Creating Change: Harness the Power of Community and Collaboration

Community can mean many things – it can mean your family and hometown, your network of work colleagues and associates, or a group of committed individuals united by a common purpose to help solve a social issue.

As the CEO of Tru Earth, a B Corp certified multinational household cleaning products organization, community means our dedicated employees, our ecosystem of business suppliers and vendors, and our customers – #TruChangeMakers – located in 80 countries around the world.

Key to harnessing your power as an organization is understanding the impact of a strong community of allies and partners. Tru Earth was founded on a critical cause to make true lasting change that helps save the planet. To make good on this commitment, we are tapping into the power of community and collaboration–bringing people, nonprofits, and other organizations together across countries, backgrounds, age groups, and more, to work together and save our environment now and for future generations.

Following are a few ways companies can leverage their different communities to activate on
their purpose:

Employee Community

Many experts agree that creating and maintaining a strong employee culture is essential to business success, and I couldn’t agree more. Tru Earth would never have achieved a 400% growth rate over five years without our hardworking staff across all levels.

Building a strong internal culture also means engaging externally with local communities, and this can boost staff morale and loyalty to an organization. I’ve seen this firsthand when our employees volunteer for environmentally-focused activities, such as beach clean-ups, working together to remove plastic trash and other harmful debris. This isn’t easy work, walking along a shoreline and removing large and small particles of plastic and other harmful items. It’s also exhilarating because together, we’re making a positive, tangible difference.

Customer community

It’s one thing to create a company, and another to disrupt a multi-billion-dollar business sector. This is exactly what we did five years ago by introducing the laundry strip category, positioning this new innovation amid the dominant global CPG enterprises that offer laundry in liquid and plastic jugs. We knew there was a better way to offer laundry products that was also safe for the
planet.

While Tru Earth created the laundry strip category, we wouldn’t have achieved such success without our #TruChangeMakers, who have helped us change the consumer mindset. Cleaning practices and behaviors are deep-rooted and often have existed for generations. Changing behavior has required an immense amount of education and forced us to listen closely to the needs of our #TruChangeMakers to ensure we are providing them with easy, effective, planet-friendly solutions. Our customers continually inspire us to develop new products that are good for them and respectful to the environment. It’s important to distinguish that the onus of plastic pollution does not rest solely on the shoulders of the consumer, but consumers play a key role in the collective solution.

The B Corp community

Having the privilege of being a B Corp is much more than a credential. It represents a community of like-minded organizations committed to providing a better planet for future generations by upholding high standards of environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and transparency.

Being a B Corp grants us access to a network of businesses that share our values and our mission. This is invaluable for learning, collaboration, and amplifying impact. For any company focused on becoming a B Corp, it’s critical to leverage the opportunity as a way to draw inspiration, as well as exchange valuable achievements and mistakes. Learning from peers,
experts and advisors can save business leaders a lot of time and money.

Community of partners

Establishing strong partnerships is essential for any business aiming to extend its reach and impact. Collaborating with organizations like Clean Hub and Ocean Wise has allowed us to tap into shared resources and networks, creating a collective force for greater environmental impact. For example, our partnership with Clean Hub extended our commitment to removing
plastic waste from oceans and coastlines to regions in the world where we don’t yet have offices.

Businesses can benefit from strategic partnerships in a variety of ways- filling gaps in expertise and knowledge, collaborating on new innovations, reaching new customers, accessing new sources of capital, and working together in a way that helps each partner more efficiently and cost effectively achieve their social impact and business goals.

Engaging with Detractors

Open, honest conversations are essential for building a better society together. Businesses must avoid shaming detractors and instead listen to their perspectives to build mutual understanding and respect. Engaging with voices unlike your own can inspire growth and improvement.

By fostering constructive dialogue with detractors, you can uncover new solutions and drive broader societal change. Creating an environment where diverse opinions are valued leads to more comprehensive and effective strategies that address environmental and social challenges.

By harnessing the power of community and collaboration, businesses can make significant strides in combating plastic waste and promoting environmental sustainability. Next month, I have the privilege of being in community with heads of state, C-suite executives, nonprofit leaders and foundations at the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit to discuss cross-sector solutions that address the most pressing challenges of our time.

Together with employees, customers, partners, and even critics, we can create a cleaner, healthier planet for future generations.