Page 2 - Personal Sustainability Program

Sustainability: Care Instructions for our Planet

Friday, February 17, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

What if our planet came with care instructions? If it did, would we be better citizens? From a professional consultant's point of view, we do have care instructions for our planet . The care instructions are commonly known in the sustainability field as: Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainability and green. Each addressing directly and indirectly sustainability concepts we can include in our thought processes and business approaches to preserve the earth's resources.

CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility is defined on a corporate level. It can be narrow in scope compared to the term sustainability as it can imply a "stand alone" program. It may includes: diversity programs, wellness programs, sustainable procurement/ green supply chain, telecommuting, remote commuting, investment recovery, community and stakeholder engagement.

Sustainability is a macro concept that applies more broadly to entire systems and infrastructures. The term can be somewhat elusive as it spans a multitude of topics. Business sustainability and personal sustainability applies to both corporate and at a personal level. In a business context, sustainability is embedded within an organizations core operations and a corporate sustainability plan is clear, measured, and reported on including all of the above elements of CSR but also, water, carbon, energy, waste management, and sustainability concepts of reduce/ reuse/ recycle, fair trade and commitment to renewables. Sustainability reporting is evident, transparent and may extend beyond the corporation to include tracking of suppliers emissions, waste, energy, etc. Sustainability concepts, in the form of strategies, tools, ideas and models, are tangible mechanisms used to achieve sustainability for both businesses and individuals.

• Energy Efficiency

• Waste Management

• Eco labeling

• Buy Local

• Fair Trade

• Carbon Offsetting

Green, on the other hand, is a micro concept. We deal with green in our everyday lives with things like clothing, food, transportation, and a long list of "how to go green today" suggestions. Green is a pretty easy concept to understand in part because it’s relative and tangible. It is measured on a scale from dirty to clean or eco friendly vs. traditional product. Also, tangible eco actions are oftentimes associated with being green, as in recycling.

As we've experienced in our sustainability consulting practice, sometimes, these terms are difficult to "get." No worries! Enjoy watching the video Sustainability Explained through Animation to help pull it all together.

Open Innovation – How to Drive Creativity in a Transparent and Competitive World

Friday, February 17, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

A common characteristic across sustainable organizations is the ability to recognize public eco awareness and deliver new products that address societal and environmental challenges in a way that delivers business sustainability and long term value. However, questions still remain unanswered on the most effective way to harness and drive creativity in an increasingly transparent but equally competitive world.

The Harvard Business Review recently weighed in on the “open” debate with its post, Open Innovation and Organizational Boundaries. Commenting that today’s markets are being transformed into social forums, the article offers some key concepts to consider:

Leaders and senior teams can take advantage of contrasting innovation modes, paradoxical organizational requirements, and associated dynamic boundaries.

Leaders need to execute strategic choices with the systems, structures, incentives, cultures, and boundaries tailored to open and firm-based innovation modes.

Multiple types of boundaries will increasingly be employed to manage innovation. These boundaries will range from traditional intra firm boundaries to complex intra firm boundaries (such as ambidextrous designs), to webs of interdependence with partners, and to interdependence with potentially anonymous communities.

Senior teams must build their own personal capabilities to deal with contradictions as well as their firm's ability to deal with contradictions. While building internally contradictory organizational architectures is difficult, building these architectures to attend to contrasting innovation modes will be more challenging.

Through our direct engagement with companies and business leaders seeking to inspire and motivate sustainable action in their organization, we find business stakeholders as a valued source for new ideas. Our professional consulting works with clients to step outside of the confines of the business to leverage employee, supplier, and end consumer thinking.

Taiga Company offers insight into business sustainability programs and social media strategies designed to encourage business sustainability and expand eco awareness as an asset of the organization - particularly through stakeholder engagement and open innovation.

10 Tips to Be Your Best Green Self

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

What does it take to be your best self? Many in the personal development arena would suggest identifying your best qualities, setting high personal expectations, and a willingness to live boldly as the secret sauce for personal actualization. But, how does this apply to personal sustainability? What does it take to be your best green self?

Identifying what green is, and more specifically, what green means to you and your life is a first step. Many "eco curious" clients express confusion as to what it means to live green. A sustainable lifestyle often means different things to different people. For those well versed in sustainability concepts, a sustainable lifestyle may be very different compared to someone just beginning to make sustainable life changes. Keeping it simple, a sustainable lifestyle is about making choices and taking eco actions and can be categorized in different areas of our lives. It is a primary focus on eco awareness with actions towards reducing ones carbon footprint, managing waste, and embracing sustainability concepts in decision making.

The post, Great Green Expectations: What are Yours? explores the correlation between expectations and results. The bigger our dreams and expectations are for ourselves, the more we live in to them. Benchmarking personal environmental impacts in a sustainable lifestyle is one way to measure success and build upon those successes for continual growth.

