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A GREEN IMPACT INTRODUCTION ‘GREEN' PAPER
SEPTEMBER 2016 GET EMPLOYEES PERSONALLY ENGAGED IN SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS CONTENTS INTRODUCTION—page 1 Get Employees Personally Engaged in Sustainability Efforts EXECUTIVE SUMMARY—page 2 Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action WHY BOTHER?—page 3 The Value of Engagement BEST PRACTICE #1—page 4 See the Big Picture BEST PRACTICE #2—page 5 Create a Culture of Creativity BEST PRACTICE #3—page 6 Build Off Your Brand BEST PRACTICE #4—page 7 Tap Into Values BEST PRACTICE #5—page 8 Make Sustainability Visible BEST PRACTICE #6—page 9 Empower Green Champions GOING DEEPER—page 11 What is Next? GREEN CHAMPION RESOURCES—page 12 WWW.GREENIMPACT.COM 415-­‐302-­‐2655 Page 1 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action Your employees are potential green champions and collaborators on your sustainability journey. This ‘green paper’ presents an overview of best practices for energizing employees, inspiring action, and deepening employees’ connection to your sustainability efforts. Based on Green Impact’s work with a range of clients—including Mattel, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), University of San Francisco (USF), ecoAmerica, and the County of Ventura—it provides six best practices that can help you: v
v
v
v
Inspire greener actions;
Identify innovative ideas;
Capture cost savings and reduce waste; and
Attract and retain the best talent.
GREEN IMPACT works with companies, universities, and NGOs ready to make a bigger impact and engage a broader audience. Our holistic approach increases support for green initiatives, engages employees in sustainability efforts, attracts new supporters, and embeds sustainability into your culture. We develop customized communications and marketing strategies, craft original communications, and design and launch engagement programs. www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SIX BEST PRACTICES TO EMPOWER EMPLOYEES AND INSPIRE ACTION Here are six ways to get employees more personally engaged in your sustainability journey: v See the big picture: Take the time to step back and look at
the big picture—identify strategic areas where you can
capture more value and impact.
v Create a culture of creativity: To inspire more innovation,
create a culture that nurtures creative flow and taking
risks.
v Build off your brand: To increase visibility and impact,
stay true to your core brand, yet create a memorable
green message.
v Tap Into core values: To get noticed and inspire action,
identify what your target audience truly cares about and
create values-­‐based messaging that taps into these core
values.
v Make sustainability visible: To amplify your impact, make
sustainability visible internally and externally by putting a
face to it and highlighting success stories.
v Identify and empower green champions: Identify
employees with a passion for sustainability and empower
them to move into action.
Page 2 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 WHY BOTHER? THE VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT v Attract and Retain Talent: According to Andrew Winston,
sustainability author and strategist, the intangible value of
employee engagement includes attracting and retaining talent,
potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars. One case he
points to is Unilever, the global corporate leader in
sustainability, which has become one of the top consumer goods
companies to work for according to LinkedIn.
v Cost Savings: When you embed sustainability authentically and
consistently both internally and externally, it can deliver real
cost savings and reduce waste. UCSF saves over $1 million a year
from repurposing single use medical devices in the operating
room, an idea that came from staff.
v Innovation: Sustainability can promote innovation and push
businesses to discover new business models and identify new
products and services. Engagement can help you create an
internal culture that improves and fosters sustainability
innovation. At a tea factory in England, Unilever’s factory-floor
workers suggested a reduction in the end seals of a tea bag
that has resulted in savings of 9.3 tons of paper at the factory.
Page 3 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 BEST PRACTICE # 1 SEE THE BIG PICTURE Greening your operations and facilities and a commitment to social responsibility are great ways to capture cost savings from eco-­‐
efficiencies and reduce risk, but these activities often happen behind-­‐the-­‐scenes and are invisible to employees, students, customers, and suppliers. Our holistic sustainability framework encourages you to look at two other aspects that are often neglected, but offer real business value. If you are leaving out these upper quadrants, you are leaving value on the table: v Engage Employees: Your employees are potential green
champions and collaborators on your sustainability journey. A
few questions to consider: Are your employees aware of
your commitment to sustainability and engaged on a day- to
day basis? Have you created a culture that cultivates creativity and innovation? Are employees looking for ways to build revenues from a sustainability lens?
v Tell Your Success Stories: According to Winston, companies
tend to undersell the good they are doing. “They want to do
first and then talk about it… But then they have done a lot of
good and maybe haven’t talked about it enough,” he said.
