Founded in 2002, leadership and performance consulting company Yellow Edge focuses on helping individuals, teams, and organisations achieve high performance. To mark their recent B Corp certification, we spoke with the team about what inspired them, what business practices they’d like to see become the norm, and the importance of involving your team every step of the way.
Tell us a bit about what Yellow Edge does.
We design and build high performance at the individual, team, and organisational levels by bringing together powerful ideas, clever people, smart tools, and deep experience.
We help explore the cutting edge, navigate new paths, create deep learning experiences, facilitate conversations that matter and build commitment for purposeful change. We inspire new ways of seeing and doing things.
Our main services include leadership and management development programs, executive coaching, performance consulting and citizen and stakeholder engagement.
Why did you want to certify as a B Corp?
Becoming a Certified B Corporation was a moonshot we set for ourselves back in 2019.
We were scanning the internet looking for a quality standard which our business could aspire to, an internationally recognised accreditation that would help us develop a strong corporate backbone and become a more sustainable business.
We were immediately drawn to B Corp and the ‘Declaration of Interdependence.’ As a platform business and a leadership and human performance business it really resonated with us.
The declaration aligned with our belief in and support for the Australia reMADE initiative. Yellow Edge and Australia reMADE firmly believe that this is a time for huge ambition and systemic change, to protect what we love, unleash our collective potential and inspire others to meet higher standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
What makes Yellow Edge unique as a business?
Yellow Edge celebrated twenty years in business in February 2022!
We were the first company in Canberra to provide fully customised leadership development programs and executive coaching to the Australian Public Service market in Canberra about 18 years ago.
Prior to this, executive coaching was virtually non-existent and leadership development programs were provided by industry bodies, universities and other government institutions. Yellow Edge’s learning and development programs were based on adult learning principles, fully customised for and unique to each client and typically took place as an elongated, multifaceted process over a period of months, rather than as a single one dimensional training event.
B Corps want to help transform our economy into one that is inclusive, sustainable, and regenerative. What business practice do you want to see become the norm?
Businesses commit to sourcing their energy needs from renewables.
Was there a B Corp that inspired you to certify, or one that you look to for inspiration?
Once we decided that we were going to pursue certification we met with the Executive Chairman and Director, Corporate Sustainability at Aspen Medical (a great Canberra success story) to talk about their B Corp journey and how becoming a B Corp has helped them to become a better business.
One of Yellow Edge’s business associates is also a B Corp. They provided lots of guidance and encouragement throughout the process.
Do you have any tips for aspiring B Corps about the certification process?
Involve your team at every stage of the process. Use team meetings to discuss the BIA questions and how you plan to answer them. It’s important to get their perspectives and ideas and to identify future goals based on your team’s level of ambition.