Living boldly is taking grand eco action in the areas of your life. While it's great to have big green aspirations, without eco action, it is only good intent. A question to ponder is, what do you expect from yourself? "We tend to live up to our expectations". -E. Nightingale Following are resources available to get your on your way to living bold and becoming your best green self.

Giving from the Heart: CSR and Volunteerism

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

Ghandi said, "The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others." While Valentine's Day is generally celebrated by personal relationships and uncelebrated in the business world, as most leading sustainable business strategists know, challenging assumptions leads to innovative insights. Why not share the love on Valentine's Day as a means to engage with key stakeholders in the community?

Business sustainability is noted as providing solutions to complex problems; specifically in business and community development. It can create solutions sparked by unusual pairings. Consider the proposition that a business can grow by partnering with with suppliers, customers, and employees to collectively contribute to the local community for a common cause. As noted in our business sustainability programs, these kinds of partnerships lead to beneficial back scratching. Organizations working together allow sustainability plans to synergize in a way neither organization can achieve on its own and also powerfully contribute on a local level.

Another option? Corporate volunteering. Corporate volunteers are valuable knowledge brokers uniting the sustainable business interests of the business with the interest of the community. Information, knowledge sharing, shared experiences, and ongoing discussion provides for individual empowerment, meaningful work, and engaged employees. The process of uniting employees with community offers opportunities to creatively work together to forward common objectives. Engaging employees in corporate volunteer programs transforms the corporate vision into tangible, qualified action. By tying corporate sustainability initiatives to day to day processes, it makes a corporate sustainability plan more personable to an employee and helps employees to identify their role in corporate responsibility. The vision is experienced differently with an emotional link formed between the employee, the organization, and community.

With the essence of Valentine's Day being one of love and appreciation, perhaps engaging employees in the community via volunteering is a way for business to celebrate Valentine's Day every day.

Learn more about employee volunteering and workplace giving:

Nudging and Gaming: A New Green Best Practice?

Monday, February 13, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

Could we be "nudged" into better, more sustainable practices that help the environment? The post, Is a 'nudge' in the right direction all we need to be greener ? says so. Citing subliminal and visual cues accompanied by policy nudges, the post states, "Whether we're conscious of them or not, nudges -- of a sort -- are all around us. From the rumble strip along motorways -- gently encouraging motorists to remain in the correct lane -- to rows of brightly colored candy wrappers, less subtly inviting us to pick them up and place them in our shopping cart...Just imagine if your surroundings were arranged to help you make better decisions to achieve your goals."

Within our sustainability consulting practice we ask, how can we build personal support systems that "nudge" us towards our sustainability goals in our personal lives. What might that look like?

One way is through fun and games. We've blogged about Why Green is Fun and the post, Don’t hate the player: How fun and games can encourage sustainable choices shares great videos on how making eco actions like picking up litter and taking the stairs can be fun and help us to make more sustainable choices.

While these are great examples of our external world helping us to "do the right thing," what about taking responsibility for our choices on a personal level?

As we share in our personal sustainability programs, an entry point to explore personal sustainability is to look at our habits. What are your habits telling you? Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously, without one's directly thinking consciously about them. In the world of sustainability, this unconscious display of habits is a fertile ground of opportunity offering low hanging fruit for eco action. Discovering hidden treasures in your daily habits begins by becoming conscious of your routines as well as your approach to the actions you take. Look for clues in your life. What is in your garbage? Do you leave the water on while brushing your teeth? Idle the car? Pay bills by mail? Explore options available to you to replace traditional habits with those of eco actions.

What green nudges can you create for yourself? How can you create fun games for yourself to inspire sustainable choices?

Can Random Acts of Green Kindness and the Power of Positive Thinking Change the World?

Friday, February 10, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

Napoleon Hill got it right! "First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination. We've all heard it before, "If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you always got." In other words, you can't solve the problem with the same thinking that created it. Such is the case with climate change, carbon, water, and other pressing world concerns. So, if our traditional thinking and approaches aren't cutting it, then what will? Can the power of positive thinking make a difference?

The video, "The Happiness Factor" by Shawn Anchor explores the mass conscious belief around success and how that is scientifically skewed. Within the video, he states we can re-wire our brains to a new definition of success which increases happiness and productivity. What are the suggestions for rewiring our brains? Of the five suggestions, two favorites stand out: gratitude and random acts of kindness.

These findings are consistent with what we have blogged about previously. The post, How Green Gratitude Pays It Forward explores how gratitude matters. It mentions, "adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not." From sustainability viewpoint, how does one express gratitude? Consider the qualities of kindness, generosity and willingness.

