The Seasalt Sustainability Strategy Anchoring for customer facing employees

About Seasalt

Seasalt is a British company that creates clothing and accessories for women, to reflect the lifestyle of those who appreciate thoughtful design and enduring quality. The organization was founded in Penzance, Cornwall, Southwest England in 1981. The clothing lines are inspired by the local community of farmers, fishermen and artists. The wild landscape, artistic culture and maritime heritage leave a mark on everything Seasalt creates. It is one of Cornwall’s largest employers, with over 60 shops around the UK and Ireland.

The goal of the company is to create sustainable fashions, both beautiful and useful, for the customers to wear for multiple seasons. Their purpose is to inspire women of all ages and shapes to dress with creativity and confidence.

Seasalt is created around values that cherish nature. Therefore, the well-being of the people and the planet is important to them as they aim to make a positive difference in the communities around them.

Seasalt logo

The challenge

For a team to learn and grow together, it needs to have the same understanding of the values, mission, and strategy. According to Seasalt’s management, there was a growing issue developing inside the company. Employees were not aligned with the company’s goals and did not completely understand the company’s sustainability strategy. Seasalt’s creation is based on the respect its creators have towards nature and the beautiful landscapes of the area they live in. Therefore, the fact that their employees didn’t share these values about the sustainable process for creating the clothing lines, represented a challenge for the company. 

Seasalt started as a tribute to the beautiful nature and the people living there, thriving as artists and fishermen, and the need to protect the history.

Seasalts online session

The fact that employees were not able to transpire the values and sustainability efforts of the company towards the customers, was a challenge. Moreover, how can employees best engage so they actively contribute to the strategic pillars and become advocates of the company’s purpose. But the change is never easy, especially if the process is difficult and the steps are not clear.

The management of Seasalt did not have a clear idea of how much knowledge of sustainability their employees have. Therefore, the implementation of the sustainability strategy was hitting yet another obstacle. How could the strategy add value to the company if the starting point was unclear?

The solution

Our company offered support and a tailored experience created specifically to meet Seasalt’s needs. By working together, we created a plan for building a sustainability culture and started engaging the employees in sustainability. We are the specialists in gamification; therefore, the sessions were interactive and engaging for all the participants. The Performance & Development Manager mentioned We are at the beginning of our sustainability education journey so the opportunity to try a new and innovative learning technology has been great. The team at 2030 Builders were wonderful to work with. They supported us in creating a bespoke game that spoke to our sustainability strategy.  We piloted the interactive game with 3 retail stores, customer service team members and a few select head office employees.”

The sessions were designed to keep the level of interest high throughout the whole time. Over 60 employees from different shops around the country walked through the sessions and were able to reflect on Seasalt’s sustainability strategy. They discussed different topics such as ways to implement sustainable methods at work, and shared their reflections on the strategy. The management had the opportunity to find out what their people think about the company and how they would like to develop further. 

Their issue is common for many organizations these days, but they had the initiative and determination to find a solution. It never comes easily, but change is required to keep growing and challenging the industry’s norms while maintaining the traditions and culture that drives Seasalt.

We, at 2030 Builders, are responsible for offering an easy solution for companies to solve the problem of engagement and help the sustainability strategy succeed. ”The discussion part is definitely an advantage over an e-learning experience.” reflected one of the managers present during the experience. 

Seasalts online session

Suitable for remote work

Outcomes & Impact

Throughout the sessions, our solution has proven to deliver value to the following Seasalt’s objectives:

Sustainability strategy understanding

The participants were brought to a better common understanding of Seasalt’s sustainability strategy, its actions, and its targets. It enabled the employees to understand and reflect on the strategy as a whole.

Employee empowerment

By sharing their opinion and recommendations during the sessions, the employees became more empowered and comfortable to contribute to the company’s sustainability objectives that will enable them to transform the strategy into action.

Confident communication

Participants got the knowledge necessary to feel confident to talk to the customers about the company’s values, mission, and sustainable goals. As a result, they will become actors in the sustainability strategy..

“The experience was fun and enjoyable.”

Employee

“The employees were engaged. They really enjoyed the discussion part which definitely represented an advantage over an e-learning experience.”

Performance and Development Practitioner 

“It was good for them to share their ideas.”

Performance and Development Manager

“The discussions were pretty fruitful. They didn’t seem to be too hesitant even though they were from different stores and didn’t know each other well. The first game was the most difficult one, but we just needed to get the ball rolling. People seemed to jump in quickly. “

Performance and Development Manager

The best outcome of these sessions is the alignment the employees gained to Seasalt’s sustainability goals, and the liberty of expressing their ideas to the company’s leaders and their knowledge to the customers.  What really resonated with the participants was the opportunity to come together and discuss sustainability and share ideas. The report that 2030 Builders generated after the games, has been very useful and will play an important key role in shaping our sustainability education approach.” says the Performance & Development Manager

Most important of all, they understood that by having a clear strategy and working together, they can achieve their goals, and protect and maintain the beauty of their beloved place, Cornwall, where everything started. They are now able to progress with the sustainability strategy to the next chapter.

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