Project management and sustainability

The Sigma Framework

‘Accountability' consists of three elements:

Transparency: Transparency means the duty of an organization to account to its stakeholders.
Responsiveness: responsiveness means the need to respond quickly to stakeholders.
Compliance: Compliance means the duty to comply with standards to which an organization is voluntarily committed, and rules and regulations that it must comply with for statutory reasons.

The SIGMA Management Framework is a cycle of four flexible implementation phases:

Organizations may enter and move through the phases at different speeds and give different phases and different emphasis depending on:

their individual circumstances,
the availability of resources,
the level of maturity of their sustainable development policies, strategies and programs.

The SIGMA Management Framework may be used:

to integrate existing management systems, building on existing approaches,
to establish a stand-alone management system,
as guidance to deepen and broaden existing management practice without the formal structure of a management system.

Leadership and Vision: Define the vision for sustainability and ensure leadership support for it.

To develop a business case to address sustainability issues and secure top-level commitment to integrate sustainable development into core processes and decision-making.
To identify stakeholders and open dialogue with them on key impacts and suggested approaches.
To formulate the organization's long-term sustainable development mission, vision and operating principles and a high-level strategy that supports them, and to revisit them periodically.
To raise awareness of sustainability issues and how they may affect the organization's license to operate and its future direction and its training and development requirements.
To ensure that the organizational culture is supportive of a move towards sustainability.

Planning: Decide what needs to be done to improve performance

To ascertain the organization's current sustainability performance, legal requirements and voluntary commitments.
To identify and prioritize the organization's key sustainability issues.
To develop strategic plans to deliver the organization's vision and address its key sustainability issues.
Consult with stakeholders on plans.
To formulate tactical short-term action plans to support the agreed sustainability strategies with defined objectives, targets and responsibilities.

Delivery: Improve performance.

To align and prioritize management programs in line with strategic and tactical planning and the organization's sustainability vision.
To ensure that identified actions, impacts and outcomes and legal and self-regulatory requirements are managed and appropriate internal controls are in place.
To improve performance by delivering sustainability strategies and associated action plans.
To exercise appropriate external influence on suppliers, peers and others to progress sustainable development.

Monitor, Review and Report: Check that performance is improving and communicates the results

To monitor progress against stated values, strategies, performance objectives and targets.
To engage with internal and external stakeholders via reporting and assurance, and by incorporating feedback into effective strategic and tactical reviews culminating in appropriate and timely change.