sustainability at the workplace 20 ideas to...

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sustainability at the workplace20 ideas to make it happen

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acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following organisations for their contributions, comments and feedback without whom this handbook would not have been possible:

Sainsburys, Meggit Aerospace, Blaby District Council,Travis Perkins, Bostik, Wickes, McDonalds, Everything Everywhere, Next, Market Harborough District Council,Cressall Resistors, Riverside Housing, Melton Borough Council, CEVA Logistics.

This handbook will help you start your journey towards creating a culture of environmental engagement and sustainability

sustainable energy management

- The new imperative

If it’s not on your boardroom agenda, it should be.

The debate is overCommentators from both sides of the climate change debate agree on two things; 1) whatever the political landscape, legislation will continue to grow, and with it the cost of energy consumption and 2) environmentalism is no longer the preserve of green activists. It is good for business and the place that businesses can create a sustainable competitive advantage. This combination means that sustainable energy management is essential for your long term growth and prosperity.

The impact of the CRCThe UK government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) and Greenhouse Gas Reporting has exacerbated the situation by raising the cost for non-compliance. Now you face two new challenges; how to meet the greater expectations for ongoing energy reduction and how to protect your brand from the harsh glare of public scrutiny.

The law of diminishing returnsTo reduce energy consumption, we’re sure that you will have upgraded your buildings and equipment. These investments will indicate an ROI but there is a limit to their effectiveness. In some organisations the promised ROIs have failed to materialise; in others, staff assumed that the upgrade meant that they no longer needed to be responsible for energy usage. We even know of some cases where energy consumption actually went up after premises had been upgraded.

Your future Energy Manager will be your catalystFrom now on your Energy Manager’s role will be as the catalyst for creating energy reduction initiatives. With skills of leadership, management and engagement, your Energy Manager will be required to carry the organisation with them. They’ll need to be comfortable with both engineering and people engagement.

20 ideasUntil you have the Energy Manager in place, this handbook contains 20 ideas of what you can do to make the change. It DOES NOT contain patronising advice to avoid “overfilling the kettle” In fact, some tips may appear to fly in the face of conventional wisdom but they represent our experience of successfully implementing these programmes since 2007.

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contents

Ideas1. Reinvent the way you consume energy 72. Make electricity management your first priority 73. Operational myths 94. Hunt the source of each myth 95. Energy awareness has low impact 116. Your Energy Team exists to implement change 117. It’s normal to resist. 138. CEO involvement is essential. 139. Don’t ignore culture, values and motives 1510. Create a compelling message 1511. Identify your Connectors 1712. Connect behaviour to your data graphs 1713. Attitude is everything 1914. WIIFM 1915. The Green Champion – a doubled edged sword 2116. Go for gradual, sustained improvement 2117. Your people are your Silver Bullets 2318. It’s about us not them 2319. Discipline doesn’t work 2420. So that’s it? 24

Examples 25 What does GAIA do? 26 The Authors 27

Don't just read this handbook

Write in it.abuse it,

andwhen you've

fInished with it

recycle it.

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1. reinvent the way

you consume energy

The key to managing your future consumption is to recognise that your staff control your organisation’s energy consumption, not your buildings, machines or equipment. Your people demand lights, heating, cooling, refreshments from vending machines. The same people also see (and feel) where you waste the energy. They also know what could be done to eliminate waste. Your equipment doesn’t. From now on energy savings will only come when your employees commit to developing and implementing new ways to consume and save energy. Simply put, you will reduce consumption when you engage your staff. Create a strong collective new culture towards the use and abuse of energy.

2. Make electricity management

your fIrst priority

You cannot fulfil your low carbon strategy by only reducing electricity but our experience indicates that it is the best place to start. This is because electricity encourages broad engagement from the outset. Every member of staff can be involved in the programme. Whether working in an office, factory or warehouse, each person can have a positive impact on your organisation’s electricity usage. It is also easy to monitor on a daily basis. By starting with electricity everyone will play a part and you can easily measure and communicate success. Once you succeed here, you can then build on that success and expand into your wider sustainability targets. Good change management, like the GAIA programme, runs as a continuous cycle; an ongoing process of small steps that develop and sustain new behaviours. These will enable you to steadily achieve one sustainability goal opportunity after another.On a scale of 1 -10 (10 is totally committed), score your

organisation’s commitment to take on the challenge. What could you do to increase the number?

Make a list of some names across your organisation and the energy they use and/or control.

