Empowering Workplace Climate Action with Sophie Lambin

This is Techstrong tv. Welcome to Techstrong tv. I'm Bonnie Schneider.

Today we're focusing on a groundbreaking approach to climate action in the workplace. It's a new approach that allows employees to voice their experiences and drive change within their organizations. Joining me now is Sophie Laden, CEO, and founder of Herd, a climate tech platform that's making it easier for workers to engage with and influence their company's sustainability's initiatives.

Sophie, thanks for joining us. Thank you for welcoming me. Uh, Bonnie.

Wonderful. Can you share more about your background and explain what was the catalyst for creating Herd? Yes, with pleasure.

Um, we started, uh, working on, um, climate upskilling education of employees a few years ago, having realized that on one hand, you know, companies were committing to making, um, um, the company Net Zero in transforming the all aspects of the value chain towards a more sustainable outcome. But on the other hand, uh, employees within companies felt that the ability to contribute to that transformation was limited. So there is a real opportunity to tap into the immense energy of employees in the design to act through upskilling program, which is what, uh, we launched a few years ago.

And HERD was really born from the realization that all the while companies are committing to upskill the employees, and that is happening at a certain pace. There's also an opportunity to go direct to employees and give them a sense of empowerment and, and, uh, ability to realize that whatever the role might be, whether they have sustainability in the job title or not, they can also contribute to the transformation and the sustainable transformation of the organization. And that applies, you know, whether you are in human results, in procurement, in sales and marketing, not just if you're in sustainability.

So that's interesting. I was gonna ask you how it facilitates climate action. I understand how it can gather the information, but how does it actually execute the climate action within the company?

Well, I think, you know, people, um, get a sense of the ability to act on what is arguably, um, vast and complex and, and, um, you know, immense problem by starting to take small step. And I think there is lots of evidence to demonstrate that you move from being, you know, watching on the sideline, thinking that somebody else will do it, to doing it yourself by starting doing, taking small step in your role. And that's what we are trying to ignite a sense of, this is something that I can contribute to.

It's not somebody else job, it's also my job. And those, you know, uh, program of, of, um, microlearning that we offer, we hope, uh, will start giving some very tangible step that people can take to contribute. In addition to giving people a voice, uh, in, in aggregate, at least around, um, you know, the ability to, to push the ambition of their own company towards more, uh, bold Action Herd allows, uh, for anonymous reviews of company climate efforts.

How does this affect the quality and honesty of the feedback? Well, it's a, it's a little bit, uh, early to say, um, we think that, you know, the, the, the whole tonality of herd is, is really in the way it's presented to employees, is not about criticizing the lack of action. It's really about giving them the tools and the resource to contribute.

So the feedback we have received so far, the input we're getting from employees so far is really around, you know, what are the barriers to them to be able to do more rather than a sense, let me take the opportunity of anonymity to criticize. It's, it's born from a design to take more action to be better equipped with a sense of empowerment. So the, the anonymity is, in my view, secondary really to what we're trying to do, which is to empower people with a sense of, uh, agency and, and having access to the tools, the resource, and the community of champions so that they can act.

That's great. Well, herd includes e e-Learning Resources. How do these tools help employees contribute more effectively to the company's climate goals?

So the way the the Microlearning is being designed is by being, you know, really pragmatic. Uh, we, we not, um, going back to the beginning of, you know, the whole issues of the climate science, we're really translating those realities into concrete recommendation for different roles. For example, if you take, um, the course we have, I am in human resource, what can I do?

Well, we break it down into very digestible steps. You can, um, you know, look at the potential of green pensions. You can look at how you incentivize your employees for action, the taking climate, you can support your employee base to build a green team.

You know, we, we make it highly practical, yet those practices are anchored into what are considered to be the best practice out there. So it's informed by science, it's informed by, uh, various practice that we have come across and many publications out there. And we really trying to create and translate that content, content in something that is highly actionable and digestible, and that can apply to lots of different roles.

