There’s an Chinese proverb which goes:

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.

In other words, if you haven’t already done something you should have, then get on with it. Sustainability fits that bill quite neatly, doesn’t it?

Which in turn begs the question, how do you rapidly accelerate sustainability? Infrastructure and technology takes time to plan, procure and implement. Behavioural change in employees also takes time. So what can you do?

In my experience, the fastest way to see results is to remove obstacles to greener behaviour. I often find that people implement systems that make their colleagues jump through all sorts of hoops to do the right thing – and then get surprised when they demur. In a classic example, at one of my clients we found that it was much easier to book a face-to-face meeting with colleagues from across the country than it was to book the teleconferencing system. The unnecessary bureaucracy was removed and the use of teleconferencing exploded.

How do you detect these barriers? Ask your colleagues – and then you’re starting to kick off the engagement at the same time.