Identifying ways to improve your own sustainability at work is a great first step. However, working as a team towards improving sustainability creates a ripple effect that may have a bigger impact on your own wellbeing and that of the organisation.
Working together towards goals creates a supportive community and makes for a fun atmosphere of fostering change! It also helps when you hold each other accountable, increasing the chances of success. Share what you've learned in this course to inspire others to get involved in supporting these causes.
Organisational Plans
Most organisations have well-developed business plans for achieving their key objectives. For many modern organisations, improving resource use and reducing their environmental footprint now constitute an important part of their business plan.
The bigger the business, the more people could be involved in achieving the key objectives. In any organisation—large or small—it is essential to have a clear plan with policies, procedures and other information to assist employees to know what is expected of them.
As a responsible employee, you should be aware of how your role factors into the business plan and, contextually, how you can contribute to improving resource use and reducing the business's environmental footprint.
Managing Resources
The key objectives for resource management will usually be set at the management level. However, some businesses may involve employees of all levels in the process of improvement.
We have already shared some objects for management to consider. See if you can recall them before clicking the label below to see our examples.
- Converting to more energy efficient lighting systems
- Adjusting the climate control of the work environment to run more efficiently
- Waste management strategies.
Purchasing
Most organisations deal with purchasing on a weekly, if not daily basis. Though there are many factors considered when making purchasing decisions, consideration of environmental, resource and waste management factors are now an important part of this process.
For example, a large organisation that leases fleet vehicles for its management staff may choose to lease hybrid energy-petrol vehicles to reduce emissions even though the cost may be slightly higher than a traditional petrol-only vehicle.
Reflection
Now that you have had some time to think about the problems and solutions relevant to your workplace, use your journal to note at least three more purchasing examples demonstrating waste reduction or more efficient resource use.
Improving Workplace Efficiency
Forward-thinking organisations encourage their employees to identify opportunities to improve work practices to:
- be more environmentally sustainable
- reduce resource use and wastage
- minimise risks or hazards to the health and wellbeing of all staff.
As a motivated employee, you should always be on the lookout for opportunities to:
- improve the efficiency of your own work practices
- reduce wastage of all resource types
- assist others in the workplace to do the same.
There are many reasons that, on closer inspection, changes may be necessary to improve resource efficiency and waste reduction. We must not be complacent. Just because an organisation is committed to improving in this area does not mean that all improvements have been suggested or implemented.
What can you see from your perspective? How is this relevant to your work environment specifically? Depending on the industry, workplace environmental hazards can include biological, chemical, noise pollution, air pollution, dust, fumes and disposal hazards.
Case Studies
Mick – Mick noticed the new apprentices lifting tyres and other heavy equipment in the workshop with sloppy posture. Mick suggests to the service manager that it would be a good idea for all staff in the workshop to complete an in-house training session on safe lifting techniques. This would both train the apprentices and reinforce safe lifting techniques to more senior staff. Mick believes this training will help prevent lower back injuries of the staff and loss of time at work due to injury.
Troy – Troy, one of the new apprentices has since changed his own lifting technique and feels grateful to Mick for the additional training. Recently, though, he saw that Mick was not disposing of the rubber scraps properly. If they were small, he dumped them in the nearest bin rather than dispose of them according to protocol. He didn't want to appear disrespectful to Mick but felt he needed to say something.
Troy thanked Mick for helping ensure his posture was good while lifting heavy objects, and then led the conversation to the proper way to dispose of tyre scraps. Though he knew the answer, Troy posed it as a question, asking "Is there a size requirement for our rubber disposal protocols?" which let Mick know subtly that he hadn't been following sustainability procedures, and it had been noticed. Mick had to admit that he was cutting corners to save time. Troy decided against filing a report, but if he saw Mick doing it again, he planned to do so.
Reading
Read the Safety Management article titled 7 Common Environmental Hazards in the Workplace and then answer the questions below in your journal.
