Consultancy in corona time: 'Integrating sustainability is moral duty of consultants'

INTERVIEW WITH PASCAL FROM THE POLL BY BADENOCH+CLARK

At Elemental's colourful and inspiring office in Amsterdam, the consultants work hard - entirely coronaproof - to accelerate their purpose: to make companies truly sustainable. "I think it is a moral duty of us as consultants to make sustainability part of a strategy," says co-founder Pascal van de Poll.

We started Elemental (then Strategiemakers) in the previous financial crisis," Van de Poll says. "A crisis also offers opportunities, especially if you bring a new sound to the market." Elemental combines traditional strategy consulting with training companies to embed innovation in their strategy. With co-creation, innovation and design together with the client on their 'Strategiefabriek' in Amsterdam, so that the client can then continuously develop, implement and adjust its strategy itself. In recent years, Van de Poll increasingly asked himself: are we innovating enough ourselves? "Customers always come first, so innovation is mainly done in customer projects. But of course, what we teach our customers also applies to ourselves. So we were already experimenting a lot, but the corona time gave us even more room for that."

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Elemental's purpose is to help companies become sustainable innovation companies where it is great to work. An aspiration that seems more topical than ever. Van de Poll: "The importance of sustainability and innovation is only emphasised more now in corona times. Moreover, companies have experienced how quickly their people can switch gears. Let's really get on with it now," Van de Poll believes. "We want to help companies become fully sustainable. Make them aware of the impact you have as a company on people, the environment and society. And that's not about a clean fleet or committing to a charity, but making people, planet and profit fully part of your strategy."

Although the occasion and topicality help, corona of course also brings obstacles, Van de Poll knows. "Many companies are feeling stress right now: will I survive? Will I get my business back? And at other companies - think e-commerce players, plexiglass suppliers or parcel services - demand is just so high right now that they just need to keep up with that demand. Actually, transforming companies are the most interesting candidates for a big improvement move, they can go ahead now, make themselves sustainable and fully integrate that into their strategy and business model."

SUSTAINABILITY AS A COALITION

Elemental doesn't just want to achieve that goal in advisory form. Van de Poll: "We want to build a platform where companies ignite and inspire each other. Companies can get much more out of working together on certain topics. As you saw with Agile in recent years, for example, companies also looked at each other. How great would it be if you could turn sustainability into a kind of coalition? And we also want to offer smaller companies that possibility, which are not always able to pay for a large consultancy project. The basis for sustainability has already been laid, but in practice there are very few real example companies. That needs to take off. Otherwise, those companies will not do well. You roll right into the next crisis. If you become sustainable in all aspects, you become much more robust as an organisation."

MORAL PLIGHT

Van de Poll: "I think it is our moral duty as consultants to put sustainability on the map with clients. Not keep our mouths shut and only advise from a financial perspective. Only then are you yourself truly sustainable as an agency. We want to lead the way in this. Not as sustainability consultants, but by making sustainability part of the strategy. So that in 2030 our clients can honestly say: we are a sustainable company."