Being a ‘green’ business is desirable – not just because it’s important to look after the environment, and to do your bit to make the world a better place; but because customers want to support sustainable businesses, investors want to look at companies that build a better, greener team, are going to be a smarter financial option in the future, and employees want to work for companies who aren’t just paying lip service to matters of importance.
Having sustainable practices and processes is something that companies need to make a priority – especially when 52% of those in employment believe that companies should be actively working on ways to improve their environmental impact.
This of course, is a two-way street – in order to make greener, more sustainable changes to your business, you need your team to support you, and actively be working to implement and evolve those practices, which then has the roll-out effect of making you more appealing to potential employees, who will then adopt those practices and continue the development cycle.
Making changes at every level requires strategy, flexibility, and a desire to make real improvement – and getting your team involved, and active, makes this easier. Here are five quick tips to build a better, greener team so your team is authentically sustainable and genuinely driving your business forward.
Be Open with Communication
Your team need to understand what you’re doing, and why – and there has to be a genuine reason behind your actions. It is important to have open discussion and be honest – if you’re implementing sustainable changes because you want to help the environment and you want to save the business money, then make sure you say both. People aren’t stupid, and it’s very easy to get fatigued with sustainable action, especially when the business element is often overlooked.
Create Meaningful Rewards
At the end of the day, your employees – no matter how dedicated – want to be renumerated for their time and effort. If you show a genuine appreciation for their time, effort, and involvement, then they will reward you with greater commitment, a real desire to see the sustainability strategy succeed, and enthusiasm for future efforts.
Make Consequences Matter
It’s all well and good to bring in new rules and regulations, and to inform staff of new expectations, but there has to be consequences for failure to meet these new standards. Now, we’re not suggesting harsh and immediate punishments – you need to carefully communicate what you’re doing, and the roll out for doing it, first. But, once all staff are aware of the changes, and know when they are expected to hold themselves to new standards – then you need to make these new standards stick.