As many of us have seen over the last year and months, AI is rapidly reshaping the way organisations work. For many, this pace of change can feel disruptive, uncertain and even uncomfortable. As a sustainability solution provider, we are no strangers to helping organisations navigate change and periods of transition – whether driven by regulation, climate risk, strategic implementation or evolving stakeholder expectations.  

At Simply Sustainable, we chose not to delay, but to embrace this change. We treated the emergence of AI as an opportunity to deepen our learning as a team and to grow as an organisation, rather than something to be cautiously observed from the sidelines. 

Once we committed to this intention, we took time to reflect on the approaches and guidance we use to support our clients. Through a series of collaborative sessions and careful consideration of our options, we identified the COM-B behaviour change model, developed by Michie et al. 2011, as the most appropriate framework.  Adopting this model marked an important shift for us as a team, it meant that we moved from simply advising on change to actively living it ourselves. 

Our journey and applying COM-B with an inward lens on ourselves: 

The COM-B model focuses on achieving behaviour change by aligning Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation. It is a simple yet powerful framework, ideal for supporting clients in realising their sustainability ambitions by translating strategy into action. This time, we applied it internally. 

Capability: Building capability and resilience

To kick-off, we started by building out our capability.  We didn’t expect our teams to work things out by themselves.  We invested in structured learning and training by engaging our very own AI coach. We have taken care along our journey to create a safe and supportive environment where our teams could explore, experiment and ask questions without the fear of getting it wrong.   

We saw capability, not just about building technical skills but also about creating confidence, curiosity and the understanding of how AI could enhance and complement rather than replace, human expertise.  

Opportunity: Creating an environment to thrive

In order for ‘Capability’ to thrive and result in positive action, we needed to create the right environment to support it – the ‘Opportunity’. With this in mind, we focused on nurturing a culture that supports learning and development, encourages collaboration and shared discovery, and fosters continuous improvement so our teams can thrive. 

Working with our AI coach, we created working squads and started to develop our AI work dynamically, using ‘Sprints’. From the start, we were clear as a team that AI was framed not as an add-on, but part of how we work and evolve together, growing as an organisation.   

Motivation: Maintaining momentum

Crucial to our success, has been carving out dedicated time, providing the right tools and having leadership support to maintain our motivation during this journey.  And, we can’t deny the energy we have derived seeing the development of AI as a tool which strengthens our ability to deliver positive change, further supporting our clients to create business value beyond compliance.  

Our motivational batteries have also been kept charged by celebrating our progress at ‘retrospectives’ and seeing the results integrated into our working practices. As with all successful change initiatives, maintaining momentum with regular team communications and engagements has served to align our passion and minds, and unite us throughout this journey.  

Outcomes: From internal learning to external collaboration

Navigating change ourselves has given us first-hand insight into the day-to-day challenges our clients face when posed with complex sustainability challenges, from the uncertainty and excitement to the resistance and learning that inevitably accompany transformation. 

The process continues to be a humbling experience mixed with outstanding achievements and milestones accomplished. As a team, we are constantly learning, growing and challenging our own assumptions. It has also reinforced just how critical trust, clarity and psychological safety are during periods of change. We believe this lived experience has strengthened our ability to provide empathetic, thoughtful and credible counsel to our clients. 

Working through these changes internally gave us something particularly valuable: a clearer understanding of which sustainability challenges can now be approached differently and the conditions required for those approaches to succeed. 

It also surfaced a gap we see repeatedly with clients. Many organisations know which sustainability issues are holding them back, but lack the space, structure, or support to explore them meaningfully, especially when data is complex, fragmented, or incomplete. 

That is why we designed the AI for Sustainability Programme.  

Introducing the AI for Sustainability programme: 

The AI for Sustainability Programme is a structured initiative for in-house sustainability teams to submit real sustainability problems that have been difficult to progress using traditional approaches. Learn more about the full programme here. 

What’s next and how the programme unfolds: 

We have closed the surveys however there is still time to get involved! We have now captured various sustainability problems for consideration as part of the programme and we will review submissions and invite selected challenge owners to participate in the co-creation process. This will be further discussed in the programme’s workshops and demo-events. If you would like to get involved, all in-house sustainability leaders are free to attend our events throughout February and March in London and Amsterdam, contact us here.