Less Conversation More Action » mci

Building a New Era of Sustainability

Guy Bigwood — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:56:42 +0000

I am in New York with MCI President Roger Tondeur for the 2010 United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit. This is a big day for me, as it see the realization of a dream. In 2007 under the recommendation of Mike Wallace (now director of the G3 framework at GRI), we signed a letter of commitment and became a signatory of the Global Compact. Our journey since then has seen MCI work to incorporate the 10 global compact principles into the day to day operations of MCI. Now 3 years have passed and Sustainability is one of the key pillars of MCIs business plan, and this commitment is demonstrated with the investment, energy and time dedicated to sustainability by the MCI management team. As a result of this journey, MCI has become increasingly involved in the organization of events about sustainability. We organized the COP15 Climate Conference, 3 regional Global Compact meetings, the GRI conference, the world business summit on climate change, and now the big one – The Global Compact 2010 Leaders Summit.

By participating at the summit Roger and I are coming to network with other members, seek opportunities for collaboration and to learn from other organizations best practices. As Roger said to me today, “I know sustainability is important, but we have to get much more knowledgeable about the subject and how we integrate it into MCIs future”

It’s great to see that real progress is being made globally, and that the movement toward a more sustainable economy and business context is clearly gaining momentum. Its even more rewarding to see that by integrating sustainability into our business strategy, MCI has developed the skills and content knowledge that can help organizations such as the Global Compact strategically improve in the deliver of their messaging, and their ability to engage and inspire their members to go the next level in developing value for their businesses.

You can follow the UNGC Summit on Live Webcast: http://www.un.org/webcast/globalcompact/leaderssummit2010/

CSR – the MCI Way

Guy Bigwood — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:15:34 +0000

At our recent MCI International Business meeting in Vienna, I had the honour of giving a plenary presentation to over 600 of our talent.

In the video you can see me explain CSR – the MCI way. I talk about Key CSR accomplishments in 2009 and the MCI CSR vision and strategy. You can then see the presentation of the 2009 MCI Leadership in CSR award that was presented to MCI Sweden.

To understand why i am a bit choked up and emotional when I start the keynote, I recommend that you first listen to Charlotte Gough reading the Lost Generation Poem

We are not a part of the Lost Generation

Guy Bigwood — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:29:37 +0000

At the recent MCI International Business meeting (IBM) in Vienna, over 600 MCI staff participated for three days in plenary sessions, workshops, training classes and of-course a few drinks.

For my CSR update session, we decided to start the plenary with something a little different.. Have a look at the video and listen to Charlotte Gough from the MCI UK office reading the memorable “lost generation” poem from Jonathan Reed.

This poem sums up and reflects the attitude, vision and aspirations of what we are trying to achieve with the MCI CSR program. Not surprisingly she received a standing ovation, which was well deserved. Charley your a star!

MCI announces winner of CSR Award

Michael Luehrs — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:04:15 +0000

In the lead up to the annual business meeting held this year in Vienna, Austria, MCI offices from around the world competed to bring home the MCI Leadership in CSR award, 2009.

Applications were submitted and subsequently forwarded for judging. Points were allocated in 5 different categories:

•Office CSR Plan

•Green Globe Index Ranking

•Integration of CSR into sales and operational processes

•Stakeholder Engagement

• ‘X’ Factor

3 finalists were selected: 2008 winner Dublin, Sweden and Hong Kong. When the dust had settled, MCI Sweden emerged as the winner!

MCI Sweden winning CSR Award. Presented by Guy and Joelle - Group HR Director

The applications revealed a long list of practical actions most offices could integrate into a CSR plan. The short presentation below captures highlights of these actions. Please have a look and share with us your own ideas.

To a more sustainable 2010!

(Apologies. This file is temporarily unavailable. Please notify us if you would like to have access to this presentation//michael)

MCI Inaugural CSR Report 2009

Guy Bigwood — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:24:39 +0000

Michael and I have just finished and released the first MCI CSR Report. This is the story of MCIs initial steps on the path to sustainability.

It highlights the strategy, actions and results of what has been achieved in the first few years of the MCI sustainability journey. There are 2 parts.

Preparing such a report is a daunting task. Collecting the data, creating an engaging format, editing all of that – it seemed unending and sometimes exasperating. Our goal was to make it objective, driven by the “materiality” of the data (geeky – reporting word), data based and full of individual stories. The result is a nice looking document but it’s admittedly light on measurement data.

