Lucy Harrington: from strategy to impact — delivering sustainability

Sustainability is increasingly connected to how organisations manage risk, respond to regulatory change, build resilience and prepare for the operating environment of the future. Turning broad commitments into practical action, however, requires more than setting targets.

Lucy Harrington is an Associate Director in RPS’ Management Consulting team in Canberra. Her background spans sustainability leadership, environmental reporting and compliance readiness, complex program management and disaster response, with a strong focus on translating strategic priorities into action.

In this Q&A, Lucy explores what it takes to embed sustainability within complex organisations, why governance and measurement matter, where organisations commonly get stuck and how leaders can build the momentum needed to achieve lasting change.

Q: How has your international experience shaped the way you think about sustainability and organisational change?

My career has taken me across Australia, the United States, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, most recently leading sustainability and social impact strategy within one of the world’s most scrutinised industries.

Those experiences taught me how to navigate complexity, regulation and public perception in high-stakes environments. They also reinforced that sustainability challenges rarely exist in isolation. They are connected to how organisations make decisions, manage risk, engage people and translate strategic commitments into practical delivery.

Returning to Canberra, I’m particularly interested in applying that perspective to public sector challenges across sustainability, environmental regulation and program delivery, bringing fresh thinking grounded in real-world experience.

Q: Your career has spanned environmental science, journalism, consulting and sustainability. How has that shaped your approach to complex problems?

I thrive on challenge and ambiguity. I enjoy bringing order to chaos, structure to complexity and turning difficult concepts into clear actions. My goal is always to leave a project or organisation better than I found it.

My education combines a technical foundation in environmental science with formal training in journalism, enabling me to understand complex systems and communicate them clearly and persuasively.

My early career in consulting and business intelligence sharpened my business analysis capability, strengthened my strategic thinking and developed my ability to manage projects and programs while leading multidisciplinary teams. With that foundation established, I intentionally pivoted into a dedicated sustainability role to align my technical skills with my long-standing passion for environmental and social impact.

Most recently, I worked in ethics and sustainability for a tobacco company. The counter-intuitive nature of the role was precisely what made it compelling. I led initiatives spanning public health, environmental impact reduction, community engagement and reputational governance.

It was a challenging, high-pressure environment and strengthened my understanding of how organisations can bring diverse stakeholders on the sustainability journey and demonstrate the value of responsible business practices to organisations, communities, supply chains and consumers.

Q: You’ve also volunteered in disaster response settings. What did you learn from leading emergency response teams that you now apply in your professional work?

As a frontline disaster response leader with the American Red Cross, I supervised emergency teams and supported community preparedness efforts before, during and after disasters.

Witnessing the human impact of increasingly severe natural disasters reinforced my commitment to driving climate and environmental change at scale. It sharpened my focus on strengthening government programs and delivering large-scale sustainability initiatives that build long-term environmental and community resilience.

Effective team coordination begins with adaptability and active listening. You cannot solve a problem until you truly understand it, and that requires listening to those directly affected. This principle underpins how I approach complex organisational challenges, ensuring solutions are grounded in real needs rather than assumptions.

Leading volunteers also taught me how to foster genuine commitment and intrinsic motivation. High-performing teams are built on trust, shared purpose and recognition of individual strengths. I prioritise creating environments where people support one another and have opportunities to develop their capabilities.

Q: You have embedded sustainability across complex organisations. What differentiates sustainability that succeeds from sustainability that stalls?

Good sustainability delivery is about future readiness.

For organisations, it means being prepared and resourced for the operating environment of tomorrow, whether that is regulatory change, resource constraints, shifting consumer expectations or climate risk.

You need to measure before you can manage. When leaders can track progress through outcomes such as improved compliance, reduced waste, increased community confidence or reduced energy costs, sustainability moves from being an aspiration to something that can inform organisational decision-making.

Governance and reporting play a critical role in building credibility, strengthening reputation and sustaining momentum.

Sustainability must also be led at every level. Executive sponsorship drives investment and accountability, but grassroots engagement drives behaviour change. Establishing employee understanding and buy-in helps translate strategy into daily action, creating shared ownership of improvement and results.

Q: Where do organisations typically get stuck when they’re trying to lift sustainability performance or meet emerging compliance requirements?

Organisations typically get stuck between short-term commercial pressure and long-term sustainable potential.

Initiatives that generate immediate revenue are usually favoured over those that deliver resilience or cost savings over time. Sustainability projects frequently require upfront investment, whether for renewable energy infrastructure, process redesign or systems uplift, and the long-term return can be difficult to articulate without clear data and governance.

Another common challenge is underestimating complexity. Sustainable change rarely sits within one function.

Reducing plastic packaging, for example, may require material science research, supply chain redesign, new machinery, employee retraining and consumer education. Without cross-functional coordination and strong executive sponsorship, initiatives can stall.

Organisations that succeed treat sustainability as enterprise transformation, not a discrete project. They align incentives, invest early, communicate clearly and embed compliance readiness into strategy rather than reacting when regulation forces change.

Q: Finally, how do you build momentum for sustainability across an organisation?

Sustainability is fundamentally about the bigger picture.

At an individual level, it can be easy to disengage because small actions, like switching off lights or recycling correctly, can feel insignificant on their own. However, sustainability succeeds through collective momentum.

Small initiatives demonstrate leadership, set expectations and create a ripple effect that influences broader behaviour and culture.

While individual actions matter, it is the consistency of long-term strategy and shared commitment that ultimately drives meaningful, lasting impact.

Interested in discussing these challenges further?

Connect with RPS Associate Director – Management Consulting Lucy Harrington to continue the conversation.