• Kindness in a sustainable lifestyle is not only being kind to our planet, but kind to each other. Compassion for where each of us is in relation to the green path.

• Generosity in green living is not only sharing eco awareness and eco resources, but also going above and beyond to inspire, promote, and encourage others on the green path.

• Willingness in green living is demonstrating your values through eco action and generating results.

Another approach is appreciating nature. The post, Nature: The Natural Mood Enhancer, suggest paying attention to the natural world not only makes you feel better, it makes you behave better. As Albert Einstein said, "It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it." Viewed from a sustainability perspective, that can take many forms. As in, caring for the Earth's resources from a physical and material perspective, but also in how our individual thoughts of eco awareness and behavior shapes that caring.

Additionally, the post, 15 Random Acts of Green Kindness explores how kindness and sustainability are intrinsically linked. And, we talk about the The Karma of Personal Sustainability and how our thoughts are shaping our world.

Take a moment to watch this inspiring video and explore for yourself how you can use the positive power of your thinking to build a better world for yourself and our world.

LinkedIn: Powering Sustainability Professionals and Revolutionizing Volunteerism

Thursday, February 9, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

LinkedIn is About to Revolutionize How We Volunteer "We all know LinkedIn to be in the business of connecting talent with opportunity. Now, they are expanding their mission to include the non-profit sector. In the fall of last year, LinkedIn added a Volunteer Experience & Causes field to the LinkedIn Profile. Members can now share volunteer experiences, causes they care about and organizations they support with their professional networks. Through this initiative, LinkedIn is putting a stake in the ground that volunteerism can and should be a part of everyone's professional brand, and they are passionately trying to get the word out."

With LinkedIn’s new initiative—LinkedIn for Good. it makes sense that this form of social media engagement would be an ideal platform to connect with sustainability professionals. How so? As the post, Is LinkedIn the Best Place to Find Sustainability Professionals? explains:

1. LinkedIn connects you to individuals, not companies.
Sustainability professionals move around at an astonishing pace, and so connecting with them personally is much more strategic than trying to get an "in" through a company's sustainability department (or a general email to their website or blog). You can easily look up people by name, company, or keyword (think: sustainability consultant, or renewable energy).

2. LinkedIn allows you to refer people, or ask for referrals.
Instead of foisting yourself upon an unwitting person, LinkedIn allows you to harness the power of your network to get introduced via "a friend of a friend." Similarly, when someone contacts you, you can see whether you are already mutually connected (up to several degrees of separation). There are a lot of people calling themselves "sustainability consultants" so this ability to do an informal reference check can be invaluable.

3. LinkedIn lets you continue the conversation in groups.
Once you're connected to people (or even if you aren't connected to them) you can join thousands of different groups--and literally dozens of sustainability-related groups that range from CSR to Green Packaging to Sustainability MBAs. Jump in and get involved -- post comments, suggest articles, link to Twitter, etc.

As mentioned in our business sustainability programs aimed at social media success there are numerous LInkedIn groups to share information, engage, and connect with others leading in the business sustainability space. Three groups to consider include:

Strategic Sustainability Consulting provides organizations with the tools and expertise they need to actively manage their social and environmental impacts. We specialize in helping under-resourced organizations implement sustainable solutions usually reserved for large, multinational companies.

SustainAbility is a think tank and strategy consultancy working to inspire transformative business leadership on the sustainability agenda. Established in 1987, SustainAbility delivers illuminating foresight and actionable insight on sustainable development trends and issues

The International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is a non-profit, member-driven association for professionals who are committed to making sustainability standard practice. Members share resources and best practices, and develop themselves professionally.

If you are looking for more information on how to use LinkedIn to grow your sustainability practice of create social media success for your business, consider checking out our 8 -week, self-guided, online course called Social Media for Sustainability Professionals. It includes an entire section devoted to LinkedIn (with additional sections focused on websites, Twitter, Facebook, blogging, Google+ and more!).

Unlocking your Green Potential for Greater Good

Friday, February 3, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

What are the most common excuses for not "doing the green thing"? Convenience? Lack of education/ information?   Unclear value? How do you go green conveniently yet still have your eco actions add up?

Sustainability is really about transformation - a transformation process by discovering hidden treasures in daily habits that unite conscious habits and routines with eco awareness and eco actions to take.   Most of us are inspired by eco actions and the idea of "doing the right thing." However, we also recognize that change can be unsettling. It can be scary, and too often it is just easier to slip back into a traditional and comfortable way of doing things. Part of staying on the green path is reconnecting with our personal drivers for seeking a sustainable lifestyle.   There are many benefits to living a sustainable lifestyle; however, implementing effective sustainable change does not have to be a laboring process.

