Fostering trust effectively allows a team produc tion

ple become more engaged and productive.
Fostering trust effectively allows a team produc-
tion approach, where the efforts of multiple
stakeholders are crucial for the company’s success,
to everyday operations in which employees are
willing to make company-specific investments
without fear that their efforts will not be recog-
nized and rewarded. By enabling and encouraging
these investments, the company cultivates the
foundation for a competitive advantage in the mar-
ketplace: engaged employees who are able to
cooperate in order to drive corporate performance.
Starting the Journey
to Sustainability
Today companies must choose whether to start the
journey to become sustainable or to adhere to the
more traditional model. Although each company
must make that choice for itself, we believe that
changing social and investor expectations will only
increase the pressure on companies to adopt the sus-
tainable model. Doing so requires unswerving
leadership commitment, without which the journey
cannot begin. In reframing its identity, the company
must learn to engage openly with external stake-
holders. Maintaining transparency without recourse
to defensive strategies is integral to a sustainable
strategy. As this strategy is implemented through
broad-based employee engagement and disciplined
mechanisms for execution, a new identity can
emerge: that of a sustainable company.
Robert G. Eccles is a professor of management prac-
tice at Harvard Business School. Kathleen Miller
Perkins is president of Miller Consultants Inc., an or-
ganizational consulting firm in Louisville, Kentucky.
George Serafeim is an assistant professor of business
administration at Harvard Business School. Comment
on this article at , or
contact the authors at [email protected]
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