It's just over a month since a group of Zero members and volunteers came together at our strategy workshop 'Shaping Zero's Future'.
Since then, based on the discussions at the workshop, I have put together a 'strategy on a page'. A draft of this was discussed at Zero Night a couple of weeks ago. The next version of that is presented in this blog for Zero volunteers and members to review and feedback on.
Why are we doing a strategy refresh?
Zero does a whole lot of amazing things, from preventing food waste, to supporting householders to save energy, to engaging the public both at ZERO and at other events. But it can be hard to explain how this all adds up, and what we're all trying to achieve together. The strategy refresh aims to help us all tell the story of Zero better, whether to the public, to partners or to potential funders. It also aims to help us make decisions about what to do next and where to put our efforts.
After working on this for the last couple of weeks, I think having a clearer, shared strategy can also help do something else, which is to remind us how all our efforts at Zero add up to something more. When faced with huge, existential issues like climate change, it can feel as if our small local actions aren't going to make a significant difference. But together, what we do can have not just direct impact (and Zero projects do make a direct difference), but also inspire others, build community, and create new ways to address these challenges together.
The strategy on a page
Before diving into what's in the strategy, this graphic explains the different sections. The content of each section is discussed below.
The strategy on a page sets out Zero's activities, categorised into different areas. The projects and activities in each of these areas lead to medium term outcomes, which in turn contribute to the achievement of Zero's long term vision.
In the description of each activity area, there's also a description of Zero's 'approach', which tries to capture some of the assumptions, values and ways of working that make what Zero does uniquely 'Zero'.
One question for everyone reading this is whether you think it would help to pull this out and articulate it differently. It feels pretty crucial to understanding Zero. That's a question to bear in mind as you read through this blog.
Zero's Vision
Those of you who were at the workshop will remember that we spent quite a lot of time first drawing and then discussing Zero's Vision. As part of that discussion we looked at the vision in our existing strategy - here it is to remind you:
At ZERO, we envision a future where Guildford's wide and diverse community stands united and empowered to combat the pressing climate and environmental crises.
At the workshop, there was a lot of agreement that we'd like our vision to do the following:
be more focused on the positive change we want to see (a future where we have addressed, or are addressing the climate and environmental crises).
be positive but realistic. We had a good discussion of whether the vision should acknowledge the crisis we are in, or be more utopian in describing what we want to see.
paint a picture that shows the positives of action to address climate change.
be understandable and aspirational for ordinary people. That means both avoiding jargon and coming up with a vision that ordinary people are likely to agree with.
be short enough to be memorable and usable in public communications
We didn't come up with the words on the day, and getting this right will need input from all of you in the Zero community. When we discussed this at Zero Night, someone helpfully suggested looking at how other similar initiatives describe their visions. I've done some online searching and found a few phrases that could help us.
It could be that we are "collectively reimagining" or "building community resilience and adaptation" for a sustainable future. We could be "working for a zero carbon, nature friendly, socially just Guildford by the 2030s" or aiming to make Guildford "the most nature-rich, sustainable, healthy and happy community in the UK". What about "making climate action a core part of our town’s common culture" or taking "positive action to prepare for the changing climate." Credit to The Creative & Cultural Organisation, Islington Climate Centre, Climate Action Leeds, Talking Tree (Spelthorne), Net Zero Stratford and Torbay Climate Action for these.
Here are four draft Vision statements. We envision a future where:
Guildford is setting an example in how to enjoy living sustainably
People in Guildford and beyond are living healthy, happy, sustainable lives
Guildford's community is coming together to prepare for our changing climate
Guildford is leading the way to become zero carbon, nature rich and resilient to climate shocks.
I'd love feedback on which of these you think works best. Use the poll on this page to give your quick response, and/or feedback using the Google form (button at end of blog) to provide other ideas and comments.
Questions to help you think about this:
Do any of these excite and motivate you to act? Which statements ring true for why you're involved in Zero?
Is it more important to Zero to contribute to achieving outcomes like net zero, or to contribute to building a community able to act for those outcomes?
Is Zero's vision just for Guildford?
Which of these would be best to help explain what Zero is trying to achieve to a member of the public?
Which vision statement do you prefer?
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Expanding on the vision
At the workshop we spent time working through what would need to happen in order for the vision to be achieved. We also talked about organising our work into 'themes' and whether that could be a helpful way to organise our strategy.
In the strategy on a page, I'm proposing that these themes can best be represented as a way of telling the story of what our vision encompasses. The short statements above don't say much about what 'living sustainably' or 'addressing the climate and nature crisis' looks like.
My first version of this looked something like this:
These short headings could help us check whether Zero's work is addressing issues across these themes, identify gaps and therefore areas to potentially develop new projects in. However, it's perhaps hard to read, and not very emotive.
An alternative could be to come up with a longer vision statement (something like this):
Even better, from a story telling perspective, could be a video or animation to paint a picture of the vision we have for Guildford. Something that excites people about the potential future we can create and that highlights some of the positive outcomes of action for climate and nature, rather than playing into the idea that environmentalism is all about giving things up.
Let me know by using the google form at the end of this blog what you think about how to tell a compelling story about Zero's vision. What should it include, and what format would be most useful?
