Nik Blosser, Celilo Group Media

The journey of Derek Smith and Hillsboro, Ore.-based Norm Thompson’s corporate responsibility program is a fascinating one. Even with CEO support and a budget for some of the best consultants in the country, it is interesting to see both how much can be accomplished and to recognize that things can’t be changed overnight.

Integrating sustainability throughout a large company is like trying to change the tires while you’re speeding down the freeway. Given this fact, it’s not surprising how many companies don’t attempt real change in the first place. It’s too scary. But Norm Thompson may be the most thorough example to date that it can be done. Their experience also provides good perspective for people within larger corporations and governments about reasonable expectations for the pace of change.

Recently elevated to director of communications and corporate sustainability at the direct marketing company, Derek Smith always had the support of company president and CEO John Emrick. For someone whose job it is to infuse sustainability throughout a $200 million company, that support is perhaps the most important thing to have. Many larger companies have hired sustainability managers in the past few years — which is a good thing — but too many seem to have done so without the complete buy-in from upper management or a clear charge for the new position. Derek was lucky enough to have his CEO’s support. But even that support and a relatively clear goal in mind didn’t mean the job could be done quickly or easily.

Smith was given a small budget, and while people knew he had the support of the CEO, it was also made clear that the company had to remain profitable and that he had no clear authority to actually make anyone change anything.

One of the first things Smith did was hire a former Patagonia R&D person, Mike Brown, to help him build a tool kit for evaluating the sustainability aspects of every product in the Norm Thompson system (and there are several thousand). Brown has a Ph.D. in human toxicology. Together they developed the overall concept and a ranking system by product category. All products are sourced from other suppliers, and every product in the company gets assessed by this tool kit. The major benefit of the kit has been to help the company’s merchandisers — those who purchase the products that go on sale in the catalogs and on the web site — be more knowledgeable of what they were buying. The tool kit specifically did not prohibit anything, it just gave information to the buyers.

Initially, this helped Smith assess where the merchandising divisions were in terms of sustainability. Over time, the system has dramatically helped the buyers have what he calls “conversations” with the company’s suppliers. Today, far-larger companies such as the Gap (NYSE: GPS), Ikea and Eileen Fisher are using it as a model for their merchandising teams. Over time, these “conversations” have led to dramatic changes by suppliers to do better in the tool kit ratings, for example, by removing toxic substances.