Create a plan - Personal sustainability programs are about making and sustaining a change in your life that you can be inspired and passionate about. Although a sustainability plan originates as a comprehensive one, your actions are the expression of that plan in daily life. Eco actions can be anything from riding a bike to work or using eco-friendly office supplies to eating organic healthy meals or recycling. It can also be about achieving a personal goal, sustaining it, and building from that platform. Ultimately, it's about making choices that feel good to you and generate an expectation of more and better to come in your life and the environment.

The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is reducing your carbon footprint; lighten the load on the planet as well as be good to yourself, others, and your community.

Do the green thing via subcategory or importance. Categorizing gives awareness to the habit change as it relates to the sustainability concept. For instance, energy consumption and turning off a light as you leave a room, or replacing bulbs, or using an energy strip. Another perspective is to prioritize the habit as it relates to environmental impact. If your carbon footprint is large due to travel, then exploring ways to reduce your travel. Suggestions made in our eco friendly consulting include: telework, virtual conferences, and green travel options.

Schedule time. If the habit requires a new way of doing things, then schedule time to learn the new habit, integrate it into your routine, and make adjustments as you learn. Bike commuting would be an excellent example of embracing a new habit, reducing your carbon footprint, yet, requiring time to learn and develop a new routine.

Reward and Review. The process of linking sustainable living with new opportunities for development creates a personal incentive that further promotes the process. Sustainable actions are reinforced daily by positive feedback from realizing your personal goals.

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” – Unknown If you never start, you will never get anywhere. In fact, did you know that approximately 80 percent of pollination by insects is carried out by bees? Maybe that's why the call them busy bees.   Perhaps, but curiously, what would our world look like today if those living a sustainable lifestyle were as busy as bees in sprinkling or "pollinating" our daily lives with eco action? Unlock your green potential for our greater good.

Focus: A Prerequisite to Green Choices

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

When it comes to daily choices, our personal and professional consulting views each decision point as an opportunity to integrate eco awareness into an eventual outcome. While the result of every decision does not have to be directly aligned with sustainable values, the inclusion of sustainability concepts in the thought process can greatly improve the evaluation. Seems simple enough?

Yes, but look around and you'll see going green slogans everywhere. The web is full of information on going green, living a sustainable lifestyle and advice on personal sustainability. For many, this mountain of information can be confusing and at times a little overwhelming. In fact, the post, A Practical Plan for When You Feel Overwhelmed, refers to overwhelm and its effect on our ability to make choices. "The more numerous our options, the more difficult it becomes to choose a single one, and so we end up choosing none at all. That's what happens when we have too many things to do. We become overwhelmed and don't do any of them."

Noted, we are all faced with an endless number of choices every day that can lead us in one direction or another. Standing at a decision intersection, some may choose to turn right while others may choose to turn left. The outcome of a left versus right turn is not the concern. Our sustainability consulting simply asks the question: was sustainability part of your decision making process?

Rather than getting bogged down with the enormity of the sustainability discussion, our sustainability consulting advises clients to first focus on solutions that are within their control and which have immediate impact. For example, two areas of immediate personal impact lie in energy conservation and source control. We encourage individual efforts to identify the ‘low hanging fruit’ at home first.

Conservation is a solution within every one's control and can be a huge difference maker. Our green living consulting helps clients identify personal mitigation strategies as well as understand the nature of their consumption.

• What appliances and/or equipment are consuming the most energy?
• How are these high energy consumption items being run (simultaneously, non-efficiently, etc.)
• When are these high energy consumption items running (when not needed, during peak load times, etc.).
• Are appliances and/or equipment left plugged in when not in use?

However, conservation is not the end of the story. Managing your energy source can be very simple and often does not have to be a huge capital expense. Depending on where you live and work, you may have a choice in your electricity provider. While the debate over deregulation continues, the ability to choose may offer you the opportunity to make a significant difference.

• By simply choosing a “100% Wind Energy” option, the average household can have the same impact as not driving their car 20,000 miles in that same year.

• The same choice made for a “Renewable Energy Option” (typically 90% hydro, 10% Wind) would equal a 2,000 mile reduction.

Whether you have the capital to make home improvements, the power to choose, or simply a desire to consume less, the decisions you make have real impacts on your business, life, environment.

2012 Trend: Workplaces that Promote Sustainability

Friday, January 27, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

Evidence suggests employee engagement strategies can make a difference in internalizing sustainability and translating high-level commitments into action and results on the ground. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development document, People Matter Engage: inspiring employees about sustainability draws lessons from corporate experience:
The Corporate Leadership Council reports that engaged organizations grew profits as much as three times faster than their competitors. They found that highly engaged organizations have 87% less staff turnover and 20% better performance than average.
A global survey by Tower Perrins-ISR, involving more than 664,000 employees in 50 companies, found that the operating income of companies with engaged employees improved by 19% in one year, while it declined by 33% for companies with low levels of employee engagement.
A survey by Gallup of 23,910 business units found that those with low engagement suffer from 50% more employee turnover, inventory shrinkage and accidents. Those with higher engagement scores increased customer advocacy by 12%, productivity by 18% and profitability by 12%.
Fully engaged employees are 2.5 times more likely to exceed performance expectations than their disengaged colleagues.
59% of engaged employees say their job brings out their most creative ideas against only 3% for disengaged employees.