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3. Operational myths

Every organisation has its operational myths which give rise to apparently good reasons for being unable to save energy. These myths evolve to become unquestionable rules that could be career limiting if broken. For example, retail outlets need to present their products clearly so many stores have the lights on during a bright and sunny day because they fear sales might fall if they turn them off. Yet there may be no recognised light level standard, below which sales would drop off. Nor is there any clear evidence that people buy less when the lights are dimmed or are off on a sunny day. Yet some retailers waste electricity subscribing to this myth. Other examples we have come across include myths such as; the belief that in store refrigerator doors prevent customers from buying frozen foods, entrance doors must be left open to encourage customers to enter and that data centres need to be super-cooled. (this is a leftover from the 80s when computers were hot and large). In order to explode your organisation’s energy myths, first list them and acknowledge that they exist.

4. hunt the source of each myth

Once you have identified a myth, hunt for the source. By the source we mean the person who can effectively respond to the challenge. Until you find that person, keep asking the question ‘Where is the evidence that this behaviour reduces productivity or increases risk?’, then follow the myth to the key influencer, (don’t assume that they will be an ardent defender of the myth).

These individuals are crucial to overcoming the problem and rolling out an agreed programme smoothly. For example, if you have 300 sites where the lights are left on over night for ‘security reasons’ it would be more efficient to spend time agreeing on a business protocol for the best way to run the sites than contacting each site manager and convincing them.

List some myths here;

Who are your myth sources? List them here;

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5. energy awareness has low

impact

We have all been exposed to some form of Energy Awareness campaign. They focus on communicating messages to alert you to the implications of your actions. Governments love them, but actually rely on legislation to create necessary behaviour change. Just look at the number of ‘drug aware’ campaigns hat have achieved nothing. Awareness campaigns fail to create a sustainable change because they don’t empower anybody and can sometimes actually create disaffection. Your task is to engage people to save energy, not alienate them. Sustaining a behaviour change is about creating something normal from what was seen as different. For example; today we purchase items using the internet whereas 10 years ago it was regarded as foolhardy. It’s regarded as normal because the benefits outweigh the risks, not because of a ‘buy off the internet’ awareness campaign In the same way, when energy saving at work is seen as beneficial and normal, then the behaviour is sustained. Energy awareness does not create behaviour change.

6. your energy Team exists to

implement change

From the outset your team must recognise that driving energy efficiency behaviours is a change programme and its role is to encourage colleagues to work in different ways. This is an important distinction since Energy Teams often see their task as raising awareness; putting up posters. Your team’s attention must be on supporting new energy consumption behaviours.

If your Energy Team members regard themselves as the change programme police they will fail to engage the rest of the staff and become weary and disillusioned. Energy Teams must see themselves as communicators of the broader picture, offering leadership in good practice.

What benefits would encourage staff to save energy?

Who are good communicators in your business? (Ignore status and job title)

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7. It's normal to resist. (see example at back)

Resistance is caused by fear of the unknown. Therefore, begin by helping your team realise that the organisation’s energy usage is about their own usage as well as their colleagues’. They need to see that it will be beneficial and there’s nothing to fear. The more comfortable they feel, the easier it will be for their colleagues.

Typically there are seven key resistances to change.

1. Weak leadership and perceived backing of senior leaders

2. Poor communication of the objectives for the change.

3. No training to help employees adjust.

4. Lack of opportunity for those keen to help to make a difference.

5. Lack of understanding about resistance by not unearthing barriers.

6. Not selling the individual the benefits of the new changes.

7. Not recognising or celebrating achieving milestones.

8. ceO involvement is essential.

Like any other member of staff, the CEO has to ‘live’ the new culture and not just endorse it. Unless the CEO recognises that he/she is one of the people who must change behaviour, the programme will achieve little. Fortunately most CEOs buy in to behaviour change.

Ask your CEO “what are you going to change about your working style to reduce your energy consumption?”

Ask your CEO the question above. How did he/she respond?

Which of the seven can you see in your organisation?

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9. Don't ignore culture, values

and motives

Before embarking on your change agenda, consider the possible ‘recognition tools’ (or values) for success and how they relate to your organisation’s culture. For example, some organisations strive to compete financially both internally and externally, whereas others regard customer respect as the highest accolade. Do not assume that a league table will work. It could cause rebellion if staff deem it unfair or not in line with the organisation’s values or culture.

10. create a compelling message(see example at back)Start with a “Compelling Message”. It must be more than just ‘saving money’ or ‘reducing carbon’, which will have little appeal. Consider something inspirational to generate a level of excitement to your cause like a Green Policy commitment to your customers, high league table ranking for your Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) or to achieve ISO 14001 accreditation. The Compelling Message must explain the positive ambitions of your organisation and enable your employees to see “what’s in it for them”. You’ll need a simple message logo and a tag line.

Begin with your organisation’s goals and ambitions, then consider your culture and look at your employees’ drivers. For example, If you have a plan to cut energy by 20% and do well in the CRC, how would you inspire each group to achieve it? How would you show what’s in it for them?

Write out some compelling messages here and test them on others;

How best could your organisation acknowledge performance?