This gets to the upper right quadrant—the value of
communicating externally about your successes and
(perhaps your challenges) . Are your success stories and best p
ractices visible to your employees, customers, community,
and other stakeholders? Is your sustainability message
integrated into your communications channels? Page 4 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 BEST PRACTICE # 2 CREATE A CULTURE OF CREATIVITY We know that sustainability can promote innovation and push businesses to save money, discover new business models, and identify new products and services. Yet, how do you create a culture of creativity that inspires inspiration in others? According to Cultivating Purpose: Sustainability Innovation and Employee
Engagement, three particular qualities can cultivate an internal culture that improves and fosters sustainability innovation: leadership from the top, comfort with risk, and crosscollaboration. These tips are more about nurturing innovation at the organizational level, but they don't directly address the three key blocks to creativity: the inner critic, the comparing mind, and overthinking. In Spark Creativity and Innovation: Seven Tips for
Overcoming Key Blocks, I detail seven additional tips for
inspiring yourself and creating a culture of creativity: v Make consistent time for creativity
v Turn off the inner critic
v Use nature to spark creativity
v Gather available resources
v Dive in and move into the unknown
v Take risks and be willing to fail
v Ask for feedback
Page 5 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com
415-­‐302-­‐2655 BEST PRACTICE # 3 BUILD OFF YOUR BRAND When you start engaging employees and telling success stories, there is always a tension between how to stay true to your core brand, yet create a memorable green message. University of San Francisco (USF) built off its key brand ‘Change the World from Here,’ morphing it into ‘Green Happens Here,’ supported by a memorable graphic. The graphic and message were used consistently on new collateral—posters, brochure, video, and Website. Creating professional and engaging collateral with consistent messaging increased credibility and visibility and positioned the campus as a leader within the Jesuit university network. You can see how the messaging and graphic are used in USF’s video Green
Happens Here. In 2013, ecoAmerica launched MomentUS, a strategic cross-sector communications initiative designed to build a game-changing increase in support for climate change solutions. To enhance reach and impact, MomentUS created unique brands and messaging for each key sector. For example, to engage business leaders, it created America Knows How™ with the tag line “Better Business, Better Climate.” To engage health care leaders, it created Climate for
HealthΡ, with messaging targeted around the link between health and climate. Both these programs built off of ecoAmerica’s core values, but use targeted branding and messaging to engage specific audiences. Page 6 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 BEST PRACTICE # 4 TAP INTO VALUES
To capture people’s attention, connect with your audience, and inspire action, tap into the values of your target audience and use values-­‐based messaging. The more you can hone in on who your target audience is and what they care about, the more successful your engagement efforts will be. Here are three examples of this in action: v MomentUS’ Climate for Health™ campaign recently released
Let’s Talk Health on how to message climate change; according
to the report, “Once you understand your audience’s priorities,
concerns, and values, you can open their hearts and minds by
talking about those values, and showing you share and honor
them. Common values such as family, community,
choice/freedom, health, and fairness are powerful motivators
and connectors.”
v Another health-related example is University of California, San
Francisco’s most recent campaign Climate Changes Health. To
reach faculty, staff, and students, the messaging makes the
connection between climate solutions and improving people’s
health.
v Building on its Jesuit roots, University of San Francisco’s Beloved
in Nature, a short video created to inspire action on climate
change, emphasizes the message that we are part of nature, not
separate from it. Page 7 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 BEST PRACTICE # 5 MAKE SUSTAINABILITY VISIBLE A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) on how to engage employees in sustainability recommended, “Make sustainability visible inside and outside the company.“ It reported that “several social cognition models point to the important role that visibility and salience play in changing people’s beliefs and attitudes and influencing behavior.” Here are a few ways to make sustainability visible: v Highlight success stories and green champions: Consistently
integrate success stories, green champion highlights, and best
practices into your communication channels. For example,
each month UCSF posts three new success stories or green
champion highlights on its sustainability Website.
v Put a face to it: Use images and stories that spotlight personal
connections to sustainability and put a face to it. America
Knows How does a great job of putting this concept into
action. Its Website highlights success stories and highlights the
people behind them, such as Leilani Münter, the race car
driver, and Tachi Kiuchi, Chairman and CEO of Mitsubishi
Electric America.
v Use video: When it came time to promote sustainability to
faculty, staff, and students UCSF created a fun, engaging
sustainability video, built on its core mission to protect world
health. The video features a main character, Dr. McGreeny,
who delivers the message, “A healthy planet means healthy
patients.” To date, the video has gotten over 3,800 hits on
YouTube. Page 8 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 BEST PRACTICE # 6 IDENTIFY AND EMPOWER GREEN CHAMPIONS
According to Engaging Employees to Create a Sustainable Business, “The key to creating a vibrant and sustainable company is to find ways to get all employees—from executives to assembly line workers—
personally engaged in day-­‐to-­‐day corporate sustainability efforts.” An effective strategy for embedding sustainability deeper into your organization is to identify employees who can help support new sustainability initiatives, often called green champions or ambassadors. SSIR points to clothier Marks & Spencer, which has sustainability champions in all of its 1,380 stores; “The presence of such champions goes a long way toward making sustainability relevant and palpable throughout the company.” Other examples include:
v Bloomberg’s BCAUSE program includes ambassadors to
support green initiatives; Bloomberg has also extended its
program and events to employees’ families, engaging spouses
and dependents to increase impact.
v At Genentech, 500 GreenGuides volunteer to serve as a peer
resource to support new green initiatives.
v Mattel has identified green champions at over half its
American Girl stores as part of a green team effort know as
SEEDs: Sustainability for Employee Engagement and
Development. For Mattel, a key to effectively scaling green
teams to multiple locations has been to empower green
champions to take action by providing them ongoing
resources, activity ideas, collateral, and support.