Employees are often argued to be the greatest resource of a company. When employee’s values resonate with those of the corporation, they are more productive, loyal, and their work is meaningful. Aside from the positive impact these programs deliver to the bottom line, today’s employees are looking for more than just the ‘green’ in their paycheck.

Employees Want Growth Opportunities: Young people have always wanted to start on career paths with growth opportunities, and the opportunities related to ‘Green Jobs’ are growing exponentially.

Employees Want to Make a Difference: A MonsterTRACK study states that 80 percent of "young professionals" are interested in a career that makes a positive impact on the environment, and 92 percent prefer to work for a company that is ‘green’, environmentally friendly, or has some general eco awareness.

Employees Seek Energy-Conscious Employers: According to a poll by Mortgage Lenders Network USA (MLN), 94 percent of Americans prefer to work in a building that is designed to be energy efficient and ecologically sound, recognizing LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council as a common standard.

Employees Prefer Employers that offer Telecommuting: The necessity to physically change locations in order to accomplish a task has recently been challenged by employee value for energy conservation, environment impacts, family values, and other issues.

Employees Want Employers to Walk the Talk: In Portland, Oregon, your company isn’t really green unless you’ve got a bike cage in the parking structure, a compost bin in the lunchroom, fume-free paint on the walls, and have recycled glass on the lobby front desk.

Employees Gravitate towards a Common Sustainable Goals: Organizations that are creating business sustainability through an elevated sense of teamwork and establishing an emotional tie between the employee and the organization direction are attracting top talent.

Linking sustainability to employee engagement pairs corporate sustainability initiatives with the day to day activities of employees. It makes CSR more personable to an employee and helps employees to identify their role in corporate responsibility. The result? Happier, productive employees, strong business, and healthy planet.

How to Build Green Awareness in Your Business

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

In addition to executive management playing a critical role in the success of a company, business sustainability requires leadership across the entire organization. While management may ultimately carry the responsibility of sustainable business results, employees have a part to play in the definition and implementation of the company’s business sustainability programs.

As sustainability consultants, we are frequently asked, What are ways to build eco awareness in a business?   The quick answer: In building eco awareness into your business, we promote building of a comprehensive business sustainability program. However, we realize that sometimes starting small can lead to bigger gains. So, while a corporate sustainability plan may be our suggested path, there are other steps you can take as well.

"Green Teams", a formal or informal group of people in a company who are passionate about environmental issues, are gathering in offices across America to brainstorm solutions and promote ways in which their company's practices can become more environmentally sustainable. As explained in our sustainability consulting, a green team can reduce paper use, increase recycling, promote energy conservation, and more, making a huge difference within a department or building. Green teams also offer employee engagement opportunities.

Link eco awareness programs to existing company offerings, as in wellness programs.   Wellness programs have been uses as instruments to address weight reduction, reduced stress levels, improved physical fitness, health, and well being. They may include fitness, recreation, social activities and programs to enhance intellectual and spiritual development. Providing employees with wellness programs not only provides them a way to improve their health, but it also demonstrates corporate social responsibility.

Create individual employee sustainability programs: The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is to reduce your carbon footprint, lighten the load on the planet as well as reap the benefits of living a more sustainable lifestyle. Eco actions taken in a personal sustainability plan can be anything from riding a bike to work or eating organic healthy meals or recycling. It can also be about achieving a personal goal, sustaining it, and building from that platform.

Educate: Offer ongoing workshops, training, lunch and learns, and educational activities to educate workers on the environmental issues (energy, water, waste, and others) and the associated actions causing the problems. Identify new behavior and eco actions that individually workers can take to create new patterns of behavior and choices that support environmental solutions and are aligned with the company's overarching sustainability plan.   We've learned in our eco friendly training classes, the first part is educating; the harder part is changing the behavior. Ongoing education helps create lasting change.

Create a sustainable work environment: The benefits of a sustainable work environment include a healthier more sustainable workforce; a more productive workforce; attracts quality employees and reduces turnover. It also reduces lost work time related to health issues.

These efforts enable proactive businesses leaders to capture the benefits of sustainable business: reduce business costs, improve business reputation, and attract and maintain top job candidates.

