Why Work With a Fractional Sustainability Lead?
Most general managers who come to me have a pretty good idea of where they’re at and that they need to be doing more. They’ve noticed the disconnect between policy document and team behaviour.
The disconnect isn’t failure, but doing nothing might be. Every operator I’ve worked with wants to do right by their guests, their staff and the places they operate in. What’s missing isn’t motivation, it’s usually a clear next step and often a fresh, external voice, someone who can turn “we should probably do something about this” into an actual plan.
So what does that look like in practice? Here’s what changes when you bring in support that actually sits inside the business, rather than handing you a report and disappearing.
Benefits of fractional support
Fractional support is becoming more readily available, it gives you access to high level expertise at a fraction of the price of hiring a junior full time – whilst getting faster traction. Flexibility and agility in business is a super power, so is getting real experts to help you stand out.
A baseline you can act on
Most sustainability engagements start with an audit. I like to start with that too. It’s after the audit where things take a different shape. My audits aren’t an exam, they’re the beginning of my learning process to get to know the business.
This is a starting line, not a finish line. That site assessment informs how I take the next steps, what’s entailed in the workshop and where things are already going well. It shows your team that I care about the details, at the same time, they’re the experts on your property and that’s why we use the baseline to build something together.
This is the bit that separates fractional support from the traditional consulting model. As we build something together, team capability and capacity for sustainability begins to evolve. My ultimate goals is to help them build the skills and motivation and eventually work myself out of a job.
Practically, that means every project is led by someone on the team, with the support and confidence to deliver something with pride. If we build a supplier engagement process, someone on your team runs it with me alongside, checking in rather than doing it for them. If we’re preparing a certification submission, your team drafts and I review, not the other way around. It’s slower in the short term. But it means your operation still has sustainability capability in it long after I’ve moved on to the next client.
Certification and reporting that’s more than a tickbox
Australian tourism operators are increasingly being asked to prove sustainability claims rather than simply state them. The ACCC’s guidance on environmental claims has made vague language like “eco-friendly” a genuine legal exposure, not just a marketing risk. For larger operators, climate-related financial disclosure requirements under the new Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards are starting to flow down through supply chains too, even for businesses that aren’t directly captured by the legislation. And similar initiatives are already in place or soon will be in Southeast Asia.
What this means for you is that the paperwork side of sustainability isn’t optional anymore, but it also doesn’t need to be daunting. As a GSTC Auditor, I build certification and reporting work so it holds up if someone asks questions about it later, rather than being written to look good in order to pass an audit.
Reduced greenwashing risk, and your sustainability story
No judgement, but there are a lot of sustainability claims currently living on tourism websites, that just don’t measure up on closer inspection. As I’ll say over and over again, it’s not because anyone is being deliberately dishonest, it’s usually because claims get written by management, head office, sometimes copywriters or interns, but haven’t consulted the wider team, so they’re great on paper, not so great in action. And they’re left untended to and not kept up to date, until it’s the eve of an audit and everyone’s panicking so the bare minimum is applied, thinking we’ll fix it later, but finding this pattern repeat on the next audit. Again, no blame, just a pattern I see play out, so I’m highlighting it now – it’s not just you, it’s really common.
Part of this work is going through what you’re already saying publicly and fixing what isn’t aligned, before a guest, journalist or regulator does it for you. Better that I find it for you, it’s far less painful to tighten your own language now than to explain a walked-back claim later.
Delve into the topic of greenwashing and authentic sustainability on the Two Homes podcast, episode 14.
A real(ish) example
Over the years I’ve seen this pattern often enough that I can describe it without naming names, and honestly it wouldn’t be fair to any one company to single them out for something so common.
A mid-sized regional accommodation group came to me with a sustainability policy that ticked every box on paper. Energy commitments, waste targets, community language, all present and correct. What wasn’t present was anyone who could tell me that they’d even seen that document before, let alone that they were following the process.
We spent the first six weeks doing something unglamorous: reconciling what was claimed against what was actually true, as a team. What was still important? What was important but hadn’t made it to the document? We all got on the same page and then we built a 12 month action plan with clear priorities, implementation or progress dates and which people were leading the task. Everyone was involved, everyone had ownership.
Eighteen months on, that operator had a sustainability story that’s clearer and actually in place, a team that can talk about it without checking notes, and a certification submission in progress that’s shaping up nicely. That’s the outcome that matters. Not a longer policy, one that people actually use.
Who benefits from this work
This kind of support suits hotels, tour operators, regional tourism boards and purpose-driven organisations who are past the “should we do something” stage but haven’t got the internal resourcing to run sustainability as a full-time function. It’s particularly useful if you’re under-resourced for certification, facing supplier or investor pressure to formalise reporting, or simply tired of sustainability sitting as a side project for someone whose actual job is something else entirely. It’s also helpful if sustainability is sitting in a silo and you want more buy-in across departments. Read more about the services I offer here.
What’s driving this?
None of this is happening in a vacuum. Tourism Research Australia‘s benchmark reporting points to sustained growth in the visitor economy alongside a more discerning traveller, one who increasingly expects sustainability credentials they can feel in their hotel or on their tour, not just a badge on a webpage. Operators who can back up their claims aren’t just avoiding risk., they’re also building trust and rapport that ripples out to repeat bookings, word of mouth referrals and staff retention.
Where to start
You don’t need a finished strategy or to know the end goal before we talk. You need a starting point and someone who’s done this enough times to know which questions matter. If your sustainability policy is currently gathering dust on a shared drive somewhere, that’s a completely normal place to begin. No need to dust it off, no need to get more done first or your progress will take even longer. I’m here to meet you where you are and guide you in a structured and meaningful way.
Book an advisory session or get in touch to talk through what a baseline could look like for your business.
0 Comments