Page 9 of 20
Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action Here are a few activity ideas green champions can easily launch:
v Ask a values-­‐based question (see next page);
v Use friendly competitions and fun (green) prizes as a way to
inspire action and to maintain momentum;
v Provide monthly or quarterly activity ideas (see Green
Champion Resources);
v Create monthly or quarterly content that highlights best
practices, spotlights a green champion, or announces a new
green offering; and
v Organize a way to gather and screen employees’ suggestions—
you will get some of your best green ideas from employees. A
great example of this is Marks & Spencer, which now has
clothes-­‐recycling boxes in stores that provide income for the
international nonprofit Oxfam. The idea came from an
employee.
www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 ASK A VALUES-­‐BASED QUESTION A values-­‐based question allows you to engage employees to think about why environmental stewardship matters to them. From this increased awareness of what really matters, greener actions can be more easily encouraged. USF used this activity to launch its Office of Sustainability; faculty, staff, and students answered the questions: “I love the earth because…” and “I take action for the Earth when I…”. By responding to these personal, openr ended questions, the values of USF’s community became more visible, ranging from connecting to nature to time spent with family. The openr ended questions were captured in pictures that were posted on social media and widely shared on Instagram, creating a great burst of new energy and visibility. See the details and templates on pages 14 and 15 for the questions, “I take a stand for the Earth when I… ” and “I love the Earth because…”. Page 10 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 GOING DEEPER WHAT IS NEXT?
One route to happier, more engaged employees is to have a meaningful and strategic purpose and find ways to connect your purpose to employees’ values and day-to-day work. An article in Fortune on Uniliver concluded, “… in an era in where cultivating talent is increasingly essential, building a deep and authentic sense of purpose could be a company’s ultimate competitive advantage.” Another way to go deeper is to embed sustainability more directly into employee’s goals and compensation. Ideas to consider next include: v Set an ambitious target to achieve 100% employee engagement
in CSR and sustainability;
v Give every employee a “sustainability-­‐related goal” in their
annual performance objectives; and
v Incorporate sustainability metrics into executive compensation
and staff bonuses.
GREEN IMPACT works with companies, universities, and NGOs ready to make a bigger impact and engage a broader audience. Our holistic approach increases support for green initiatives, engages employees in sustainability efforts, attracts new supporters, and embeds sustainability into your culture. We develop customized communications and marketing strategies, craft original communications, and design and launch engagement programs. Please contact us at [email protected] to learn more about how we can help you increase the level of engagement and visibility on FyOR our EgNGAGING reen initiatives. SIX ACTIVITY IDEAS EMPLOYEES IN SUSTAINABILITY And if you are feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start, begin with a good story and a clear call to action. Page 11 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 GREEN CHAMPION RESOURCES: FIVE SIMPLE ACTIVITY IDEAS ENGAGING
Below are six easy and inexpensive activity ideas for engaging employees in sustainability. Please contact Green Impact at [email protected] if you need support in creating a customized engagement plan for your organization. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ask a values-­‐based question
Promote sustainable food
Play the sort waste game
Nominate and recognize green champions
Engage employees’ kids
Page 12 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 #1: ASK A VALUES-­‐BASED QUESTION Overview: A values-­‐based question allows you to engage employees to think about why environmental stewardship matters to them. From this increased awareness of what really matters, greener actions can be more easily encouraged. Call to Action: Invite all employees or participants to participate in the Green Challenge where they fill out a challenge card and answer a values-­‐based question such as, “I take a stand for the Earth when I…” Or, “I love the Earth because…” Suggested Steps: 1. Identify an engaging question that will get your target audience
talking about why they care about the Earth. Build off your core
brand values. You can use the premade templates included on
the next two pages or create your own.
2. Get the word out about the Green Challenge. To increase
participation, consider a friendly competition among
departments to see which can get the higher participation rate.
3. Set the time period for the challenge—it can be over one day at a
specific event or over a longer period.
4. Create a Green Challenge wall in the break room or other central
location and post the cards on the wall. Get creative in how you
display them. Or take pictures of participants with their card and
post on social media.
