Mapping Your Sustainability Journey as a Group
Achieving a sustainable workplace that is productive, efficient, and a fun place to work is best represented through the metaphor of a group on a journey. As with any trip or excursion, planning is essential. Whether you feel that you already have achieved a workplace that is completely sustainable (is this possible?) or you are simply contemplating how to be more energy and resource efficient in your workday, you have already taken out your compass, checked the weather conditions, sketched your initial steps, and declared your intent to embark. The journey to a more sustainable workplace has a distinct starting point (‘we need to ________ …‘) and really never concludes as new ideas, technologies, and methodologies are borne from our collective innovative and entrepreneurial spirit as a people.
There are some obvious and easy ways to create or sharpen a sustainable mindset as an organization. A simple in-house recycling program that targets office waste is the step most organizations take initially. In fact, you may find that there are other members of your team who already place a high value in practices such as recycling, carpooling, local food patronage, and energy efficiency. But they have never been asked. Engaging co-workers in the creation of your sustainable roadmap will surface champions in your midst. These are folks who practice environmentally responsible action at home and can help move your journey along in the workplace through their passion and perspective. Embrace all attitudes, develop your journey’s initial effort as a group, step off together, learn, and create.
Then watch what happens.
Business today is faced with escalating costs on all fronts; energy, healthcare, supplies, technology, and transportation to name a few. Adopting a sustainable mindset in the workplace is a journey worth taking for obvious economic reasons as evidenced by the financial success of organizations as far reaching as Google, Subaru, and Patagonia. There are also benefits that may be harder to quantify at first, primarily the positive social and environmental impact of adopting a sustainable roadmap for your team. With time and patience, the intangibles become visible as worker attraction/retention rates improve and your ecological footprint as an organization is reduced through the practice of sustainability in the workplace.
Watch this space for future articles, links, tools, and resources on specific ideas (like recycling) to allow sustainability to become a hallmark of your organization’s culture. Did I mention that the fun is automatic?
