Tuesday, December 1, 2009

TEAM--Together Everyone Achieves More




OK, I took this from one of those crazy “motivational posters” but in the case of green teams--it is true, together everyone does achieve more.

62% percent of companies with green goals have environmental teams, according to a recent survey in the Vault Guide to Green Programs report. When you get a group of people together who are passionate about the environment it is amazing what can happen.

So what can you do to really make a difference? One of the tricks is to start with projects which can yield early successes. And by early successes, I mean projects which show a return on investment to key stakeholders—money saved or earned. Because green team members come from all areas of a company, each will have their own green ideas e.g. duplexing all printed material, putting office lights on sensors, or selling used cafeteria grease for biofuel. A recent story in Environmental Leader focused on the success of one green team. http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/26/green-team-pays-off-for-paylocity/

Don’t overlook conference and events. They can have their own green team as well. Oracle OpenWorld developed a green team this year which consisted of the meeting venues, caterers, decorators and other valued vendors. It was an honor to serve on the team. Each green team member choose several initiatives for the 2009 conference. They also worked on developing and measuring key performance indicators for the event. After the initial meeting held in San Francisco, the rest of the year long meetings were held virtually. The financial and environmental accomplishments of this team are really quite incredible (I will post them when available).

Remember…“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

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