That makes sense. Uh, so in developing Herd, what were some of the technical challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Again, it's early days, uh, Bonnie, but I think what we were very keen on is, is for the platform to, you know, give employees the right context about, um, where, uh, a company is at with regards to its, uh, climate commitment.

There are lots of commitments out there from net zero to, uh, science-based targets to, uh, ca um, CDP rating. You know, it's been a challenge for us to aggregate all that information and give employees that are new to this world, uh, a full picture of, um, what the companies are committing to. So currently we we're doing that in a manual way.

Um, we are hoping that soon will be to integrate that information, um, much more seamlessly. Um, but otherwise, in terms of, uh, technical difficulties, um, I wouldn't say we have encountered many yet, but it's, it's early days and, um, it would be a nice room to have when we have our first million users. And, you know, we might have some challenge of moderating all these great comments that, uh, um, employees are submitting on the platform.

Well, uh, since you are in that, that early stage, how do you view the, the impact herd will have on corporate culture and, and employee enga engagement, just the, the way that, that people feel about the company in terms of their sustainability? Do you think it's gonna change the mood and the culture of that? Yeah, I think it will change the mood in the culture.

You know, I think there is, um, a very strong desire of employees to contribute to this. Uh, you know, what is quite an existential problem for many a study we've conducted of 7,000 employees worldwide suggested that 83% of them were ready to act on climate now across different levels of seniority, gender, uh, generational. So I think, you know, people are looking for meaning.

They're looking for work that, uh, contributes to those, uh, issues that they can't necessarily contribute to in a private life. And the space of work is sort of this unique environment where your individual action can contribute to adapt to be more than the sum of its parts. So I think the sense of empowerment, the sense of purpose that you, you of meaning that you gain by taking action can contribute to greater talent retention, greater talent retentions.

I think it can also, you know, shorten the innovation cycle. You know, whenever people understand the constraint within which they work, this is when usually innovation comes through whenever we run this workshop with employees, the number of amazing ideas that are emerging. So I think there's lots of, um, benefits that will emerge, uh, from companies and not just in terms of risk mitigation, but in terms of innovation and attracting and retaining the best talents.

And what about, uh, features going forward? I mean, and where, where do you see the future of this platform? Uh, what kind of new features are you excited about that you might be adding?

Uh, well, we really excited about, uh, features such as, you know, connecting people across companies. I think there's lots of opportunities for cross-fertilization of ideas between different employee resource groups that are forming increasingly at, uh, high, high pacing companies. You know, everyone is looking what is the best way to contribute?

What is the best way of mobilizing, uh, mobilizing a group, a group of employees, or what is the best way of, um, engaging with our leadership? I think there is lots of opportunities for those employees and groups of employees and champions to share knowledge and practice, uh, among themselves. And we very much hope, we very much hope to facilitate that cross-fertilization of ideas and community building, uh, between different companies across region, across industry sectors.

Great. Um, last question. What advice would you offer to, um, potential tech entrepreneurs that are watching us now that are interested in climate tech and solutions that are centered around social and environmental issues?

Um, I think the power of tech, uh, in solving the climate crisis is phenomenal. Um, I think we just need to really bring the human, uh, at the center of higher tech is deployed at the service of those issues. And if we can combine, you know, tapping into, uh, humanity, people's desire to do the right thing, to contribute to those issues, and using tech as an enabler to scale, uh, access to that kind of content, access to that kind of solutions, I think that's where we get really the full value of tech and of entrepreneurship because there's so much, um, I see in my network of entrepreneurs, there's so much ingenuity, there's so much innovation.

You know, I think, um, supporting those entrepreneurs with funding for corporate to supporting these, to support these entrepreneurs as well, uh, is absolutely critical in, in solving that, uh, climate crisis, um, together. That's great. Well, thank you Sophie Laden, CEO and founder of Herd for joining us today on Techstrong tv.

We appreciate your insights on driving climate action in the workplace. Thank you. Great.

Well stay with us on Techstrong tv. We'll have more great interviews like this one coming up.