- How can air quality be improved?
- Are any of the hazards mentioned a concern in your industry or workplace?
- If so, what protocols are in place to keep you safe? How are they communicated?
Documentation should be recorded and filed in the organisation for various reasons. Use the following activity to learn some of the crucial ones.
There are many business insights a sustainability team can provide the business, such as:
- cost vs benefits
- time factors
- strategy alignment
- communication efficacy
- policy and procedure impacts
- support or training needs.
Explore
- Check out example goals and strategies on the AbsorbTech website: Corporate Environmental Sustainability Goals.
- Review these Action Plans to learn more about how you can make one for your company, Develop Your Plan.
- Engage with the City of Melbourne’s reporting and measuring tools here: Planning, Measurement and Reporting Tools to learn more.
Once a business understands their environmental improvement needs, they will need to make a plan to minimise impact or improve systems. First a goal, target or an environmental commitment needs to be set, along with strategies to achieve this goal and a realistic timeline for achievement.
SMART goals can be successful as they are evidence-based by requiring each goal to be:
- Specific: be clear and specific so your goals are easier to achieve. This also helps you know how and where to get started!
- Measurable: measurable goals can be tracked, allowing you to see your progress. They also tell you when a goal is complete.
- Actionable: are you able to take action to achieve the goal? Actionable goals ensure the steps to get there are within your control.
- Realistic: avoid overwhelming and unnecessary stress and frustration by making the goal realistic.
- Timebound: a date helps up stay focused and motivated, inspiring us and providing something to work towards.
Goals aren't the same as plans. Use this activity to ensure you understand what makes a goal SMART. There are three examples, and the quiz progresses automatically.
The Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle is a system that supports the process of ensuring sustainability from beginning to end. This can help to make the journey one that is ongoing and has systematic processes and steps to achieve the results required.
The PDCA cycle involves:
- Plan: identify and understand the problem or opportunity. State the success criteria for the possible solution and make it measurable.
- Do: test the solution with a small-scale pilot project. This shows if your proposed changes will achieve the desired outcomes. Gather data to see if the change has worked or not.
- Check: analyse the data you have collected against the expectations that you defined in plan. If it was a success, move onto act; if not, go back to plan.
- Act: implement the solution, remembering the PCDA is a loop not a process with a beginning and end. It is important to continue to look for ways to make it even better.
How to implement a winning strategy
You'll need to get others to stand with you and encourage the business that it is in their best interests to make the changes you are recommending. This happens around water coolers, in the impromptu discussions before and after meetings, in the elevator... It shouldn't impact productivity, but it can include personal goals of achievement.
Involving team members in your work practice by helping them identify areas for better resource efficiency will provide a wider range of ideas for everyone to explore and encourage ownership and motivation for sustained change.
- Book regular meetings to discuss areas for improvement and the overall implementation plan.
- Seek feedback throughout the cycle (the development and audit, after implementation and review).
- Decide on the actions they will take together with stakeholders.
What can you get the team to do?
- Assist in measuring current resource usage.
- Suggest alternative ideas and solutions to issues.
- Implementing other strategies to improve resource usage.
- Collaborating in the development of the Action Plan.
How to evoke the powers of persuasion
Persuading people to join a worthy cause isn't always easy.
Here are some useful strategies from Ehance training, 8 Winning Approaches for Persuading Others at Work:
- Put yourself in their shoes before persuading others at work.
- Answer what is in it for them.
- Show confidence in what you are asking.
- Choose your timing carefully.
- Use more fact than opinion
- Plan your counter-to objections ahead of time
- Introduce scarcity and exclusivity
- Plan face-to-face meetings if possible.
Seek feedback
Help ensure your efforts are fruitful and on track by asking the people around you to weigh in with their thoughts about the changes and overall environmentally responsible workplace practices.
- Send out surveys and questionnaires.
- Put together focus groups of teams or individuals.
- Engage with community forums to see how your business is perceived.
