HIGHLIGHTS FROM NAVIGATING RE-CERTIFICATION EVENT

“The B Corp re-certification process is a strategic opportunity to engage your team and and drive success across the triple bottom line” says Advance Humanity consultant, Kelsa Summer Roidt. On October 24th, Kelsa lead a workshop for the Boston B Corp community on the re-certification process, sponsored by the B Local Boston Board. Representatives from nine Boston area B Corps gathered at the Impact Hub to learn tools for recertification and share advice and stories from their own B Corp journey. 

“I was thrilled to be able to bring my expertise to the group, but I think the most valuable part of the event was B Corps sharing with each other” said Kelsa. 

Rachel Glogowski, Global Operations Associate at Vera Solutions, agreed “Having not been with my company during our initial certification process, it was extremely helpful to get an overview of the recertification process, as well as some specific strategies from other B Corps in the area.” 

​Rachel also emphasized a major topic that came up in the workshop: re-certification timing. “I learned that it's important to start the recertification process early, ideally giving yourself 6 months for the process.  As someone who will likely have a slightly shorter time to complete the process - a position that may be familiar to others - it was helpful to hear that even if you don't have time to do a deep dive into the process that early, it's helpful to just spend a few hours to get a sense of the metrics and how they may have changed since the last time your company completed the assessment. This way, you can get out ahead of these changes, communicate them to the appropriate stakeholders, and formulate a plan of action to avoid surprises down the road!

Drew Bonfiglio, Co-Founder at Emzingo Group LLC, appreciated the useful tools he gathered during the workshop "I left the workshop with a number of ways we can make the recertification process smoother, faster, and with an improved score. Having Kelsa and other Boston area Certified B Corps in the room was incredibly helpful."

Justin Wright, CEO at Habitus Incorporated, summed up the main point of the workshop “Kelsa’s workshop helped me see the value of the B Impact Assessment as a business strategy and prioritization tool not just as a way to certify that your business is authentically working for good.” 

The B Local Boston Board is looking forward to hosting more events in the month to come. Stay up to date on our events page. 
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Kelsa’s Top Tips for Re-Certification:
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Track your social and environmental performance metrics on a monthly or yearly basis as appropriate. The better your data tracking system, the easier re-certification will be. 

1. Do a quick pass update of your B Corp assessment every year - even if your not up for re-certification. This way you’ll notice if anything has changed and not be surprised when recertification rolls around. 
2. Set new social and environmental goals on an annual basis with your executive team. This keeps the company improving its performance and set you up for a successful recertification. 
3. Plan ahead for your recertification!
4. Use re-certification as an opportunity to engage your team and educate employees about your B Corp certification!