Van Hattum en Blankevoort | Sustainability Strategy

Introduction

For several years, we have been involved with Van Hattum en Blankevoort in various strategy processes across different business units, including accompanying visual summaries or interactive visualizations. This time, the Sustainability department asked us to support the facilitation of a strategy development process for their sustainability strategy. Given our extensive experience in infrastructure and our technical background, this assignment was a perfect fit—so it didn’t take us long to say yes.

The assignment

In spring 2025, two sessions were scheduled with the executive board, business unit managers, and the internal D7 sustainability team.
The goal: to arrive at both substantive content and a shared vision within two sessions, forming the basis for the sustainability strategy.

The request to Visuele Verbinders originally consisted of two parts (parts 1 and 3); part 2 was added along the way:

• Supporting the design, facilitation, and visualization of the sessions to creatively gather input and build a shared vision for the sustainability strategy.

• Supporting the structuring of the collected input and translating it into a framework for the strategy document, as well as drafting an initial version for the sustainability team to build upon, followed by reviewing and refining where needed.

• Developing a visual tool based on the collected and aligned input, to communicate the sustainability strategy within the organization and potentially beyond.

Session 1: Defining the ambition with the executive board

We kicked off the first session with all members of the executive board. For this strategy process, a conscious choice was made to start with the ambition of the executive board (the WHY), and then have the organization shape its implementation (the HOW and WHAT). Naturally, this implementation was aligned with the executive board in several iterations.

During the working session, we facilitated a series of exercises. We started by mapping what was already happening within Van Hattum en Blankevoort and among competitors. Based partly on this competitive landscape, the ambition was defined. We then moved on to the Cover Story Canvas: creating a news article in which the strategy has already been successfully realized. What have you achieved? When? What made the difference? What are you being praised for? By adopting the mindset of having already reached the end goal, participants were able to rise above day-to-day constraints and think more expansively.

Next, we jointly explored how to translate the ambition into key impact areas for Van Hattum en Blankevoort. This resulted in four themes: People, Materials, Equipment, and Nature. The impact in these areas can be measured, making it possible to assess the current situation and define SMART objectives for the future. These four themes form the foundation of the roadmap, which includes targets leading up to 2040.

However, this alone does not guarantee successful implementation. As an organization, you also need supporting themes. Together, we identified, explored, and defined these.

Ultimately, we selected four key themes that are crucial for realization. We examined these in detail to identify challenges, define roles and responsibilities, and determine how to organize their implementation. This input was incorporated into four thematic lines.

Session 2: Shaping the ambition with business unit managers and the sustainability team

Based on the defined ambition and the insights gathered, we worked with the core team to develop an initial version of both the roadmap and the thematic lines. These were then presented to and further refined by the business unit managers and members of the sustainability team.

Writing the strategy document

After two intensive morning sessions, combined with interim assignments, a large amount of valuable input had been collected that required clear structuring. Thinking in visuals also requires the ability to think in structures. From that perspective, we developed an initial draft of the sustainability strategy document, in which the full structure—ambition, roadmap, thematic lines, and change plan—was embedded. The core team then continued to build on this, further developing the content and aligning it internally and with the executive board.

Result: Interactive visual overview

In addition to the fully developed written sustainability strategy, we also created an online environment. In this interactive setting, the visual overview (“praatplaat”) is explained in a concise way. It has since been shared across the organization and was officially launched at the winter gathering at the start of this year.

Click here to see the full online interactive visual!