by LaKay Cornell

It’s no secret that if we want to move the needle on sustainability, we have to have wide-spread adoption. There’s a quote that circles social media frequently that says, “We don’t need one person doing all the things to save the planet, we need all the people doing one thing to save the planet.”

True though that may be, imagine if what we could achieve was all the people (and all the companies) doing lots and lots of things.

Wondering how that could ever be possible?

The first step is to have leaders who are doing more than just talking about climate change.

While climate change was discussed more this U.S. election cycle than it has been in the past, those dialogues were offset by the number of paper mailers that showed up in our mailboxes. It’s impossible to believe that anyone who truly understands the urgency of our climate would mail out that many pieces of paper.

We like to gamify things in our house, so we started keeping tally. For our local elections where party lines are less of a determinant and for ballot questions we didn’t have strong feelings on, we went with the candidate or question that we received less mail about.

Another thing we need is more investors choosing to invest in companies that are making the most positive change. And for investors to do that, we have to be able to show them how to measure that change.

I can just see an investor meeting where the CEO has to explain why the impact score of the company isn’t up to the level of other comparable businesses in their market. I can also see that CEO going back to his leadership and insisting that they get a Sustainability Consultant on retainer immediately.

The third thing we need are companies that lead the way and start tying compensation, or even hiring, to the impact of their employees and leadership on the planet.

What if your annual raise was based on how much you did for the planet? Just imagine sitting down with your supervisor and going over your annual review. In addition to discussing whether you hit your job function targets and whether you were a good team player, they said, “You came in quite a few points below the rest of your department on climate change, let’s discuss that.”

There’s a pretty good chance if that kept you from a bonus or raise, that you’d figure out how to get your impact up.

Or how about if you could be screened out of a job you were applying for because you hadn’t done enough to reverse climate change? Just picture the end of a job posting where a company might say that they conduct background, credit, and reference checks on all employees. What if the language was something like this, We conduct background, credit, reference, and impact checks on all potential employees.

It wouldn’t take too many times of seeing that to realize you should be worrying about your impact as much as everything else.

And finally, we need the companies that aren’t offsetting their climate harms to go out of business because no one will buy from them, refer to them, or use them as a supplier. Many big businesses operate on a what can we get away with model, which means their policies are exactly what is required. Many small businesses operate on a what absolutely has to be done today, with the money we have now and what can wait model, which means they cut corners when it comes to sustainability because it isn’t directly affecting their bottom line.

A world that operates this way may seem like it is straight out of a Hallmark Movie and just as unrealistic, and yet, it is what we need to have a chance at still having a world for generations to come.

It is also 100% possible thanks to the amazing people behind xocial.

To put it in as simple of terms as possible, xocial is gamified way to uplevel positive impact by inspiring, measuring, and rewarding the positive actions of an organization’s customers, employees, community, suppliers, leadership, donors, board, and on and on and on.

Participants complete challenges, created by the company or organization, in partnership with the xocial team, that measure impact, effort, time, and money. Everything is fed into an algorithm which creates a score: the XO score.

Complete Challenges: Each campaign has numerous challenges; there could literally be an infinite number of them! This type of engagement goes way beyond standard fair corporate initiatives like participating in a beach cleanup, creating a team for a Turtle Trot race, or getting rid of plasticware in the breakroom. It also meets people where they are, encouraging them to do the things that are fun for them, feel good to them, and that they believe will have the greatest impact.

Where one employee might be all in on Meatless Mondays, another one might be stoked to host a zero-waste dinner party, and yet another might want to organize a beach cleanup.

As an added bonus, the company or organization running the challenge can use their sustainability values to design them. There’s no doubt this leads to a better company culture and customer loyalty because everyone participating will see a clear line between what they are saying and the activities they are supporting.

Compete & Earn Points: Each challenge has the points right on it and requires some kind of photo verification. They also clearly tell you the SDG goal that the challenge is tied to. Not only does this provide that extra level of assurance that these activities are having actual impact, but it also lets employees do things that align with their own goals.

For example, a challenge could be created that was to stop using plastic water bottles and use a reusable bottle instead. Not only would this answer SDG goal #13, Climate Action, but it would also align with #14, Life below the Water. Or you could participate in a Meatless Monday challenge, which would be SDG goal #13, but could also be #3, Good Health & Wellbeing, #12, Responsible Consumption & Production, and even #15, Life on Land!

Every challenge completed adds those points to the algorithm and keeps a running tally of the participant’s XO score.

They also show all the photos that have been submitted on the card. Talk about inspiring the right kind of competition! Seeing photos of the types of activities other people are doing definitely makes a lot of us want to do something even cooler.

Easy to Understand Results: No wordy, data filled impact reports here. The xocial Corporate Social Impact Report is simple, clean, and easy to follow. In fact, it’s way more than a CSR report, it’s a beautiful piece or marketing. Companies can include values statements, certifications, which SDG goals they contributed to with their campaign, as well as their total XO score and a recap of what types of activities contributed to that score. It’s exactly the kind of thing that would tell an investor, potential partner, and your customers what your impact is.

We are moving into a world where people are demanding the places they work, the places they invest in, and the places they purchase from be able to show that they are having a net positive effect on the world. Working with xocial is the perfect way to both have that net positive effect and tell everyone about it.

Remember our examples from the beginning?

I’m envisioning the next election cycle and a candidate that has their XO score on their website and mentions it in campaign speeches, instead of sending us a bunch of mailers with talking points that fall on deaf ears, or in the trash.

In Paid Partnership with xocial