Outcomes and activity areas
Under the vision I've organised Zero's work into four activity areas, each of which contributes to a medium term outcome. These outcomes are the changes we want our work to bring about, and which will in turn contribute to the realisation of the vision.
Here's how that looks as the whole 'strategy on a page':
If it's easier to read, you can also download this as a pdf:
This categorises Zero's work into four areas:
Education and awareness activities which lead to increased awareness and likeliness to act. Zero's approach is about engaging new and diverse audiences, using evidence-based communication methods. It's also key to Zero to have a visible presence for the community in order to engage those outside the environmental bubble.
Activities which support and strengthen the community of Guildford to enact positive solutions to the climate and environmental crises. This includes building the Zero community as well as collaboration with other organisations, and activities to support other organisations develop, trial and deliver solutions, in and out of Zero. Our approach is all about collaboration, sharing learnings and enabling both individuals and organisations to get on with trialling and delivering solutions. This isn't about Zero 'owning' or delivering everything directly, but creating the conditions for community-wide action.
Activities which enable people to reduce their own environmental footprint and improve their local environment in ways they couldn’t do alone. Delivering these activities is crucial to Zero's 'DIY' approach - this is about helping people to reduce their impact right now, and making that easier through community-led action, rather than waiting for central or local government to regulate or enforce action.
Activities which multiply and amplify what Zero does, contributing to a wider community-led climate movement. This includes both activities that are about sharing learnings with other local climate hubs, and activities that bring Zero's approach, evidence base and membership to the notice of policy makers.
Under each heading I've outlined Zero's approach and values. Please have a think about whether these resonate with you, and also whether it would be useful for our approach to be pulled out more strongly or in a separate section.
I've also listed out the current projects and activities under the heading that fits best. I'm aware that lots of projects contribute to more than one of these outcomes, although I think in most cases there's a clear primary outcome which they contribute to most. It would be great to know whether I've missed any projects or activities, and if so where they would fit. Could you imagine any new work that Zero would do that wouldn't contribute to these outcomes?
I've included some examples of potentially new work under each heading. A next step following the finalisation of this strategy could be for us to explore ideas for new projects in each area.
Over to you for comments
I've found it a really interesting process to put this strategy on a page together. I hope that those of you who were at the workshop can recognise some of what we discussed and, more importantly, that this resonates with your own vision and understanding of what Zero is all about. Now it's over to you to review and feedback your comments and ideas.
I've put together a simple google form to gather feedback, On the form you can make overall comments, or add your specific ideas for additions, changes to wording, things that are missing under each section. You don't have to fill in all the sections.
I will also be bringing this to Zero Night again, and having discussions with the operations team and Trustees. If you're keen to discuss in person, let me know.
A few final reflections
In drawing this up, I've been grappling with a couple of fundamental questions which I thought it could be worth sharing with you all.
First is about the scope and scale of ambition. There is a lot in this strategy - both in terms of the ambition of the vision, and in terms of what we are aiming to do and achieve. That reflects, I think, the ambition and dedication of the people involved in Zero. This strategy doesn't aim to curtail that, or provide a tighter focus for Zero. It seems to me that the strength of Zero is in the energy of the people in its community, the attitude of just getting on with things, and the power of collaboration. So rather than try to come up with more focused activities, my hope is that this strategy provides a bit more structure to what we're already doing, more clarity about why we are doing what we're doing, and some prompts for thinking about what we do next.
It would be great to know if you agree with this. Would it be helpful for Zero to have a more focused strategy? That could mean focusing on a smaller number of thematic areas within the vision, or on one of the outcomes, or even on specific audiences within the outcomes (for example, we could decide to focus more specifically on individuals, rather than also including activities which aim to engage and influence businesses and other organisations). Would there be danger in this shutting down exciting new ideas and projects that don't fit that focus?
Second, this strategy feels like a description and structure for what Zero already does. That is hopefully helpful for the initial aim of supporting us all to tell a shared story of what Zero is for and what it does. But does it also provide direction for what we do next? Could it help us answer strategic questions about which new projects to run, what funding to apply for or how to prioritise current resources?
I've also been reflecting as I worked on this on how Zero fits into the bigger picture. I've found it a tough few weeks, with the election of Trump and what that might mean for global climate ambition and policy, and with the news out of COP29 again showing the scale of the crisis and the frustratingly inadequate response from governments. However, some of the analysis I've read suggests that what we're doing at Zero could be exactly what is needed to build the alternative to reliance on global governments.
One of those think pieces, by Alex Evans from Larger Us, describes a new scenario in how the world responds to crises:
there’s a massive shift in where power lies. Instead of governments holding all the cards, it’s communities that are calling the shots. They’re getting organised, doing democracy on steroids, involving everyone - business, charities, faith communities, and most of all citizens - because it’s an all hands on deck emergency... The whole process is hugely innovative and experimental. Communities try stuff out. Lots of it doesn’t work. When that happens, they learn from it, avoid blame, and share the learning as transparently, widely and quickly as possible - not just within but between communities.
This feels to me like a good description of what Zero is trying to do, and gives me hope that what we do here could be part of a bigger shift in power and hopefully also in outcomes for the world.
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