Stakeholder Engagement Tips for Business Sustainability Leaders

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

Reviewing a recent Environmental Leader post, How to Engage in Sustainability with Higher Purpose, the author describes how most executives want to establish organizations and businesses that are sustainable for the long-run. To do so, these leaders understand that they must effectively engage with their stakeholders, especially their employees . But what is the most effective way?

The article offers its own personal insight into the characteristics of an effective stakeholder engagement program.

Engagement Is Not a Program: Leaders must provide mechanisms for involvement and ownership that are integrated into the culture and the work systems.

Leaders Must Follow Through: Effective engagement results from dedication and commitment. It cannot be viewed as merely a way to cut costs, or as a public relations initiative to impress the public.

Engagement Is Not a Tool: Engagement should not be viewed as transactional and impersonal. Build near-unbreakable bonds of trust and loyalty with your stakeholders, as well as a passion for excellence and advocacy.

Emotional Connections Come with a Higher Purpose: When a company communicates a vision of how it will contribute value not only to its shareholders but also to the world, employees can connect emotionally and get engaged.

Recognizing there is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach, we remain open to what others have achieved through both traditional and open culture approaches. The above recommendations offer some good guidelines to consider in the creation of your own program for increasing employee engagement.

Visit us at Taiga Company to lean more. Our sustainability consulting works with clients to implement stakeholder and social media engagement strategies as part of an overall business sustainability plan.

Exploring Sustainable Business Innovation Structures

Thursday, January 12, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

“The wave of creative destruction looming over companies like Eastman Kodak Co., Blockbuster Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. and the record labels has been focusing the minds of American executives on two questions: Are large companies able to innovate quickly enough in an age of rapid disruption? And if they can, how do they do it?”

This lead-in to the Wall Street Journal post, Avoiding Innovation’s Toll, which describes the potential fate for many organizations lacking in creative and sustainable business models. In contrast, the article explains how companies that do manage to survive are ruthless about change.

An accelerated and comprehensive approach to traditional internal R&D programs is to allow the external world into the creative process. Our sustainability consulting firmly supports an open innovation approach to business sustainability. This offers stakeholders the opportunity to become engaged in the future of a business. It also recognizes that all key stakeholders have a vested interest in the success of the company and creates openness to new ideas that promote business success. The key is effectively engaging resources at all levels of the value chain.

Include sustainability concepts in your employee personal development plans.
Engage financial stakeholders in the sustainability conversation.
Set direction for business sustainability alignment within the supply chain.
Recognize the ‘innovative customer’ as a key contributor for new product development.

From our sustainability consulting experience, it is clear that innovation is essential for small businesses to thrive and survive over the next decade. However, the article above demonstrates how even the most stable of organizations can fall prey to stagnate business models. Taiga Company encourages every organization to leverage the creative powers of their stakeholder networks.

Exploring Stakeholder Engagement Strategies for 2012

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 by Julie Urlaub

A commonly held belief is that employees with a vested interest in the success of the company become much more aligned with the goals of the organization. Following along with this premise, our sustainability consulting asks: How should a company link stakeholder interests to sustainability concepts to business success? What are the most effective strategies?

Providing us with some insight, a recent GreenBiz article, 5 Companies, 5 Different Takes on Employee Engagement, discusses the many faces and complexities of a stakeholder engagement strategy. Specific to employee engagement, the post cites are a number of motivating factors which drive today’s companies. Some of the noted examples in the article include:

Encourage a Public Commitment: Motivate personal sustainability practices in support of a business sustainability pledge.

Define a Shared Vision: Encourage specific business sustainability action.

Provide Personalized Data: Help employees understand their individual sustainability opportunities through personalize participatory information.

Expand a Corporate Initiative: Foster personal development opportunities through specific business sustainability programs.

Nurture a New Method: Create energy and enthusiasm in the workplace.

As our sustainability has frequently discussed, business sustainability presents the unique opportunity to increase profitability, gain and maintain a competitive advantage over the competition, and create meaningful work in the process. This belief is supported by the above stakeholder engagement strategies which find a common thread in value alignment. By leveraging the expanding eco awareness and passions already present within your own group settings, your organization can promote daily engagement and facilitate meaningful team building.

Personal Sustainability – Challenge Yourself in 2012

Friday, December 23, 2011 by Julie Urlaub

“We pass through this life on the receiving end of a steady signal of partially reliable information that we only occasionally, and under duress, evaluate thoroughly. It’s unsettling to know that your judgment can be so heavily influenced by some random number and disturbing to realize it is probably happening all the time.”.

A quote taken from recent post, Why Our Minds Swap Out Hard Questions For Easy Ones, which explores the inspiration of personal action. Challenged by this perspective, our sustainability consulting revisits the personal sustainability conversation and its many drivers.

