forward step by step. Technology is key. For example, recycled packaging, paper without chlorine, soy-based ink, smaller packaging – if these things were in place, we’d make huge strides. Industry can help us AND each of us can do this in our own workplaces. There are a gazillion things we can do – in our own practices, in our own lives.

What links do you see between the TBL and OD?

OD is about helping organizations become more effective and the TBL is all about that as well, focusing on those three specific areas: the financials; work together well (social) and taking care of the community they are in; and the environment (creating and eliminating waste). Both incorporate systems thinking. Both focus on creating change.

How has your TBL focus changed your practice?

It’s gotten me in touch with a calling I feel passionate about. I’m energized, I’m making connections, doing the work, hearing and discussing this, raising consciousness, and starting to get more work as a result of that. We need this; it really means something.

OD is the social leg of the TBL. It’s taken a long time for people to understand the value of “the softer things” and some people still aren’t there. And without the softer things we won’t be able to get to the sustainability questions. People are going to call on us [OD practitioners] for help and we need to be prepared.
It will take many minds, lots of conversations, a huge collaborative spirit, and chaotic-ness. We need to know how to work well together to make the changes that are needed – to bring ourselves up out of ourselves to do this. In order to do that, we need a lot of awareness and have excellence in the area of the social. That’s where OD comes in.

How do you use this with clients?

First, I tested it. I went to a lot of conferences, mostly on the environmental piece of the TBL. I kept meeting and connecting with people who were experts in the environmental area. I am currently putting together meetings with OD practitioners and environmentalists to build this dialogue more – so we can sync up.

I recently taught a class on stewardship and sustainability using the Triple Bottom Line assessment tool I developed and materials I’ll be talking about on March 25th. It’s interesting how frequently organizations are doing a number of things to be sustainable – regulations, policies, practices – but few inside the organization even know what’s happening. The OD side – communication, systems, building it into the culture and the system – needs to support these efforts. Without that, the initiatives will break down.

The TBL part of my practice and interest in the marketplace keeps growing; it will keep growing.

Anything you’d like to add?

Even if all you do is look at population growth, we’re growing at an astronomical rate. How do we house, cloth feed all of us? By 2030 we’re expecting a 33% population increase in US. About half the goods needed then don’t even exist today. What does that mean? How are we going to create these things? What impact will that have? These are OD related questions.

There will be people after us. Let’s take care of them.

Please join us on March 25th at George Mason University, Arlington Campus, Original Building, 3401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room ARL 250.

CBODN’s monthly professional development program on the Triple Bottom Line begins at 6:30 pm; light supper and networking at 5:30 pm. Register here: www.cbodn.org/programs/mar08.html

Beverly Kimble recommends these books:
Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage by Dan Esty & Andrew Winston (www.eco-advantage.com)

Mid-Course Correction by Ray Anderson (www.chelseagreen.com/1999/items/472)

Kat Morgan, CBODN Program Chair, recommends:
“OD and the Triple Bottom Line: Partnering with Socially Responsible Businesses to Live Their Values” (2005) by Judith Katz and Frederick Miller in OD Practitioner, Vol. 37, No. 3.

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