ENGAGING CO-WORKERS IN “GREENING” THE...
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ENGAGING CO-WORKERS IN “GREENING” THE OFFICE University of Chicago Graham School Leadership in Sustainability Management Certificate Class May 28, 2013 Belinda Li, CiTTA Partnership
Transcript of ENGAGING CO-WORKERS IN “GREENING” THE...
ENGAGING CO-WORKERS IN “GREENING” THE OFFICE
University of Chicago Graham School Leadership in Sustainability Management Certificate Class
May 28, 2013
Belinda Li, CiTTA Partnership
My experience in forming and leading office green teams:
Co-led the green team at McKinsey’s Chicago office (2008-2010)
Created and led the green team at Civic Consulting Alliance (Chicago) office, in participating in the Chicago Green Office Challenge (Round 2, 2011)
This presentation highlights some of what I learned through these two experiences, in terms of best practices and potential challenges in engaging co-workers in “greening” the office, and it includes some actual example actions that we took.
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My Relevant Experiences
Identify and Recruit Fellow Champions, at All Levels (it’s hard to do it alone!)
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Recruit: Someone at the manager or director level (or even
higher) – who can be the bridge with decision-makers and/or skeptics, and hopefully help to push through contentious action items
Administrative staff – very important! Interns – could be your most enthusiastic champions If multiple organizations are housed in same office
space – make sure to recruit someone who can be a bridge between the organizations
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Champions and Core Green Team
Have a Plan: Actions, Metrics, Goals, Timeline, Owners
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Green Office Challenge – Business Sector’s Engagement Through Competition and Recognition
http://chicagogoc.com/
Round 3 (Feb-Nov 2013) 6
What is Green Office Challenge? • A friendly competition for commercial property managers and office
tenants (in current Round 3, includes also schools, retail stores, industry)
• Began in 2008 as a collaboration between the City of Chicago and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. Core funding from the Office Depot.
• Acknowledges participants for their achievements in greening their operations through Mayoral and media recognition
• Provides participants with links to resources to help them improve building/office energy efficiency and save some “real green”
• Helps to reduce the amount of global warming pollution that Chicagoans produce
• Takes place over a ~1-year cycle
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Even if you don’t participate in the Challenge, it provides a helpful “green plan” for your engagement effort nonetheless
Real Impact of the Chicago Green Office Challenge In Round 2 (2011): • Nearly 150 property managers and tenant companies located in
Chicago’s downtown business district participated in the Challenge.
• Key achievements included: A reduction of more than 124 million kilowatt-hours of electricity –
equivalent to the energy used by 45,000 homes or using 125,000 barrels of oil
Keeping more than 85,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – equal to removing more than 16,000 cars off Chicago streets
17,503,891 millions of dollars were saved by Property Managers who reduced electricity use
53 business district buildings diverted an average of over 43% of waste from landfills in 2011
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http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2012/may_2012/chicago_green_officechallengewinnersrecognizedbymayorandiclei.html
Round 2’s Five Strategies for Office Tenants
* Round 3 broke these 5 strategies into finer categories – see http://chicagogoc.com
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Self-evaluation in 5 categories* 1. Outreach 2. Energy 3. Waste 4. Transportation 5. Property Manager Engagement
Four tiers of achievement
Tier 1: 76 - 100 points Tier 2: 51 - 75 points Tier 3: 26 - 50 points Tier 4: 15 - 25 points
Create a "Green Team" Host educational "Go Green"
sessions in the office Designate a "Green Week" Ensure that your company has a
sustainability policy Encourage companies in your
building and in the central business district to join the challenge
Implement innovative green practices
10 Note that these were from Round 2 (Round 3 may be different)
Outreach Strategies
Determine your energy usage baseline Conduct a lighting audit. Use energy efficient vending machines or
misers Eliminate personal fans and space heaters Use blinds to regulate heat load Have an ENERGY STAR purchasing policy Use power-saving mode for office
equipment Purchase emissions offsets
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Energy Use Reduction Strategies
Note that these were from Round 2 (Round 3 may be different)
Coordinate office recycling policy with building recycling policy
Write a green purchasing policy Measure paper use and aim to reduce Purchase post-consumer recycled copy
paper and paper products Print double sided Use electronic faxes Request caterers to use less packaging
and disposables Donate/recycle unused electronics Purchase reusable kitchen supplies and
eliminate single-serve water bottles
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Waste Reduction Strategies
Note that these were from Round 2 (Round 3 may be different)
Conduct a commuter survey Permit flextime or telecommuting Eliminate free or subsidized employee
parking Provide transit benefit program Use teleconferencing and webinars for
meetings Find "green" rental car companies Join a car-sharing program Offset business travel emissions
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Transportation Strategies
Note that these were from Round 2 (Round 3 may be different)
Request water conserving devices Request timers or occupancy sensors for
lights Request energy-efficient exit signs Accommodate bicycle commuters Request temperature control Use Green Seal certified (or equivalent)
cleaners If remodeling, use Green Seal certified (or
equivalent) paints Enter into a Green Lease Become member of building-wide Green
Team
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Property Manager Engagement
Note that these were from Round 2 (Round 3 may be different)
• See Appendix for example quarterly milestones used for Round 2 Green Office Challenge
• Assign owners to each action item – make them accountable, have small team meetings, follow-up with them, help empower them
• Develop/iterate the “green plan” together with this Green Team, to increase sense of ownership
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Set Milestones, Timelines, Owners
Communicate the “Why” to Get Buy-In from Decision-Makers
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There can be many different ways to frame it to convince decision-makers (and potential skeptics), such as: It will save us money It will make us “look good” (reputation, innovation,
leadership, peer comparisons with competitor firms, clients who care?, etc.)
