PROBE: groundbreaking tool for sustainable business excellence - training opportunity

By Jan Harrison

Total Quality Management and The Natural Step - PROBE for Sustainable Business

Be honest - if a whole-of-business benchmarking tool which yielded around 80% of the benefits of a comprehensive assessment like the Baldridge Excellence Criteria or the EFQM Excellence Model, and which required only 10% of the time investment on the part of your staff, AND that incorporated the benefits of the Natural Step’s strategic approach to sustainable practices suddenly became available, you be interested, yes?  Of course you would.

The PROBE for Sustainable Business tool offers just that. Developed by Comparison International in collaboration with The Natural Step International, the tool is already being offered in Australia, Europe, and North America and will soon be available in New Zealand.  TNS NZ will be organising training for anyone interested in becoming licensed to use this new PROBE tool later this year (see below).


PROBE for Sustainable Business is a new application of a proven analytics tool based on the full range of quality management business thinking (Lean, TQM, Six Sigma etc).  The original PROBE tool is already used by thousands of large and small organisations worldwide to guide strategy and monitor progress.  It enables an overview of exactly which business practices are responsible for all current performance levels, both good and, er… less good.

PROBE for sustainable business goes one step further by asking whether current business processes, systems and structures are in place and aligned to address sustainability issues to complement a quality approach. An experienced facilitator takes a group from the organisation through a rigorous and structured assessment, taking stock of their current sustainability condition.  And that’s not all.  The tool can also be used to measure progress through ongoing benchmarking by industry sector and continual improvement.  The tool looks at four critical business areas:

• Vision and Context
• Leadership and Mobilisation
• Products, Services and Business Processes
• Business Continuity

The PROBE tool provides a rapid identification of strengths and weaknesses with minimal disruption to the business.  It is specifically designed to identify and unlock positive business returns aligned with a sustainable approach and adopts a full systems approach, looking at the behaviour of employees, customers and suppliers.

For more information about PROBE for Sustainable Business and testimonials from organisations that have used the tool, see www.thenaturalstep.org/en/probe and www.comparisonintl.com/products/sustainability/index.php

If you’re keen to put your business through the PROBE for Sustainable Business tool, or interested in training to become a licensed PROBE facilitator, contact Simon Harvey on 021 808 300, or email natstep@naturalstep.org.nz.