Cool Careers - Manager of Business Sustainability

Interview with Diane Kilcoyne: Manager of Business Sustainability, Canadian Tire Corporation, Toronto, ON

"Treading lightly on the planet is a priority in my personal life & I thought it would be great to make it the focus of my professional one."

1. How would you describe what you do?

My job is to turn the sustainability strategy at Canadian Tire into a practical reality. In other words, to create a link between the strategy and the actual business operations and products. My team acts as a catalyst for this sustainable change in the organization, to challenge the various stakeholders to recognize and make changes that will help them to deliver economic benefits using sustainability as a lens. We are not “tree huggers” – we are business people and we work with all key areas of the business (products, transport, buildings and operations) to build sustainable thinking into their everyday jobs.

2. How did you get started?

In my previous position at Canadian Tire, I was involved in strategic project management but I got tired of focusing on solving problems in which other people were invested. I wanted to take the skills I had and apply them to a problem that I really cared about. I asked myself, “What problem do I really want to help solve?” I realized that I feel strongly that our current “North American” lifestyle is not sustainable in the long term and if we don’t do something we’ll be leaving our kids with a huge problem. “Treading lightly on the planet” is a priority in my personal life & I thought it would be great to make it the focus of my professional one. Initially, I thought I’d have to go back to school but I realized that a better approach would be to leverage my strengths in order to change my focus in an incremental way. I looked within the organization and went to speak to the key stakeholders who worked with the sustainability strategy. What started as an information discussion unexpectedly turned into a job interview! We discussed what gaps existed in the sustainability team and found that my skills in facilitation, change management and project management plus my passion about the subject made me a “natural fit” for the team. That gave me the foot in the door – and I have been building my sustainability subject matter expertise “from the inside” ever since.

3. What do you like and dislike about what you do?

I love working on a problem that I care deeply about – every day. I feel like I get to take care of my own agenda - but that working on sustainability from inside a big corporation gives me a chance to have a much bigger impact. What is difficult about this position is that I am always asking people to do something that they perceive as not being “a part of their job”. It’s a constant “sell” but if I do my job well, then they start to see how sustainable thinking can help them meet their objectives; that it’s not the environment OR profits but the environment AND profits.

4. How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

I am a full time staff member and receive a salary.

5. What education or skills are needed to do this?

You definitely need good strategic thinking and communication skills, as well as strong management and people skills to lead the team. A good dose of stamina also helps because you are constantly trying to persuade people to expand their way of thinking; to be effective you need to be able to see issues from their point of view. Being flexible enough to work with the staff’s responses to the various challenges helps to ensure that they will be more invested in the long-term. Since sustainability is such a new field, you must be prepared to do a fair amount of independent reading and self-education. If you can find a mentor in the field to learn from that is extremely valuable too. I have been very fortunate to work closely with an expert, so I have had a chance to build my subject-matter expertise on the job.

6.  What is most challenging about what you do?

We have a lot of ground to cover and the stakeholders I have to influence are motivated by other priorities and agendas. The magnitude of the issue we are trying to tackle is daunting but then, that means there will be lots to keep me busy!

7. What is most rewarding?

My job priorities reflect my life’s priorities. I feel like I can achieve so much more through a large organization because I have a really “big stick”! It’s very exciting to know that what my team and I do can really make a difference to our company and to the environment.

8. What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

You don’t necessarily have to move out of your current organization in order to explore a career in this field. Think about how you can make changes from your current position to improve your organization’s environmental performance. If you don’t see a lot of opportunity there, consider the skills and expertise that you currently have and how you can leverage those existing skills to move into an area of your business where a sustainability-focused approach will create value (cost savings or revenue). Then make a transition that plays to your strengths. This is what I did – I took a look at my resume and realized that no-one would hire me for a sustainability job, but a sustainability project would certainly hire me as a project manager!

9. What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

That it’s glamorous! It’s really the same as any other job. Sustainability is just a new business problem that needs to be worked through and solved and that requires the same kind of strategic focus as any other organizational challenge. If I do my job right, sustainable thinking will be built into everyday decision-making and I’ll ultimately be out of a job! So it’s not a question of organizations needing sustainability specialists; it’s a question of how to add sustainability into all the jobs that the organization already does. Also, people believe that you need an advanced degree in the area of sustainability – in my experience, most of my colleagues who are working on aspects of sustainability are experts in something else first and are adding sustainability to their toolkit.

10. What are your goals/dreams for the future?

I really like the marriage of business and sustainability. It is a very compelling value proposition. I want to continue doing this in one way or another for the remainder of my career.

11. What else would you like people to know about what you do?

A very small change, multiplied by a lot, can make a very large difference!

Thank you for sharing your career with Challenge Factory, Diane! We are thrilled that you are a Challenge Factory Expert - available to spend time with clients considering Business Sustainability as a career!

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