Key Learnings from this exercise include:

Create a measurement strategy and start to collect data a year or more before you need to report on it. In this report we failed to produce an annual carbon footprint of MCI. However it has helped us to drive the implementation of the Green Globe Index – which will provide us that information next year
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Eg: It’s almost impossible to set realistic reduction targets if you do not have an idea of your footprint.
Reporting really makes you review and improve on your strategy. It focuses you to break it down into manageable chunks (ie the plan), set clear objectives and structure how you achieve the goals
Use GRI to help structure your measureables and reporting. Again we started late and its not shown in this report – but it was fully reviewed and is integrated into the 2010 report strategy.
Reporting is a superb engagement tool. By asking junior and senior MCI talent to feedback on the report we increased the level of engagement and dialog to the complete MCI CSR strategy. Ask your staff to write a quote for the report.
Use a good designer who has a lot of patience… With 1000 changes to format, text, style etc you need someone with the patience of Buddha.

Now that its published, we need to share it. The whole point is to have this report serve as the beginning of a dialogue with our stakeholders, without whom we could not improve. Please take a few moments to read through this and let us know your thoughts. It’s but another step in the long journey to a more sustainable MCI.

Future employees demand change.

Guy Bigwood — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:35:26 +0000

Participating at the World Business Summit on Climate Change in conversations with the CEOs of Pepsico, Unilever, WPP, etc I was stuck by how they clearly recognised the need of having a leadership CSR strategy for their business. One of their key reasons was the need to attract, retain and manage talent.(you can watch this session here )

I realised this today when asked on the blog to provide some more detail about MCIs CSR program from a university student. I thought that this may be interesting to share, as it clearly shows the interest from your people following a companies reputation via their blog. Here is my reply

Hello

I am BA student and studying in event management in Switzerland.

I want to ask some questions.

Dear Cecilia

Thank you for your excellent questions. I am the CSR director and I would like to reply. Your questions could not be more timely as I am participating in the world business summit on climate change (you can follow this on my twitter page)

Does MCI group have any challenge in CSR?

Sustainability/CSR is complex in any organization. MCI certainly faces challenges in training our large staff and staying abreast of the very fast moving trends, developments and best practices. MCI has 34 offices around the world and each has a different level of maturity with it’s integration of CSR. Culture differences, resources, time and money, will always provide limits to being able to advance our CSR agenda as rapidly as we would like. Still, we are committed to the principles outlined in the UN Global Compact and we are committed to maintaining our position as a leader in sustainable business practices for the meetings and events industry. These commitments drive us to find improvements in spite of the challenges we face as we realise there is a major business case for sustainability in our industry.
http://lessconversationmoreaction.com/tag/business-case/

From the company publication, I find out that the strategies implemented into CSR issue is quite successful until now?

Sustainable practices are relatively new in the meetings and events industry and MCI has been an early leader in shaping systems and protocols to reduce the environmental impacts of events while at the same time promoting healthy communities and efficient use of natural resources. While we are pleased with the progress to date, we also see a great deal of work to do.

Also, there are some different trends among the event industry, foe example eco-friendly event and meetings, minimize the event budget due to the economics crisi, events also are going to be more globalized and emerging to the Asia market. Do you see some more trends?

Asia is a huge growth area for the meetings industry and MCI is a part of that growth. Trends in sustainable event practices are primarily in the areas of measurement, measurement and the creation of standards. If you were to Google search ‘BS8901′ (sustainable event management), you will find information about a recent trend to bring a more systematic approach to the planning of sustainable events. Measurement and carbon emissions disclosure will become a big issue in the near future as it is becoming mandatory in many countries such as UK, denmark etc

The biggeest trend is going green, is it not a challenge for you and the company? It is because I can see the company put lots of efforts on it.

We have invested a lot of money in CSR because we believe its our responsibility and moral obligation. At the same time sustainability (green) is the only viable alternative for successful future business. Hence there will be massive green growth in the forecoming years. MCI wants to help these organisations become successful. Doing this we will also become successful.

As an example of our csr work, MCI is now the event organisers of the World Business Summit on Climate Change, the UN Climate Change Conference, the World Mayors Climate Change Conference and many more… There is a business case for sustainability!

New CSR and Sustainability blog is launched

Guy Bigwood — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:38:45 +0000

After a years worth of pressure from an army of individuals I have decided to launch the blog. Thinking of a name for the blog was difficult and I struggled with many names using the word sustainability. Then suddenly the name appeared. Last weekend I had to present a plenary session at the MCI annual business meeting to communicate the progress of MCI in developing its CSR program. To add a little sparkle we prepared a flash summary followed by an inspiring presentation and then an award summary given to the best CSR performing MCI office. The music and theme we chose for the performance was inspired by the King himself Elvis, and the song – A little less conversation and a little more action please.

I thought this was a perfect title for the blog, and so we launched it to collect, share and inspire action around sustainability within the global meetings and event community. My partner in crime is Michael Luehrs, the MCI Sustainability Services Manager. Michael is one of the most authentic, sincere and amazing people in the sustainable event world.

As consultants and practitioners of CSR and green meetings we will be documenting our experiences and sharing our sustainability knowledge, views and insights from the front line.