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Friday, 12 March 2010
Low Carbon Business Seminar - feedback
It was a long trundle on the train down to Birmingham on Wednesday, and a longer one back, for the Low Carbon Best Practice Exchange (bring on high speed rail!). But the environmental strategy session went great. I tried out my business case model on the participants and it did a really good job of getting the message across - if you want the higher benefits then you can't expect a direct ROI (you'll probably get one, but don't aim for one...). The message came back loud and clear from delegates - new business is the priority and you could see the penny drop about investment decisions (more on this in this month's Low Carbon Agenda).In the second half of the seminar we looked at forecasting and backcasting approaches. I challenged the participants to create a vision of their business in 2020 - a tall order - and it really made them think. The best answer was a bit of a cheat as it came from the lady from Hilton hotels and it was pinched from their subsidiary Scandic - "if you stay in our hotel, you footprint will be smaller than if you stayed at home". Genius - relevant, understandable and clear. The great thing is that Scandic have already achieved it.
The other session I attended was about business opportunities in the Low Carbon Economy. It was a good discussion, but I broke my promise to listen 10 times more than talk...
Well worth the trundle!
Labels: low carbon best practice exchange, seminar
# posted by Gareth Kane : 13:06
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Monday, 1 March 2010
Low Carbon Business Seminar - 10 March 2010
It is continuing to be a busy year for events and conferences.Next week finds me at the Low Carbon Best Practice Exchange in Birmingham leading a round table on developing a long term strategy.
The week after I'll be doing a round table on the business case for sustainability and a seminar on The Three Secrets of Green Business (with book signing session after) at the Base 2010 conference in London (if you want a 20% discount, check out TLCA #25).
There are also negotiations going on about another couple of events, but I'm having to balance client needs vs speaking to wider audiences.
Labels: base 2010, low carbon best practice exchange, seminars, three secrets of green business
# posted by Gareth Kane : 09:58
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Monday, 7 December 2009
Feedback from the LCBPE, 3rd Dec
I had a brilliant but exhausting day at the Low Carbon Best Practice Exchange last Thursday. A late train led to a missed connection wiping out my planned acclimatisation/caffeine hit period before I was straight into the my first workshop, Empowering Your Staff. As with the second session it was over-subscribed and I was relieved not to keep everyone waiting.During the session, I used Arnstein's ladder of participation to lead the attendees away from beating staff over the head to making them part of the solution - by getting them involved in developing solutions and delegating power as low as possible in the organisation. What always hits me about this session when I run it is the fear of getting staff involved - a lot of excuses were made why this just wasn't possible. "Empowerment" has become a bit of a cliché, but few people are really doing it. Getting client teams involved in developing solutions is the basic technique at the core of much of our consultancy work now as a. it gives better solutions and b. buy-in is automatic. We know it works.
There's always something new for me at these events and when I shared Northern Food's colour coding of machinery technique, one attendee from a food company pointed out how this could solved language barrier for her - her company has 32 different native languages on the factory floor. I hadn't considered that as a barrier to engagement before.
The second session was on long term environmental strategy. I got the participants to analyse their organisation using the sustainability maturity model. All agreed that they would have to move to the full integration level to address sustainability properly. We then discussed the difference between forecasting and backcasting in developing strategies and I got them to describe a vision of their business in 2020 to get them into the backcasting way of thinking.
As well as the two sessions, four people had requested individual meetings with me (two because they couldn't get on the first session). I also interviewed Nick Coad, Environmental Director of National Express, for The Green Executive - a really interesting guy, describing himself as "a failed elephant tracker" - and caught up with the two clients I had invited to the event who appeared to have really got lots of value it. My last meeting at 3pm was cancelled, so I finally got a wander around the stalls and then got out for some fresh air before getting the train home.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - these events are brilliant. Learning, sharing and networking are maximised and, while there were some powerpoint driven seminars in side rooms, I got through the whole day without hearing the words "I'll just get the technology sorted, and then...".
Labels: environmental strategy, green executive, low carbon best practice exchange, staff engagement
# posted by Gareth Kane : 07:00
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Friday, 13 November 2009
Low Carbon Business Seminar - 3 December 2009
The Low Carbon Best Practice Exchange is running in Harrogate on 3rd December - a whole day of round table discussions and one-to-ones - a delightfully powerpoint free zone. I'm leading two sessions on staff engagement and environmental strategy and there are loads more. I know I've said it before - these are probably the best events of their type.To book your place, visit the LCBPE website.
Labels: low carbon best practice exchange, training, workshops
# posted by Gareth Kane : 12:22
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A highly accessible, practical guide to those who want to introduce sustainability into their business or organization quickly and effectively.
