Sustainability Compentency & Opportunity Rating & Evaluation

The SCORE sustainability assessment measures
how well sustainability is integrated into your operations
A powerful educational tool to help managers understand what sustainability means in their daily work

QuickLinks: What is SCORE • What's special about SCORE • SCORE assessment areas • How SCORE Works
• Sample SCORE items • Pricing • Licensed Assessors • Becoming Licensed

What is SCORE?

Ask us for a Powerpoint overview of SCORE

What’s special about SCORE?

SCORE includes nearly 100 practices and is organized by functions that practically all organizations have (HR, facilities, purchasing, finance, etc.). This makes it easy to assign responsibility and it helps departments understand what they are supposed to do. For each practice, it provides three levels of performance so you can see where you are now and where you need to go long-term. There are special assessments for services, government and manufacturing, capturing special opportunities for each sector. Specific sectors are also under development. It can easily be combined with other sustainability assessment processes (e.g., impacts assessment, greenhouse gas inventories) or sustainability planning processes. It dovetails with The Business Guide to Sustainability by Hitchcock and Willard (Earthscan, 2006) that can provide frameworks, tools and strategies for improving your sustainability performance. It can supplement emerging sustainability rating systems and award programs.

"I REALLY loved your Business Guide to Sustainability -- its been very handy around here lately. What I liked best was that it was clear/concise and laid out in a way that made real sense.  The way the chapters were structured (into the functions and sectors) was particularly helpful - not everyone I work with is interested in reading a whole book, but they will read a pertinent chapter!  (to tell you the truth, I had originally borrowed it fromthe library - but I desperately wanted to highlight and underline so many things that I went out and bought it."—Jacqueline Drumheller, Alaska Airlines

SCORE Assessment Areas

SCORE has a separate assessment for each of these sectors and common organizational functions. By choosing the areas relevant to your organization, you can assemble a broad assessment of your sustainability practices and areas for improvement.

How SCORE Works

SCORE gathers an incredible amount of information in a short time. It is most commonly done in 4 meetings:

1. Briefing where we help you decide the best way to implement SCORE in your organization (usually 30-60 minutes)
2. Data gathering meeting--usually 2 hours
3. Planning meeting where we deliver the report and help you build an action plan (usually 2 hours)
4. Six-month follow-up (usually 1 hour)

We analyze your data, write a report with our observations, recommendations and associated resources. You get back:

• An Excel file with your results, the assessment items, and notes
• An MS Word report based on our expert analysis
• A PowerPoint presentation that summarizes our findings, making it easy for you to share the results with others
• A copy of The Business Guide to Sustainability

SCORE includes a separate assessment for each major sector (services, manufacturing, government) and as well as common organizational functions (top management, facilities, human resources, marketing, finance, etc.) Each sector is rated on roughly a dozen sustainability practices and the functions usually have about half-a-dozen practices. All together, there are almost 100 practices to be rated. However, since they are organized the way organizations are organized, an individual rater only has to score a few items.

Each practice has three benchmarks of performance. The 'pilot' level represents better than status quo and typical performance for those early in their implementation. The 'initiative' level represents the performance expected of an organization with a formal sustainability effort. The 'systemic' level represents best practice, performance in organizations where sustainability is fully integrated and the organization is actively influencing the behavior of others outside the organization. See the two sample items below.

Sample SCORE Items

SCORE Options

Conduct SCORE—SCORE is typically done in 4 meetings. We can do some of these meetings via teleconference if needed.

SCORE-Again — This option is for repeat customers, a do-it-yourself version. We can compare your results to the last time you took SCORE.

pre-SCORE—pre-SCORE is for customers who are so new to sustainability that they want to use SCORE to understand what sustainability means and build a plan for when to address the practices instead of rating themselves on the assessment.

SCORE as part of a larger sustainability assessment. SCORE assesses the degree to which you've incorporated sustainability into your business practices. However there may be other elements you want to assess (e.g., greenhouse gases, energy, waste, etc.) SCORE can be one part of a much larger sustainability assessment.

Do It Yourself—Anyone can purchase a copy of The Business Guide to Sustainability and use the paper-and-pencil version inside the book (for their own organization only; consultants are required to become licensed if they want to use SCORE in their practice). However, you will not get our expert analysis of your results, a formal report with our recommendations and associated resources, or charts showing how your results compare to others who have taken SCORE. Also, not all assessments are included in the book because the structure of the book is somewhat different than the assessment now.

Licensed assessors

In order to spread the availability of this powerful tool, we have trained and licensed experienced sustainability professionals to administer SCORE. A licensed assessor can help you in the following ways:

Contact someone from the list of licensed assessors below for assistance.

Want to become a licensed assessor? External consultants may want to add SCORE to their toolkit of services and internal practioners may want to administer SCORE themselves year-after-year to track their progress without incurring the expense of an external consultant. If you are interested in becoming licensed and possess a strong working knowledge of sustainability concepts and practices, contact Darcy Hitchcock to be added to a notification list when classes are offered.

Darcy Hitchcock and Marsha Willard of AXIS Performance Advisors are the creators of SCORE. They, along with Dorothy Atwood at the Zero Waste Alliance are master trainers, the only ones who can license other assessors to use SCORE in their consulting practice. In addition to the master trainers, the following people have been trained on the use of SCORE and are licensed to administer it with clients. They are listed by region.

