I am the type of person to be found out in nature. Whether that is amongst the trees or in the ocean, being close to nature feels like the most ‘natural’ way for me to spend a day. 

At 6 years old, I told my mother I could feel a tree’s heartbeat. What this actually means to me now is that I can feel the energy of nature and how attuned to it I am. 

Whilst my career within marketing and management hasn’t had a direct link to nature, over the years I have gently felt a pull in this direction. When I started to learn about B Corp several years ago, I knew this was a movement I could see myself getting behind. 

I just needed to find the right moment. 

The turning point that brought me to B Corp

This opportunity came along in 2023, when Rachel advertised for an Agency Manage. With one of the opening sentences in the job description being ‘lead us through B Corp accreditation’. 

And so, after a rigorous interview process, I was given the position.  

What came next? The most insightful, thought provoking and challenging 18 months to build our case, and points, via the B Impact Assessment Dashboard.  

Their guidance states that the ‘Median Score for Ordinary Businesses’ who have not undertaken the B Corp assessment is 50.9. On our first round at completing the 120 assessment questions, we scraped this score. Great! Our baseline is average – now to build another minimum of 30 points to get us past the accreditation score of 80.  

Building a business framework using B Corp principles

Although Rachel had been operating Agile as a Ltd company for 5 years, her vision for the future of the agency is compelling (read her ‘why’ here). Taking me on as her first employee brought with it a whole new requirement for policies, guidance and infrastructure.  

Using the 5 Pillar assessment for B Corp  (Governance, Workers, Community, Environment & Customers) was the perfect framework for us to build the structure of the business in a way that is ethically minded and prioritised people and planet. Something both Rachel and I feel really strongly about. 

The Pillars enabled us to build an intuitive backdrop for the type of agency we needed to create.  Which allowed us to fulfil our aims and see ways to stretch our aspirations for the future as we grow.  

With little more than our contracts in place at the start, we set about creating a structure of polices and employee guidance that has enabled us to give our employees’ financial security, health & safety, wellness, career development, and engagement & satisfaction opportunities. 

What are ‘Green and Blue Days’ and why volunteering matters

A particular highlight for me is the introduction of our ‘Green and Blue’ days . For 4 volunteering days a year we work together in either a land or sea-side based activity to support environmental initiatives. These days have involved tree planting and litter picking, with future days planned for rockpool and sea life conservation. We will be opening these volunteering days up to other businesses to join us so get in touch if you’re interested. 

Processes, tools and keeping on track 

Managing the accreditation process can seem daunting, so having the advantage of our agile methodology really paid off here. Our B Corp Trello board became the gateway to  managing the influx of new paperwork, evidence and score tracking. Plus it supported a structured sign-off process and kept the entire progression fully transparent for the whole team to see. 

It takes a village 

As the saying goes, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ well it also takes a village to get you through B Corp! The support we received from our local business community along the way is incredibly valuable to us! We were lucky to attend the second cohort of B23, a series of workshops run by Leap and Wildanet to support those who are ‘B-curious’. These workshops took us on a journey of understanding for the application process. It’s also where I met some amazing people who happily came to my aid when a ‘what does this mean???’ question landed in their inbox. Similarly, the legal support we received from Stephens Scown saved us valuable time and headspace for a particular part of the assessment that was definitely outside of our comfort zone. 

Our score, our strategy and submitting with confidence

As a process motivated person, I enjoyed the entire experience. Advice from B Corp was to submit with at least a 10% buffer in points as the score often goes up and down during verification stage. But for me, I wanted to make our submission as true and accurate as possible. So we submitted with a score of 84.6 – and were awarded 84.6! We didn’t lose a single point. This thoroughness actually made our verification stage a breeze. So my advice is, if detail is your happy place – use it!

B = Benefit for all

Finally, the B in B Corp stands for ‘Benefit for all’, which I think sums up the process beautifully. But also resonates deeply with what we are building at Agile – an agency of brilliant employees and freelancers working together on sustainability focused projects in the county we love for the world we seek to protect. 

Are you a fellow B Corp who would like to collaborate? Get in touch!