As the article suggests, we are constantly challenged by the expansion of our own awareness. In fact, we are all faced with an endless number of choices every day that can lead us in one direction or another. The true question: Is sustainability part of your decision making process and where will it lead you? Our sustainability consulting challenges you to integrate sustainability concepts into your daily thought processes and actions in 2012.

Make Sustainability Work for you in 2012

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 by Julie Urlaub

What is green living? Is it living off the grid? Living in a green house? Working at a green job? What exactly does it mean to be green?

A good portion of our sustainability consulting is really about helping executives and employees discover what sustainability means to them. In many ways, it is about transformation and discovery. Basically a process by discovering hidden treasures in daily habits that unite conscious habits and routines with eco awareness and eco actions to take. Most of us recognize that change can be unsettling. It can be scary, and too often it is just easier to slip back into a traditional and comfortable way of doing things. However, implementing effective sustainable change does not have to be a laboring process. How can we make sustainability work for us in 2012?

Create a plan - Personal sustainability programs are about making and sustaining a change in your life that you can be inspired and passionate about. Although a sustainability plan originates as a comprehensive one, your actions are the expression of that plan in daily life. Eco actions can be anything from riding a bike to work or using eco-friendly office supplies to eating organic healthy meals or recycling. It can also be about achieving a personal goal, sustaining it, and building from that platform. Ultimately, it's about making choices that feel good to you and generate an expectation of more and better to come in your life and the environment.

The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is to reduce your carbon footprint; lighten the load on the planet as well as be good to yourself, others, and your community.

Do the green thing via subcategory or importance. Categorizing gives awareness to the habit change as it relates to the sustainability concept. For instance, energy consumption and turning off a light as you leave a room, or replacing bulbs, or using an energy strip. Another perspective is to prioritize the habit as it relates to environmental impact. If your carbon footprint is large due to travel, then explore ways to reduce your travel. Suggestions made in our eco friendly consulting include: telework, virtual conferences, and green travel options.

Schedule time. If the habit requires a new way of doing things, then schedule time to learn the new habit, integrate it into your routine, and make adjustments as you learn. Bike commuting would be an excellent example of embracing a new habit, reducing your carbon footprint, yet, requiring time to learn and develop a new routine.

Reward and Review. The process of linking sustainable living with new opportunities for development creates a personal incentive that further promotes the process. Sustainable actions are reinforced daily by positive feedback from realizing your personal goals.

Each of us has a role to play. What is it that you specifically care about? Is it the natural beauty in your neighborhood? The campsite you visit each year? Spotting wildlife? Maybe it's that first breath of fresh air as you step outside to go to work each day. Connect with that, and take eco action to support that. Explore the habits and areas of your life that you can take eco action to support the environment that you love. Your actions are a green beacon of light to others calling them forth to find the value, the eco actions for them to support the environment that they love. Inspiring eco awareness in others makes sustainability work for us all.

Going Car-Free Can Make You a Millionaire!

Friday, December 2, 2011 by Julie Urlaub

We are paying more for our cars than we realize.

Motor vehicle emissions represent 31 percent of total carbon dioxide, 81 percent of carbon monoxide, and 49 percent of nitrogen oxides released in the U.S. (The Green Commuter, a publication of the Clean Air Council).

According to the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey, 25 percent of all trips are made within a mile of the home, 40 percent of all trips are within two miles of the home, and 50 percent of the working population commutes five miles or less to work. Yet more than 82 percent of trips five miles or less are made by personal motor vehicle. 60 percent of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before pollution control devices can work effectively. Since "cold starts" create high levels of emissions, shorter car trips are more polluting on a per-mile basis than longer trips.

The solution? Go car free.

As mentioned in our eco friendly consulting practice, cycling as alternative transportation helps the environment by keeping CO2 out of the air and bikes require far less materials, energy and waste in their production than even the ‘greenest’ car.

More so, the University of Wisconsin researchers found that bicycling could answer many of their environmental and health problems. According to the report published in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives, if Mid-westerners replaced half of their short trips with bicycle trips during the warmest six months of the year, they would save about $3.8 billion per year from avoided mortality and reduced health care costs for conditions like obesity and heart disease. The report calculated that these measures would save an estimated $7 billion, including 1,100 lives each year from improved air quality and increased physical fitness. The lengths of trips in the study were 2.5 miles one way and less than 25-minutes by bike.

As it is, bike commuting not only helps the environment and improves well being, but it also saves money. A few bike parking vs. car parking statistics:

Number of bikes that can be parked in one car parking space in a paved lot: 6 – 20.
Number of racks for bicycle parking in Seattle: 1,900.
Estimated cost of constructing one parking space in a paved lot: $2,200.
Estimated cost of constructing one parking space in a garage: $12,500. (for more information click here).

Play with the idea: a typical American who goes car-free for 35 years can save over a million dollars. How so? Check out the Owning a Car vs. Not Owning a Car Calculator.

