What is Triple Bottom Line Thinking?

Triple Bottom Line thinking is a framework for companies to measure the value they create for all of their stakeholders. It’s an opportunity for businesses to improve upon traditional business practices or make positive changes in the world around them by measuring success beyond just financial returns.

Many large companies use benchmarking practices where traditional financial returns are measured against an average. Benchmarking is a good practice, but it isn’t enough. Yes, companies can use benchmarking to measure the performance of their financial returns against an average. However, benchmarking doesn’t take into account all the other stakeholders—employees and customers are not included in this calculation.

Traditional benchmarking artificially limits what can be achieved by focusing on comparisons with other businesses and neglects a company’s potential to make positive impact on their bottom line, beyond their initial goals or what is expected of them.

The triple bottom line approach focuses on making money while also creating positive change in the world—it seeks to do good by doing well. However, there are other ways of evaluating businesses that allow you to think about them in more holistic ways:

• The mission-driven approach looks at how your work makes an impact in your community or society at large; it asks questions like “How will my work make people’s lives better?” or “How can I create value for others by doing what I love?”
• The innovation-driven approach looks at what new value you’re adding to an industry or niche; it asks questions like “What could I add to this field?” or “How might I surprise people if I tried something new?”
• The person-focused approach looks at how much satisfaction you get from doing meaningful work; it asks questions like “Does what I do make my heart sing?” or “Do my coworkers care about each other as much as they care about our customers?

Triple Bottom Line thinking creates a sense of community that encourages collaboration and motivates employees to continue working towards their goals even when facing challenges or setbacks along the way. When people are motivated by their company’s mission, they feel more invested in the well-being of their organization. They’re willing to do what it takes to keep things running smoothly, which makes them better employees overall.

Triple Bottom Line thinking gives people purpose outside of their day-to-day work and gives them something tangible to strive towards, which can make it easier for them to stay motivated as they do so.

Triple bottom line thinking provides a sense of community, which can help to encourage collaboration between employees. As people work together towards a common goal, they may feel more motivated or dedicated to their work as well as each other. This sense of community can also make it easier for people to stay motivated and engaged at work as they realize that the company has bigger goals and ambitions than simply making money or running an efficient business.

Triple Bottom Line thinking provides an opportunity for companies looking to improve upon traditional business practices or make positive changes in the world around them by measuring success beyond just financial returns.

We believe in the triple bottom line because it’s a framework that allows companies to measure their success on many different levels, from financial returns to employee satisfaction and community impact. It’s not just about making money.