Continually striving to be the best we can be
When we established the Water Skills Academy, we did so to create the type of organisation we’d been searching for. An environment-focused organisation, setting professional standards in watersports where people can build exciting and fulfilling careers from their passion. This month marks a new milestone for Water Skills Academy, as we have just been awarded full B Corp certification. It has been an interesting and eye-opening journey, but we are proud to be joining the likes of Patagonia, Jamie Oliver Group, Able & Cole, The Body Shop and almost 4,000 companies around the world, each measuring our impact across every facet of the business, and being held to a benchmark that’s a transparent and quantifiable standard.
More than just a membership
B Corps are required by law to balance the interests of shareholders with the interests of workers, customers, communities, and the environment. We operate in the great outdoors, so we are more aware than most of the need to accelerate change. Doing business doesn’t need to come at a cost, and for us, becoming a B Corp has shown us how to improve our balance of purpose and profit.
The BCorp Impact Assessment has led us to make positive change, sometimes tough and uncomfortable, but always for the better. This is an extremely proud moment for a passionate group of trainers, coaches, guides, and members who want to be part of an examined organisation, making change.
Chris Rea - Director, Water Skills Academy
Complete transparency for all
The B Impact assessment shows organisations where we rank on a scale in terms of the impact on workers, community, customers and the environment. It is globally renowned for being the most credible tool a company can use to measure its impact, and give us a quantifiable benchmark upon which to measure, maintain or improve our operations.Held on the BCorp Directory, our score is visible for all to see. And we wouldn’t want it any other way.Every applicant needs a score of 80/200 to become certified, and we are proud of our score of 93.3 at the time of writing. This recognises our efforts to date, and keeps us striving for more.We are currently working on closing some of the gaps in our score further by:
Changing our banking provision
Widening our sustainable business discount offering as a membership benefit
Deepening our social impact
As we embark on an exciting rebrand and reflect on what has been a year of change, challenge, adaptation and significant growth, this news really couldn’t have come at a better time.