Green OBM - Virtual business management for environmental and social value‑led service businesses.
Green OBM is Sustly’s business management service for organisations delivering environmental or social value‑led work.
It’s designed for service businesses where delivery is busy and too much of the day‑to‑day running has ended up with the owner or leadership team over time.
The service takes responsibility for how the business runs, so work can move forward without everything depending on one person.
What is a Green OBM?
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A Green OBM is a business manager who takes responsibility for how a values‑led service business runs day to day.
The role goes beyond task delivery or admin. It involves holding the moving parts of the business together so work progresses, decisions stick, and issues don’t keep rolling back to the owner or leadership team by default.
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A Green OBM carries the same core business management responsibility as any OBM, but works within environmental and social value‑led organisations.
These businesses are often delivery‑heavy, resource‑constrained, and operating with a strong sense of responsibility - which means the business side needs to hold up under pressure, without becoming another drain on time or energy.
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A Virtual Assistant typically works from defined instructions, focusing on completing assigned tasks.
A Green OBM takes responsibility for areas of the business itself — tracking progress, holding decisions, and following work through so it doesn’t rely on constant direction or oversight.
In short, a VA completes tasks. A Green OBM manages parts of the business.
What a Green OBM takes responsibility for
Green OBM work focuses on the parts of the business that tend to fall between delivery and leadership - the organising, decision‑holding and follow‑through that has to happen for everything else to work.
This typically includes responsibility for:
priorities and how work moves through the business
planning that reflects real capacity
how projects are coordinated and kept moving
how systems are used day to day
where decisions sit and how they’re followed through
spotting issues early, before they escalate
The exact scope is shaped around what the business needs at the time. This isn’t a fixed package.
Who this service is for
Green OBM is a good fit if:
you run an environmental or social value‑led service business
delivery is busy and leadership attention keeps getting pulled into the day‑to‑day
the business has outgrown “handling it yourself”
decisions and problems keep landing back with the same people
This service is not about motivation or direction. It’s for organisations that need someone to take responsibility for the business side so it runs well.
How Green OBM works
Ongoing Green OBM Retainer
Ongoing business and operations management support, delivered on a monthly retainer.
You get an embedded business manager who takes responsibility for agreed operational areas, including:
an initial operations review to identify priorities
weekly coordination to hold focus and keep work moving
oversight of internal projects and delivery timelines
improving systems and workflows as the business evolves
creating and maintaining practical SOPs where needed
light coordination across team members or contractors
a monthly review to assess capacity and reset priorities
Delivered remotely, scoped upfront, and reviewed as the business changes.
Best suited to organisations that need ongoing management support, not one‑off delivery.
One‑off projects
One‑off projects provide focused business management support for specific operational work that needs doing, without committing to ongoing management.
These are clearly scoped pieces of work with defined outputs, timescales, and handover.
Typical one‑off Green OBM projects include:
Operations review
90‑day operational plan
SOP creation and implementation
System / Software implementation
Accreditation support
Each project has a clear scope, agreed outcome, and hands‑on management until the work is complete.
This option is best suited to a defined operational issue or system setup where ongoing support isn’t required.
VIP Days
VIP Days provide a completed business planning outcome in a single day.
They are designed for situations where clarity, structure, or direction is needed quickly, and you want to walk away with something finished, not a list of next steps.
Each VIP Day focuses on one core outcome, agreed in advance.
Examples of Green OBM VIP Days include:
Annual planning day
Mission, vision and values definition
Startup booster day
VIP Days are structured, facilitated, and delivered so that by the end of the day you have:
a completed piece of work
documented outputs
clarity on priorities and direction
There is no ongoing delivery or implementation included — the focus is on getting the thinking, structure, and planning done.
Thinking about Green OBM?
If you’d like to talk through your situation and see whether Green OBM is a good fit, you can book a call.