In the second part of PeopleProfitPlanet's Green Champions series, we will discuss how to maximise the effect of your Green Champions and ensure they are engaging your employees in the workplace. Each business may have a self-nominated person or team or Green Champions, sometimes called Energy Champions, Environment Champions, Green Team etc. Regardless of what you call your Green Champions, your organisation benefits from their enthusiasm and role in the workplace to help you increase staff morale, reduce your business carbon footprint and importantly, save costs.
Green Champions are key in engaging your staff to cultural, organisational and environmental behaviour change. They will help your business go green, reduce your business carbon footprint, motivate your staff and help you boost the bottom line.
Altogether this is a win-win-win situation. Where your staff have increased morale and are engaged, your business benefits from resource efficiency. Employees who are involved with making the workplace greener will feel like they are working in a team and feel motivated by that. Green workplaces are also safer and sends out the message that your organisation cares about the environment, therefore attracting the best staff.
What can Green Champions do? Initially, they may take the lead in educating and encouraging green action in the workplace. From environmental awareness posters to environmental behaviour change workshops, these activities will help bring recognition to champions work. Collecting data on energy usage, waste and resources and measuring environmental performance will also be useful for identifying areas for improvement.
Don't lose focus
For some organisations, the problem is not encouraging sustainability – but coordinating it. While some companies will be just on the start of their Green Journey, many others may feel like their environmental teams or green champions have not had the desired impact on their company. It is important to set benchmarks and measure and evaluate targets on a regular basis. A system of rewards and incentives for teams and individuals to achieve environmental targets and will also continue to keep employees involved in the programme.
To maximise their impact, the champion will also need the support and commitment of senior management and the wider team that will deliver the improvements. Green Champions are most efficient if they are familiar with most of the staff and internal processes. Business managers and directors should take a supportive role with Green Champions activities and not be too prescriptive.
Green Champions can give you extra green credentials, fulfil some steps to achieving internationally recognised environmental accreditations like ISO 14001. Together you can help inspire environmental change in the workplace and take real steps to saving costs through resource efficiency and helping the planet.
If you missed the first part of our Green Champions series, go back and read The Importance of Green Champions in the Workplace.
Follow us on Twitter - we are green champions. If you want to find out more about how we can help you develop your Environmental Team, or how we can engage employee environmental awareness, call us now on 0845 2799 837.