NOTE: These listed in the chart below are the only people who have been licensed and have our permission to use SCORE in their consulting practice. If you encounter others who are using SCORE, please ask them to contact us to become properly trained and licensed. They run the risk of using SCORE inappropriately as there are many subtleties to this tool. In addtition, they do not have access to the most updated files or certain assessments that are not available in The Business Guide to Sustainability, and they cannot benchmark your organization's performance against other organizations. Of course, anyone can purchase a copy of The Business Guide to Sustainability and use the SCORE worksheets to do a paper-and-pencil assessment of their own organization. But we hold consultants to a higher standard if they want to use SCORE in their practice. Practitioners inside organizations may also want to become licensed so they can conduct SCORE year after year or in different divisions without incurring the expenses of an external consultant.

US-East	US-Central/Mountain	US-West	Non-US
CONNECTICUT Maureen Hart, West Hartford, CT FLORIDA Hala Sfeir, Maitland, FL Anke Arnaud, Daytona Beach, FL Roberta Fernandez, Tampa, FL David Fowler, Davie, FL MARYLAND Ned Tillman, Columbia, MD Jennifer Woofter, Bethesda, MD           MASSACHUSETTS Liz Wilson, Andover MA NORTH CAROLINA Katy Ansardi, Sustainable North Carolina (main contact; numerous assessors licensed) Marla Prince, Alpharetta, GA PENNSYLVANIA Joshua Kahan, Philadelphia, PA VIRGINIA Holly Jamesen Carr, Alexandria, VA WASHINGTON DC Anca Novacovici, DC	ARIZONA Armi Mulholland, Tucson, AZ    Megan Sheldon, Phoenix, AZ       COLORADO Emily Evans, Boulder, CO Rachel Emmer, Evergreen, CO         ILLINOIS James Miles, Chicago, IL         MONTANA Michelle Hippler, Billings, MT MINNESOTA Brad Baso, Minneapolis, MN TEXAS Keith Whitworth, Fort Worth, TX UTAH Kevin Emerson, Salt Lake City, UT	ARIZONA Megan Sheldon, Phoenix, AZ CALIFORNIA Gillies Robertson, Chico CA Rhana Pytell, Occidental, CA Andrew Zingale, Sacramento CA California State University (Chico): James Pushnik (main contact) Taylor Bass Brandon Loyd Tracy McDonald Jeff Miller Sierra Norton Jennifer Rotnem Kayleigh Rust Ann Schwab Mark Stemen OREGON       David Burdick, Portland, OR    Ken Hiatt, Portland, OR        Caleb Bushner, Portland, OR          Jennifer Belknap Williamson, Portland, OR Duke Castle, Lake Oswego, OR Kim Hughes, Gresham, OR Linda Jauron-Mills, Portland, OR Gary Langenwalter, Portland, OR Wayne Rifer, Portland, OR Lori Stole, Beaverton, OR Katrina Cleburn, Portland, OR WASHINGTON Lizzie Zemke, Seattle, WA           Marco Mazzoni, Seattle, WA         Aaron Varney, Bellevue, WA         Ian Wilson, Bellingham, WA Sanjay Kapoor, Seattle, WA         Christy Nordstrom, Seattle, WA      Jessica Geenen, Seattle, WA    Harvey Clawson, Vancouver, WA Aaron Fairchild, Seattle, WA Warren Flint, Seattle, WA Karl Ostrom,Kirkland, WA Callie Ridolfi, Seattle WA Mary Rose, Kirkland, WA Jill Sughrue, Vancouver, WA Kevin Wilhelm, Seattle, WA Rick Woodward, Seattle, WA Jake Bryant, Seattle, WA Kim Ducoté, Seattle WA Paul Duke, Federal Way, WA	CANADA Jennifer Sandoval, Vancouver BC Chris Lindberg, Ottowa ON Edna Aguinaga, Vancouver BC

Note: We also plan to license regional affiliates who will be able to do the analysis and reporting as well as the client interface. Contact Darcy Hitchcock for more information.

 

Becoming Licensed

There are four ways to become licensed to implement SCORE:

• OPTION 1 — ATTEND A PUBLIC WORKSHOP On occasion, we offer public workshops. Contact us to be put on an invitation list. We offer both face-to-face one-day workshops and a distance learning class that extends over one month.
• OPTION 2 — GROUP LICENSING. You can arrange for group training if you can pull together at least a dozen people. This option is best when you have a number of people to train at one time.
• OPTION 3—PRIVATE CONSULTATION. In some cases, we are able to schedule a private training session.
• OPTION 4—SUBCONTRACT. If you have a client who wants SCORE, we can perform the work as a subcontractor and license you in the process.

For option 1 and 2 above, the licensing fee is quite reasonable, now under $500, which you can easily earn back with your first SCORE client. Once you have completed the training, we will list you as a licensed SCORE assessor on the two SCORE websites (at the Zero Waste Alliance and also the creators of SCORE, AXIS Performance Advisors). Note that prospective assessors must possess a strong working knowledge of sustainability concepts and practices as this is necessary for proper use of SCORE.

We provide phone support to SCORE Licensees to help you be successful. This may include discussing how to implement SCORE in an unusual situation, explaining how to interpret SCORE items, or resolving difficulties with the files. We can also go with you the first time or two you use SCORE (although there is a fee for this service.) You will be provided updates and have input to future revisions. At our discretion, we will follow up with your SCORE clients to ensure quality control and will pass on any appropriate feedback or referrals.

Note: There is still a processing fee each time you administer SCORE as we (or our SCORE affiliates) analyze your data, benchmark your performance against other organizations, and produce a report. We plan to train affiliates in different parts of the world and perhaps in certain industry sectors so they can provide reports, recommendations and resources tailored to those areas.

For more information, contact Darcy Hitchcock or go to our affiliate website at Zero Waste Alliance.