Resources: See the Green Challenge Card templates. Page 13 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 Page 14 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 Page 15 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 #2: PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FOOD Overview: Eating less meat and purchasing local, sustainable food are easy way to reduce one’s carbon footprint. What we eat has a big impact on the environment. When our food is shipped thousands of miles, it leads to a big carbon footprint. Call to Action: Raise awareness between the link between what we eat and the environment by hosting one of the activities suggested below. Suggested Activities: v Encourage employees to pick one day a week where they will
only eat vegetarian food. See Meatless Monday for more
ideas.
v Promote a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program
at work. By joining a local CSA, employees can receive the
freshest vegetables, fruits, meats, and eggs straight from the
farm. See Local Harvest for more information.
v Host a “Farmers Market Experience” to promote awareness
of sustainable food. Print out a list of local farmers’ markets
around your area and provide information highlighting why
shopping local is good for the environment. Bring in actual
fruits and veggies from a local farmers market for employees
to try and take home to their families.
v Give employees a small seedling they can grow at home.
v Plant a small garden on-site if space is available.
Resources: •
Environmental Working Group: Check out the updated list of
the top fruits and vegetables to purchase organic. The
following items are the most important to consider buying
organic to minimize exposure to pesticides: strawberries,
apples, nectarines, and peaches.
Page 16 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 #3: PLAY THE SORT THE WASTE GAME Overview: An average American throws away 4.4 pounds of garbage each day, totaling over 1,600 pounds a year. This activity will raise awareness about reducing waste and increase your diversion rate. Call to Action: Raise awareness about recycling and composting and reduce waste by playing the Sort the Waste Game. Suggested Steps: 1. Gather the necessary resources. Label four bins or paper bags:
Recycle, Compost, Trash/Landfill, Reuse. Bring a variety of items
to play with: a banana peel, shredded paper, cardboard, coffee
cup, a plastic bag, etc.
2. During a staff meeting, play the Sort the Waste game, where
everyone takes turns guessing which bin different items go in.
3. Use this as an opportunity to remind everyone where the
recycling/compost bins are located.
4. Give the winner a small (green) prize.
Resources: • To learn more, check out The Garbage Games. Page 17 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 #4: NOMINATE AND RECOGNIZE GREEN CHAMPIONS Overview: Keep your green champions motivated by having fellow employees nominate those that deserve recognition. Another option is to ask your employees for their best ideas for reducing waste and cutting costs. Call to Action: Set up a simple process for nominating and screening green champions and organize a simple event to honor them. Or host a green idea contest. If funds are available, consider creating a small fund to pilot the best ideas. Suggested Steps: 1. Put a box in a centralized location with pens and forms.
2. Announce to all employees that you are looking for nominations
for employees who deserve recognition for their leadership
around going green.
3. Or have a big green idea contest and collect sustainabilityr
related project ideas. Unilever’s Small Actions, Big Difference
Fund screens and funds employees’ top suggestions for reducing
energy and CO2 emissions.
4. Set up an informal committee to help you screen nominations. It
can help to create some screening criteria.
5. Find a creative way to recognize the green champions. Some
ideas include: have senior leadership recognize them; honor
them at a lunchtime ceremony or staff meeting; and/or highlight
them on your Website or social media. Page 18 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 #5: ENGAGE EMPLOYEES’ KIDS Overview: Connecting to employees’ children can help you reach a broader base of employees who might not consider themselves “green”. One of eBay’s local Green Teams was determined to phase bottled water out of their office. Prior to installing filters and chillers and removing water bottles from break rooms, they invited employees’ children to participate in a poster contest with the theme “what does water mean to you?” Winning posters were displayed around the office, along with facts and statistics to educate employees on the environmental impact of bottled water production and consumption. The team credits the poster campaign with increasing awareness and support for the project and allowing for a successful transition. EMC got employees more engaged with an environmental poster contest for employees’ kids. This winning drawing was published in EMC’s Sustainability Report and displayed at headquarters. With over 400 entries, this strategy successfully engaged employees and their families. Call to Action: Organize a poster contest for employees’ children around a relevant theme. Suggested Steps: 1. Identify an engaging theme for a poster contest and organize
details around how to collect, screen, and display entries.
2. Promote the poster contest among employees.
3. Gather and screen entries. Announce the winners.
4. Display and promote the winners in appropriate locations.
Page 19 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655 GREEN IMPACT works with companies, universities, and NGOs ready to make a bigger impact and engage a broader audience. Our holistic approach increases support for green initiatives, engages employees in sustainability efforts, attracts new supporters, and embeds sustainability into your culture. We develop customized communications and marketing strategies, craft original communications, and design and launch engagement programs.
Please contact us at [email protected] to learn more about how we can help you increase the level of engagement and visibility on your green initiatives. Page 20 of 20 Make Green Happen: Six Best Practices to Empower Employees and Inspire Action www.greenimpact.com 415-­‐302-­‐2655