The Power of Community in Sustainability Work
“Can we spring for the good chips this month?” someone would ask. Another would argue for pre-sliced Costco cheese as the splurge. We debated our house budget constantly that year; chips and cheese were just the tip of iceberg.
When speaking professionally, I often gloss over this portion of my story: in 2007 I lived in an intentional community. My college friends called it a hippie commune, though it was not that crunchy. I left my job as a Solutions Engineer at UPS Supply Chain Solutions to live on $75 a month* in a house with 11 other recent grads.
We all worked at Denver-area nonprofits through an Americorps program, striving to live the values of simplicity, community, and social justice. We shared an intense year of community, the kind many people never experience.
By intense, I mean we made decisions together, shared living spaces and bathrooms, planned, shopped, and cooked meals together, and cleaned up our collective spaces (or not). In a nutshell: we had to think about people besides ourselves. Constantly. For someone like myself, accustomed to self-sufficiency, it challenged me in ways I didn’t expect.
But that’s the power of others. Our community members taught me conflict resolution, how to approach people with curiosity instead of judgement, how to build consensus, communicate clearly, sacrifice, compromise, love more freely, and accept help. That year-long bubble rained down lessons I’m still absorbing...and striving to apply to my work and life today.
It taught me that community isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a need to have. And sustainability work needs that same kind of support.
*Don't fret: Housing, food and healthcare were provided. We also got really good at finding food deals.
The Power of Community in the Corporate Sustainability World
Corporate sustainability and social responsibility work can attract a certain type of person: pragmatic, business-minded, and driven by passion. These individuals care deeply about the state of our world and have the business acumen to swim in corporate waters.
Coming from the nonprofit sector, I leapt for joy at the scale of potential impact in the corporate world. You mean, you have resources to fund projects?
Corporate sustainability work can also be lonely. Many teams consist of one person or a small number of people. The “small but mighty” team may live under an umbrella team like Operations, Finance, Legal, or Marketing - none of which is a perfect fit. Teams are often left to figure out for themselves how they fit in, how they get a seat at decision-making tables, and how to make their work understood.
Heavy Headlines and Hearts
As the most recent UN climate report describes, we need to make some radical changes. This summary by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson does a fantastic job of describing the key takeaways with a realistic dose of why all is not lost.
When faced with whatever fresh climate disaster is coming at us in the news this week, my heart feels heavy. On top of this sadness, a new emotion has been cropping up too: resignation. We made our proverbial climate bed and now we must lie in the floods and fires.
Years ago, in my former role as head of ESG, we conducted a climate risk scenario analysis. I joked with the consultant who led the exercise, asking him, “How can you look at all these potential catastrophes all day?” The results were frightening . If this were the board game Risk, climate disasters would be dominating the board. Tornado, fire, and flood possibilities covered the map, disproportionately impacting marginalized groups of humans. Companies, concerned with climate risk, now ask about resilience. Because the risks have come home to roost.
Now, when droughts in Colorado dry up reservoirs, and floods in Nepal devastate communities, I find myself in need of inner climate resilience. I want to stay motivated to work, not just motivated to say some sad form of “We told you so.”
You Speak for the Trees
We can’t “recycle or bike more” our way out of this, and we can't solely rely on carbon removal either. Yes, individual actions and pursuing future technology matter. AND we need people in positions of power who can make the business case for more solar panels and wind farms. We need the people who can speak for the trees, if you want to go full Lorax.
As hard as it is, and as Sisyphean as you feel pushing these emissions-reducing rocks uphill, we need you, sustainability professionals. And community helps.
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
- an African proverb
A decade ago, when I was new to the sustainability world, I connected with a few other sustainability peers in Denver. We’d meet every few months to share what was working and what wasn’t. The insights weren’t always revolutionary, but as I reflect back, they played a bigger role than I thought.
Seeing others “fighting the good fight” provided me with hope, solace, and a feeling like a small team was a little less alone.
Today, that small group has grown into a much larger community. These folks are persisting through even greater challenges: layoffs, shifting regulations, and companies hesitant to talk about sustainability. And yet, these humans persist. My goodness, we need them to.
We need all of us to be part of the solution to care for our planet and its residents. Businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals: we need you all.
Thank you to the organizers, the creators, the gatherers of these community events. You make magic. You create connections and foster relationships. You construct a community one event, one chat, one email or text thread at a time. It matters.
I didn’t always prioritize (aka make the time for) professional community meetups. My introversion and discomfort with small talk often nudged me to skip events. The cost was slower growth, smaller impact, and increased burnout. I was also raising two small humans, which took priority and I do not regret. But I do wonder what would have been possible if I’d leaned on community a little more.
Intentional Community, Reimagined
My personal preference is to go deeper and skip the small talk. But how do you create a deeper experience: a group of humans who support each other and our work? Happy hours? Structured meeting time? Conferences?
I’ve been wondering what a deeper community experience could look like. How can we support our own inner climate resilience, together?
One possibility: combining deeper community with deeper self-awareness work.
How Sustainability and Social Impact Professionals Can Grow From The Enneagram
The Enneagram framework provides a path for people to grow in self-awareness, towards becoming our best selves. We need all of us, at our best, to meet today’s challenges.
Learning more about our core motivations can unlock insights into how we think, feel, and act. And help us begin to realize that our ingrained patterns can hold us back.
As a Type 9 (The Peacemaker), my core motivation is to remain connected and avoid conflict. While this tendency serves me well in some respects, it was not always helpful in big meetings, when I’d get pushback on a project or an idea. “Going along” felt easier than rocking the boat. Yet, we all know: sometimes the boat needs rocking.
When we learn our default behaviors, we can recognize them, and choose differently. It sounds easy - but it’s hard to implement. Coaching, as an individual or with a group, can help.
The clearer our self-understanding, the more effectively we can lead and influence change.
We can also learn from each other’s strengths. Here are a few examples of how different Enneagram type's strengths can support common challenges.
Challenge: Influence without authority
What Type 3 (The Achiever) Teaches: Set those goals and bring along others for shared accountability and support.
Challenge: Make the business case for sustainability
What Type 1 (The Perfectionist) Teaches: Build a detailed financial model and secure the right approvals before moving forward.
Challenge: Leading a multigenerational team
What Type 2 (The Helper) Teaches: Build trusting relationships with each team member. Discover each person’s unique gifts.
What’s Possible Together?
What’s possible if we explore these challenges together, with a group of peers committed to growth and connection?
This question sparked the idea for the first Enneagram for Impact Cohort. It’s an experiment in community, much like the one that shaped me years ago, but designed for the impact professionals today. If this resonates, I’d love to explore it with you.
I’m also hosting a Lunch and Learn on October 21st for Denver-area sustainability and impact professionals. You’re invited to join this one-hour overview of the Enneagram to learn how it can support our work.
Perhaps this community won’t debate which chips we can afford or who is cooking dinner tonight. We get to move on to more powerful questions like how we can go further together.
Because if we create it and prioritize it, community can become a form of climate resilience. That's one power of community.
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