Another Perspective on "Greening" Your Company

Based on an article from the April/May issue of Merit Guidelines™

There is a growing mandate for everything to be more "green" these days - less harmful to people and the planet, more efficient, requiring less energy, minimizing the consumption of precious resources, creating byproducts that are themselves useful, needed or that help enrich the environment we live in and rely on.

Hitting that sweet spot or striking the balance that includes all of these requirements and others with products, processes and services seems a pretty complex undertaking. It certainly takes a lot of understanding, anticipation and planning to make it come out where you want it to - but entire industries, all part of the movement are on the rise doing just that. That is the new economy and the potential is huge.

What I find interesting is that if you take the same partial list of expectations brought on by being "green" (listed at the top) and apply them to the businesses we run or work for, regardless of industry, product or service produced, you would have a winning combination with huge potential as well.

A complex undertaking? Depends on how you think about it. Let's frame them in terms of what it takes to run a successful, healthy business and examine the parallels.

• Less harmful to people and the planet: If this were to translate to our employees and the business culture we work in - absolutely every action taken, and every behavior exhibited should have a positive impact on employees and the work environment. Is any thing "absolute" in organizations? Hardly. But should this be achievable? Yes. Although it won't happen by itself. It has to be lead, with expectations around how decisions are made, who participates in making decisions, and how informed those decisions must be. To focus just on the business and forget the people is to not focus on the business. Complex - but universally simple.
• More efficient: This is the ultimate result from leveraging clear communications, creative thinking and innovation, along with training, development, systems, metrics, trust and rewards. A strange collection of requirements as it may seem to some - but a good receipt for fulfilling any "faster, better, cheaper" mantra - in any work context at any level.
• Requiring less energy: Probably because you are able to do what you do more efficiently as a start. But in the long pull, if trust abounds, communications are open and individuals are respected in the roles they are asked to fulfill for the business (because they are talented, capable, knowledgeable and experienced), achieving new levels of performance or changing direction when it is necessary is more effortless and requires less energy. If employment practices - from recruiting strategies to pay, training and development to succession planning or outplacement approaches - are designed well together and in sync with the culture, it will take less effort to achieve any desired outcome.
• Consuming less precious resources: Regardless of your perspective, people and time are the most precious and costly resources in any business. Selecting-in the right and best talent based on thoughtful assessments of skills and experiences needed, and hired to fit your culture are the best ways to begin protecting your first vital resource in a company - your people. And then the work begins to have them want to stay - which requires communications, development, needed training, challenging work, advancement, valuing them for what they bring and want to offer. Takes time yes - but if they stay you have retained it. Have them leave and have to start over is much more costly and the non-productive time you spend just trying to stay even grows exponentially.
• Creating byproducts that enrich the environment: In work organizations based in the above, innovation happens. That is not something you manage but it can be inspired. While business challenges are being met and services produced, creative minds unleash valuable byproducts that create competitive advantage, new technologies, new business platforms and reasons for being. When peoples' issues are addressed and they are valued and inspired to be good at what they do; when they are rewarded in meaningful ways and challenged with interesting work; provided training, developed and equipped with modern tools -- the unexpected can happen.

This entire model is something leaders can create and inspire. And when that happens the reputation of the organizations that function like this take on lives of their own, and they are more easily sustained.

Sounds like "greening" a company to me.

Rod Hanna
Principal
Merit Resource Group, Inc.

Sometimes just figuring out where you are in the journey of creating synergy in your company can be your greatest roadblock. We have experience helping businesses break through these barriers. Call us at 925-867-4400 - 408-501-8863 or contact us, and we will be glad to share our experiences with what others have done.