Winning Characteristics of Green Teams

Upon first glance, the idea of a corporate green team may seem fairly simple—a small effort that allows a subset of employees to gather around a shared interest. In practice, however, green teams can be much more powerful than that. They can inspire, activate, and engage employees to create meaningful changes within a company.

"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.

A question asked in our eco friendly consulting is, How to we get started?

Start by finding interested individuals, encourage co-workers from different levels and parts of your organization, and meet with management to get approval and buy-in for the idea.
The best way for your green team to blossom it is to pick an initial project that everyone can get behind. Pick the lowest hanging fruit. The easiest thing to start with is to establish a recycling program or tangible projects that are easiest to benchmark success.
Remember to set goals and strategies—identify your purpose, whether your goal is to cut costs or to be environmentally responsible, or both. Create a timeline of how you would like to progress as well as set up future benchmarking activities to ensure that it is being implemented as planned.
Celebrate success! Communicate your success to internal and external stakeholders. Ride the momentum of your achievement and look for other pilot projects to expand eco awareness. Training and educating others is a great way to keep others informed as well as invite them to participate in future sustainable business activities.

Once successful, build on that momentum to create more eco awareness in the workplace.

Lunch and learn sessions
Monthly or quarterly all-hands meetings
Daily huddles
Mentorship programs
Company intranet green section

Green teams help business capture the benefits of sustainable business: reduce business costs, improve business reputation, and attract and maintain top job candidates. Get your green team started today!