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11. Identify your connectors

Energy Teams need ‘connectors’ to help them. Connectors are people who can sell a message to others in the organisation. They are people of influence, not seniority. They are often-long standing employees, know many people or have a position of respect such as a Employee Representative, Company Charity Organiser or Union Representative. They do not have to be passionate environmentalists but must be agreeable to support something over which they have influence.

12. connect behaviour to your data(see example at back)When looking at Electricity Data from AMR/Half Hourly meters, think “behaviour” and “activity” rather than equipment and machinery. For example, question which behaviours overnight may be causing the base load to be high? It could be your IT systems. The next step would be to ascertain what the IT behaviours or myths are, and challenge them.

Look at one location and map out the key influencers during the day at set time intervals; e.g. midnight – 5.00am, 5.00 – 8.00am, 9.00 - 1.00am etc.List some possible connectors in your business;

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13. attitude is everything

Behaviour Change is about empowerment, encouraging staff to become engaged in saving energy to achieve a common goal. It is about changing attitudes to energy usage in the workplace. Attitudes are influenced by understanding the benefits, by colleagues’ attitudes and from their support. The key to changing attitudes is to find individuals’ drivers and motivators.

14. wiifm (see example at back)

Your programme has to connect to your staff with defined benefits for the changes you’re looking to achieve. At the moment it does not have the support of legislation so for it to work it must connect to each individual who has a sense of ‘What’s in it for me’ (WIIFM). Individuals’ WIIFM should not be money. Recognition, pride and peer success are far better motivators.

What could be the benefit (WIIFM) to your colleagues? List some key employees’ personal drivers;

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15. The Green champion a

double edged sword

We often get introduced to teams of Green Champions. Typically, these teams are self-created by people with a common purpose and values, keen to promote these values to others. They are passionate, environmentally minded people with a real sense of purpose. Perfect you’d think! However, they can prove to be a problem. The problem is that they often do not represent the majority. They don’t represent us cynics, doubting Thomas’s and the unconvinced. Most of us aspire to be more ‘green’ but we’re definitely not champions of the movement.

Since the key to your success in energy saving is to take the whole organisation with you, you must ask the question, ‘can these green champions effectively influence others who do not share their world view?’ If you think they can, great! But also ask ‘why haven’t they done so already?’

16. Go for gradual, sustained

improvement

Setting ‘reduction’ goals are good motivators but can backfire if the goals appear unrealistic. Many gizmos flood the market offering 50 - 70% savings, but their credibility is questionable since they usually depend on a range of variable factors. We have seen a few customers cut their energy consumption by 30%, but it would be irresponsible for us to state this as being typical. Set a goal that is both stretching and plausible. If you easily meet it, set another!

Set a realistic goal to save energy here;

If you already have Green Champions, do they represent the majority in your organisation and can they LEAD others to change behaviour?

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17. your people are your

silver Bullets

We all would prefer to buy a piece of equipment that reduced energy without human interaction but without engagement savings rarely occur. For example: intelligent lighting systems save power; but we know of an organisation that instructed staff to override theirs, because they thought they’d lose sales! (See point 3). Ultimately the silver bullet for reducing your energy consumption lies with your staff not fancy equipment.

18. It's about us not them(see example at back)It is very tempting to think of change programmes in terms of other people. ‘They should switch the lights off after....’. But we must accept that it is about all of us starting to work in a more sustainable way, changing the way we work and encouraging others to do so too. This means that your energy team must be at the forefront of the behaviour they want to happen.

I Write here how you could explain this point to the line managers?

Write a statement of your energy reduction plan using ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ throughout;

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19. Discipline doesn't work

Our experience shows that disciplinary procedures can work in the short term but will be ineffective very soon afterwards. One example we know of is; staff were ordered to turn off their PCs at the end of their shift which created unforeseen reactions:

1. The staff only concentrated on the PCs and not the work environment around them.

2. They didn’t see WIIFM so it wasn’t seen as a positive project and weren’t empowered.

3. After time the manager got tired of policing the diktat and gave up as it was not a core KPI.

List the managers who use this approach to manage. Work closely with them to avoid using this technique in your programme.

Write your doubts below, and if you like, email or call us and we’ll try and help you out.

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20. so that's it?

We wish it was but the reality is that you will have some doubts about how it can be implemented. For example, it is perfectly normal to have concerns about organisational commitment or employee engagement. We come across these types of barriers all the time.

case tipsIdea7 - When we started our change programme, several staff members (connectors) resisted and were not keen to be involved. However, once the programme progressed, they felt less threatened and became highly engaged. They realised that the programme provided the opportunity to make a difference. In fact many of our good energy saving ideas came from these staff.

Public Sector

Idea10 - One of our challenges was to create a compelling message over multiple brands and locations. By interviewing members of staff we created an all encompassing, positive message that could be easily interpreted by all. The key was to make the message environmentally positive; by showing energy reductions could enable business growth rather than being seen as a cost saving measure.