Within our sustainability consulting practice, we consider bike commuting as a win-win for both businesses and individuals looking to reduce costs, embrace eco awareness, and adhere to business and personal sustainability programs.

Personal Sustainability Plan for 2012: What's Yours?

Thursday, December 1, 2011 by Julie Urlaub

The web is full of information and advice on personal sustainability, sometimes to the point that it can put one into information overload. However if you are looking for a ‘how-to’ path to personal sustainability, you are more likely to discover a variety of definitions, perspectives, and approaches to applying general sustainability concepts. While general concepts can be used to describe the broad topic of ‘sustainability’, our personal consulting experience has led us to understand that each individual has a unique and personal story in the pursuit of a sustainable lifestyle.

In a recent post, Finding the ‘You’ in Your Personal Sustainability Plan, we discuss how what works for one may not be the right fit for another. Personal sustainability truly is about defining what works for you. So, how do you create a personal sustainability plan that will work for you in 2012?

We mention several options in our eco friendly training:

Take the 90 Day Better Life Challenge
Create A Personal 20-20-20 Plan
Use the The 7 Day Green Power Pledge to jump start living green.

While you may be jump starting your 2012 with green ambitions, it's important to recognize that personal sustainability is a continuous improvement process that challenges an individual to constantly expand personal eco awareness. This may seem obvious but it is so true. There isn’t any one single defined path to sustainable living: there isn’t a beginning and there isn’t an end. Personal sustainability is your journey of discovery.

Embark on the green living journey in 2012 and see where it takes you!

Your Low Waste Diet for 2011 Holiday Season

Thursday, November 24, 2011 by Julie Urlaub

According to the EPA, household waste jumps an astounding 25 percent between Thanksgiving and the New Year. For those living a sustainable lifestyle, the trick to a successful holiday season is knowing how to enjoy the holidays while also minimizing waste.

As a green living consultant, I'm often asked, “What does reducing waste mean?" When you avoid making garbage in the first place, you eliminate the disposing of waste or recycling it later. It's the first component of the sustainability concept of the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

To help you enjoy the holidays and trim your waste, following are eco actions we suggest in our eco friendly consultling programs:

As mentioned in our business sustainability programs , each day we are presented with opportunities to expand our eco awareness and make informed choices. By making changes that are inspiring and manageable relative your current life, the process of minimizing waste becomes much easier. Each of us evolves on our personal sustainability path and collectively, we advance us all forward to a brighter future.

Consumer Energy Awareness Grows - How Are You Plugging In?

Monday, November 21, 2011 by Julie Urlaub

The first step in getting people to change the way they consume energy is making them aware that change is afoot. When it comes to lighting technologies, in particular, it seems that consumer awareness is growing. According to the NY Times post, Americans Waking Up to Light Bulb Changeover, for the first time, a majority of Americans now know that federal legislation will eliminate “most traditional incandescent lighting by 2014. A new survey conducted by the lighting manufacturer Osram Sylvania found that 55 percent of respondents were aware of that fact, up from 36 percent in 2010 and 26 percent in 2009.

Taking it to a more personal level, are you aware of your habits related to energy? Have you explored ideas as to how you could be more efficient? Conscious awareness is key to sparking the eco awareness in a personal sustainability program. Following are eco- tips to get you started on being the energy superstar that you are!

• Replace dead light bulbs with CFLs and watch your energy savings increase.

• Buy a programmable thermostat. By setting your thermostat on a timer you’ll save energy but still enjoy heating and cooling when you need it most.

• Lower the temperature on your water heater by a few degrees to save gas and/or electricity.

• As old appliances fail, purchase new appliances with the Energy Star rating.

• Reduce unnecessary electrical consumption: unplug seldom used devices (think cell phones and iPods). Only 5% of the power drawn by a cell phone charger is used to charge the phone. The other 95% is wasted when it is left plugged into the wall.

• Utilize power strips for commonly used devices. Choices include Watt stopper and Bits limited.

• Close the fireplace damper tight when the heating season is over.

• Wash full loads when using the washing machine or clothes dryer.

• Using less hot water around the house saves energy too. Launder clothes in cold or warm water and take a shower instead of a bath.

• Plant shrubs and trees around the air conditioning condenser to improve its operating efficiency. The shade makes it work less to cool the refrigerant circulating from the inside air handler. In fact, the Arbor Day Foundation offers ten free shade trees when you purchase an annual membership.

• For help on buying energy saving appliances, check out Natural Resource Defense Council

• Explore your options for tax credits for installing energy efficient appliances.

• Learn more ways to save energy at EnergySavers.

Small efforts such as these executed in a personal sustainability program consistently over time, contribute to improved energy efficiency and cost savings for your home- making you an energy efficient superstar.