Why transparency must be key to running a sustainable business
How establishing transparent behaviour with your employees is crucial to maintaining long-term sustainability.
April 12th, 2021
Written by John Condilis | Nobody Denim
Firstly, what does it mean to be a sustainable business?
As a business owner, it has always been at the forefront of my ethos to create an enduring, sustainable business. For me, the key has always been my employees.
Namely, how do they embody the journey and the company’s vision to deliver a purpose and create success - not only for the company and its people, but to its extended communities that are also wanting to be part of that change?
Transparency in a successful business has been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Businesses that have carried over generations have succeeded by first establishing transparency with their own employees. It has been proven that collective collaboration, both internally and externally, initiates the growth in businesses needed to evolve and exist with purpose and create meaningful change for their communities.
Over the last five years we’ve seen a huge push from our consumers to see how brands are conducting their business. Whilst profitability is extremely important for a business to exist and be sustainable, it is no longer good enough to withstand the current climate of a post-COVID world. People, environment and relationships are becoming just as important to consider when sustaining a successful business.
For today’s generation, their choice of purchasing has become synonymous with the purpose and value of that organization aligning strongly with their own. Price is no longer a key driver of consumer purchase and businesses who fail to recognise this, may experience difficulties in the near future.
Transparency is about being authentic and honest. Companies that try to “pull the wool over the consumers' eyes'' are at risk of damaging their brand’s reputation with little ways to recover. In an era of social media, the consumer's voice has become extremely powerful, often uncovering many wrongdoings by a brand before the media does.
Consumers are thirsty for knowledge; from design, where it is manufactured, where do the raw materials come from, is the business aware of everyone involved in the lifecycle of the product and much more. The ability to answer and satisfy all of these questions is undeniably a big challenge for most brands however, the long-term rewards of gaining trust from your community is immeasurable.
As much as consumers are wanting to learn, we mustn’t forget that brands also have a strong appetite to learn and improve what a sustainable future looks like for their business. There are many businesses who want to take this journey but are simply unaware of how to do it. My strong advice to these businesses would be to speak up and ask for help! At the end of the day, these decisions to be more considerate in your sustainable business model benefit all of us and future generations to come.
About John Condilis