Retailer

Idea12 - Our Branch Managers are provided with monthly updates relating to their consumption along with tips and advice about how they can influence change in their own stores. The data compares the previous month and year. They are also able to see their performance and compare it to other ‘like’ stores. As a they are a competitive bunch, this approach works well! They are clear about the areas they can affect and what is controlled by the BMS, but they are encouraged to question if they believe a piece of equipment is not running properly etc.

Retailer

Idea12 - Our approach centres on energy reduction being fun and competitive. Energy reduction is seen as neither complicated nor uncomfortable, if the staff know what to do and that the results can be measured.

Retailer

Idea14 - To engage colleagues, each location is given a weekly and monthly Red, Amber, Green performance rating shown on the company intranet. Where a Red shows very little has been switched off over night and a profile shows if there has been less than 50% drop in energy use overnight. This visibility has enthused branches to improve their rating. One of the main reasons for this being a success is the competitive nature of the retail teams. As a result over 90% of branches have reduced energy overnight by 50%.

Retailer

Idea18- Broad engagement of as many staff as possible, has enabled our programme to succeed. We built a core team, agreed the energy goals and delegated the tasks amongst the team members. The ideas then came flowing in from staff, some of which we would have not suggested ourselves; such as lowering the factory temperature by 2 degrees in winter.

Manufacturerwww.gaiaactive.com

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What does GAIA do?

We’re hands on! We help organisations achieve their sustainability goals. We do this by delivering, supporting and managing programmes. Our Consultants and Embedded Managers support a wide range of organisations across the Food, Chemical, Industrial, Retail and the Public Sectors.Our success is delivered through the methodologies shown below;

1. The GAIA Path

Achieving your Sustainability objectives requires practical, logical, coordinated steps. The GAIA Path is a route map that takes an organisation from the beginning of the sustainability agenda towards the ultimate destination of carbon neutrality. Critically, it also provides the sequence that enables an organisation to build upon the investments already made, by being placed in the correct order and scheduled at the right time.

Energy/Carbon Reduction Approach

Mindset creating a clear reduction plan

Manage through utilising currently available resources

Mitigate investing in energy efficient technologies to abate carbon consumption

Generate generation of energy through renewable technologies

Supply reducing carbon through effective supplier carbon management

Offset investing in Carbon Offset to counterbalance remaining carbon used

2. The GAIA Behaviour change ProgrammeWe lead a team that represents an organisation, through the GAIA Behaviour Change Programme. This programme combines a change management model with a monitoring system that looks out for behavioural indicators. These components enable organisations to manage the change and measure the performance. This provides an excellent platform to direct focus and sustain motivation.The GAIA Behaviour Change Model evolved from our implementation experience and input from our academic partners.

The programme drives the participants through the three stage change process; Assess, Launch, Recycle which identifies and resolves obstacles before moving on.

assess: This stage unearths the behavioural or cultural barriers that may impact on the change being considered and diminish the ROI. Actions such as myth busting and understanding resistance are considered.

Launch: This sets the organisation on the correct course to manage the change programme. To ensure that the team has motivation and resources to succeed, this stage enables the team to identify the appropriate communication channels, the ‘what’s in it for me’ for the audience and the ‘connectors’.

recycle This stage has two key aims:1. to sustain the new changes and2. to enable the organisation to find the next change process.

If an organisation is serious about sustainability, it must find year on year savings (particularly if it is in the CRC). By the Recycle stage the organisation is ‘consciously aware’ of its energy usage (and other environmental impact measures). It reviews its programme successes and failures and normally, by this time it would be ready to embark on a next step of the GAIA Path.

The combined process of the GAIA Behaviour Change Programme and GAIA Path work like a meat grinder. The GAIA Behaviour Change Programme keeps turning in the grinder as we add in each step of the GAIA Path to take business forward towards carbon neutrality.

The authors

Haydn Young and Chris Allen are regular speakers at events like Sustainability Live, 2Degrees, Green Monday and Energy Live. They regularly blog on the topic of Environmental Behaviour Change.

To see where they are speaking next have a look at ourwebsite atwww.gaiaactive.comwhere we publish dates on our GAIA blog or call GAIA on 02033974724.

The combined GAIA programme has resulted in our customers making very large savings across a wide range of organisations. These savings are not one-offs but ongoing because the GAIA programme fundamentally changes the way people behave around energy.

e. [email protected]. 07963 754 907e. [email protected]. 07973 138 122

OffsetSupplyGenerateMitigateManageMindset

OffsetSupplyGenerateMitigateManageMindset

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Copyright © 2011 GAIA Active Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of GAIA Active Ltd.

First published by GAIA Active Ltd in 2011

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