Quick wins
If your organisation is new to the whole idea of going green, then the best thing to do is get started and quickly show some early wins. Every organisation has some easy-to-fix but significant environmental opportunities, so before you get bogged down in analysing, strategy writing and designing systems, get out there and get stuck in.
The benefits of this approach over building a bureaucracy are:
1. You get tangible good news stories to show other stakeholders (senior management, other staff, cynics);
2. You get the big mo’ – people can see what’s happening and may join in;
3. You learn about your businesses, how it really operates and what the real problems and barriers are;
4. You have freedom to try lots of approaches, make a few mistakes and learn practical lessons.
The carbon footprinting, environmental management systems and strategy can come later or, better still, worked up in parallel, so you can incorporate the lessons learnt from the quick wins. But get some momentum going and sustain it.
If you want to learn more about how to get started, plus dozens of practical hints and tips, I’m running a webinar on Quick Wins in Cutting Carbon tomorrow at 14:00BST – there’s a nominal charge of £45+VAT to take part – a bargain for what you will learn!