What a grind it is staying fit. This morning, after dropping the two boys off at nursery, I started my usual run up through the beautiful Jesmond Dene that cuts a green swathe through the red brick suburbs of the east of Newcastle.
Cue sleet.
Urgh. Cold, wet and muddy I trundled around the pathways and tracks, all the time repeating the mantra “it’s good for me, it’s good for me”. If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training.
This reminded me that the other week somebody quoted back to me something I wrote in the Three Secrets of Green Business – that staff engagement in sustainability is like trying to get and stay fit. You can’t just go to the gym once and expect to grow huge muscles or marathon runner cardiovascular fitness levels. No, you start off gently and build it up, setting targets and working to meet them, celebrating success and raising the bar once again. You have to get into a routine and a habit of doing exercise, and your muscles have to be trained to take the strain.
Staff engagement is just the same – you can’t just hold a lunchtime lecture and expect a green revolution. You have to start off gently and build it up, getting your staff into the habit of green behaviour. It is said that it takes six weeks to learn a new habit and make it reflexive, so it is going to take some time to convert each individual to new ways of working. Succeeding will take persistence, thick skin and no little guile – I talk about green jujitsu methods to turn potential conflict into co-operation. You can make it easier, but it’s not easy.
Just as I got to the end of my run this morning, the sleet faded, the clouds parted and the sun came out – giving me the most wonderfully corny analogy to finish this blog post. Keep at it, be smart and keep smiling and you will succeed!