How do I achieve buy-in from senior leadership?

It’s the question I hear over and over again from those in senior positions within ESG. Many say they’re met with resistance or indifference from both board members and other C-suite execs as they push for change. This stands in the way of progress and can breed both frustration and a sense of disempowerment.

Leading on ESG without authority is one of the most important skills that sustainability leaders can cultivate, one that combines excellent communication, empathy and — in many cases — patience. As writer and activist Adrienne Maree Brown puts it, you can only move at the speed of trust.

In looking to exert influence over anyone, you have to start with building their trust in you and convincing them that what you’re trying to achieve has the organization’s commercial interests at heart.

That doesn’t happen overnight.

Instead, it requires a planned, strategic approach, which starts with building that foundation of trust.

Here are four things to remember as you try to advance your own ESG influence.

1. Don’t ramp up risk to force a response

Resist any temptation to exaggerate the real or potential risk to board members and senior leadership as a way to fuel action.

All too often, greenwashing can happen inside an organization, says Megan Maltenfort, vice president of ESG at Cardinal Health. Speaking at our most recent Impact Leaders Lab event, she was referring to a tendency for some sustainability teams to amplify the risk of inaction. But this strategy backfires and undermines trust in the long term. Instead, she explains that “we need to make it clear that our agenda to do good for the world goes hand-in-hand with doing good for the business.” That starts with honesty.

Focus any messaging around risk, too. Distill it down to only what is necessary for senior leadership teams to know. These are incredibly busy people with multiple competing priorities — make it easy for them to understand exactly what you’re asking and why.

2. Stay open to feedback

As a sustainability leader, you are speaking to the board and C-suite as their internal expert on ESG. Have confidence in that expertise — but be humble enough at the same time. If someone has made it to that level of an organization, they’ll also have valuable insights. It’s important to consider others’ viewpoints. Stay open to their feedback and aim for a dialogue on sustainability, rather than a diatribe.

This is the mindset Maltenfort adopts at Cardinal Health. “When I’m sitting in front of a board of directors, many of whom have been CEOs of other companies and have unbelievable resumes, I come back to the fact that I know the material I’m sharing better than anybody else there,” she says. “But I’m also going to accept that I don’t know everything. I’m going to be open to their questions, open to their corrections. And if I don’t know an answer, I’m going to be honest about that, as well.”

3. Lay the breadcrumbs

Standing in front of board members on Day 1 and asking for a hefty investment in sustainability isn’t likely to generate the response you’re looking for.

Instead, lay the groundwork by starting with education.

At Cardinal Health, Maltenfort has spent two years educating the leadership team and the board about ESG without making a major ask. She took a different approach. “I have very purposefully, intentionally spent those two years educating them and laying the breadcrumbs for why ESG matters so that they can become champions of this work and feel comfortable lending their support when it is needed,” she explains.

Position any ask as an act of service to the wider business goals, rather than solely a way to advance the ESG agenda.

As part of this process, help senior leaders make concrete connections between ESG and the wider business so that they’re primed to understand the reasons for investment further down the line. Don’t assume they can make these connections themselves. During this learning phase, it’s your job as “teacher” to make these explicit.

Maltenfort gives an example in which a vice president of information technology at Cardinal Health proactively reached out to her to flag an upcoming regulation on sustainability reporting. She took the opportunity to thank the VP and explain that the new environmental data reporting system that his team helped implement would support the business in meeting those reporting requirements. “I wanted to take the extra step to make that connection and remind him how critical his team’s collaboration was,” she says.

4. Keep the ask reasonable

When it does come time to make the ask of the board or C-suite, ensure it is thoroughly vetted and reasonable, given the resources of the business.

At Cardinal Health, the business has implemented a two-step governance structure for ESG. This allows Maltenfort to filter any request past a first tier governance committee prior to taking it to the highest levels of the organization. This process gives Maltenfort’s team the opportunity to sense check for potential questions or problems.

Position any ask as an act of service to the wider business goals, rather than solely a way to advance the ESG agenda. Frame it as a way to facilitate or support these organizational priorities. That could mean it’s a way to improve customer service, stay compliant with upcoming regulations (and therefore avoid financial penalties) or align with the concerns of investors and other stakeholders.

This strategy goes back to laying that groundwork. As customers, employees and others ask for more sustainability-related information. Maltenfort shares examples of these requests with senior leadership so that they can draw a straight line between investment in ESG and meeting changing expectations in the market.

Finally, benchmark any ask against the steps being taken by an organization’s closest competition. It’s commercial best practice to stay aligned with your biggest competitors. Use the need to keep pace on sustainability as a way to get attention from the board and C-suite.

Sometimes, it might feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall when trying to secure buy-in from the top rungs of your organization. But don’t give up.

I love the analogy from Jim Hartzfeld, head of sustainability at Brambles (check out his brilliant TED talk here). He says that everybody has a door that they’re willing and open to walk through when it comes to sustainability. But there could be 100 different doors depending on the person. It’s your job to find the right door and entice them through it.

Ditch all your preconceived notions, recommends Maltenfort. “Treat everybody like they have the ability and willingness to understand the value of ESG. In my experience, you can always find the right door.”

Shannon Houde is an ICF-certified executive coach and talent strategist with more than 20 years of experience as a trusted adviser to evolving change leaders from directors to CEOs.

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