It will engage the workforce, including attracting young talents who care about this
Etc. etc.
Make sure they buy into the principle for doing this – else, when it gets down to the nitty-gritty, they may back out of their support
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Speak to Their Interests and/or Concerns
Kick-off to All Staff
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Announce the new initiative to the broader staff Get people excited Let them know the “why” Let them know what to expect (e.g., monthly newsletters
with “green tips”, progress to be expected) Let them know you will need their help to make it work
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Kick-off is Important
Actions – Some Will Be Visible, Some Will (or Best) Not
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For Examples: Recycling Bins – place them at locations that are easy to
access and highly visible, make big colorful signs to tell people what to place in the bins what not to (plus any other educational facts), communicate effort through emails/ newsletters/ websites/ staff meetings
“Turn off the Light” campaign – place stickies on light switches reminding people to switch off lights when they leave the room. If company culture allows, you could even identify fun and relatively harmless ways to “shame” people into actions (e.g., place visible big yellow cards on the desks of those who left their lights on, etc.)
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Make a Big Splash with Visible Action Items
For Examples: Thermostat Setting – work with Property Manager to
change this. Office-mates may not even know that temperatures have been changed if you don’t tell them!
Using Energy Efficient Light Bulbs – again, you may want to make this change first and then see if there are any complaints…
But if there are complaints, do address them!
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Some Other Action Items Might Be Best Done Behind-the-Scene
Making the Case for Action Items Where You Can
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Example: Use of Papers with Recycled Contents + Double-sided Printing: An intern did a “blinded test” demonstration with the
staff – people couldn’t tell which paper was regular and which had 30% recycled content
He presented on the fact that the 12.5% increased cost for purchasing paper with 30% recycled content could be offset by simply increasing double-sided printing from 22% to 37% (or more)
Also showed additional savings by printing more black-and-white vs. color
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Making the Case Can Also Serve as an Educational Tool
Make it Fun!
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Example: a competition to come up with the most creative way to spend Earth Hour in darkness (just sleeping or doing nothing didn’t count!): Winner made the whole thing into a family event –
making candles from scratch with his wife and children during the day, and then they had a candle-lit dinner together during Earth Hour
Make sure you have fun prizes for the competitions
Perhaps pitch one department against another – there are always those A-Type who love a challenge
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Competitions Are a Great Way to Engage and Make It Fun
Conducting Tours – e.g., recycling plants, Chicago Center for Green Technology, LEED-certified office space, etc.
Celebrations (everyone loves a cupcake party…) World-wide days like Earth Days Milestones met in your “green plan” Personal achievements
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Other Ways To Make It Fun…
Communicate Progress and Educate Regularly
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Examples: Communicate the results of the commuter survey (hint –
to entice people to take the survey in the first place, provide a prize drawing…)
Communicate cost savings and/or other benefits achieved at each stage, milestones hit at each point
Provide helpful “green tips” Show fun facts (“Do you know…”) Etc. etc. Devise fun ways for this communication – a progress bar on your website, perhaps? Showing tips, progress, fun facts on the TV screen in the office lunch area?
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Crucial to Keep the Momentum Going
Educational tips should also: • Help employees to “green their homes” and other places
that they spend time at • Empower them to educate others in their life This will increase positive impact beyond the workplace AND also keep them more engaged with the office’s greening efforts too
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Remember It Is About More Than The Office
Now Some Challenges. Pick Your Battles!
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You likely won’t be able to achieve every action item you wish you could (and if you are able to, congratulations – you probably work at a company that has a great, forward-thinking, open culture!)
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Some Potential Challenges
Some common challenges: • Anything that needs the IT department to get involved with, e.g.
• Changing all company laptops’ settings to sleep mode, or default to printing double-sided
• Changing printers’ settings to go to sleep mode, etc. • Getting rid of all single-served water bottles – perhaps there are
always lots of guests visiting the office and no dishwasher? • Eliminating free or subsidized parking for employees – perhaps the
CEO uses this… • Some innovative practices may just be too innovative for your office-
mates (e.g., worm composting?) • Lack of a building-wide recycling infrastructure
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Picking Your Battles – Letting Go of Some Actions If Needed To Achieve Many Others
Win where you can, without alienating (too many) people, including the decision-makers,
or else you risk losing the whole battle. Push as far as you can, and do your research
to make a strong case. But when really needed, agree to compromise.
To Summarize • Identify and recruit fellow champions at all levels – it’s hard to
do it alone • Have a plan, with: actions, metrics, goals, timeline, owners • Communicate the “Why” to get buy-in from decision-makers • Kick-off to all staff • Actions – some will be visible, some will (or best) not • Making the case for action items where you can • Make it fun! • Communicate progress and educate regularly • Pick your battles!
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