Does Going Green Really Help... Or Does It Just Cost More?

Let's just say that you are Joe A. Businessman. You own a six figure company that is doing alright with it's profits, but still needs to be cautious. You attract and hire strategic, future minded recruits. Your growth is projected at a respectable 25%. You are doing all the right things...

Or are you?... What about being a green business?... Why are you still not a green business? Are you thinking it will cost too much?

So... Does going green really help, or does it just cost more?

You have just asked the multi-million dollar question, and just your luck, I have been authorized to tell you the answer!

However, not just yet. To get that prize of information, you must do the following:
- You must follow the principles below, as they are crucial to your success.
- You must inspire others by getting more businesses to follow your lead.
- You must encourage, produce, and maintain greener business behaviour from within by following below:

• Do the ‘quick wins’ and easy things first. Use energy saving light bulbs, recycled paper, and set up timed lights and taps. Publicise what you are doing, and why, and the difference it makes

• Make it easy for people to make the changes: find a place to padlock bikes, label the bins clearly, label which printers are for best (and set for double sided), and which for draft (recycle used paper). Make sure this difference shows on their computer screen (in the printer name) so they can easily select the correct printer for their task

• Show them what they need to do, and educate and motivate people about the initiative

• Avoid using guilt as a motivator - tell people about the good they can do, not the harm they are doing

• Recognise and reward what people are doing already - cycling to work, being vegetarian, switching their computers off at night - but accept that different people will find different changes difficult or hard to make

• Measure what isn’t happening (due to their changed habits) as well as what is e.g. miles not driven, paper not used, energy not consumed – and publicise the difference that makes to the planet

• Use visual feedback – graphs, pictures, videos - to show the difference people’s efforts are making

• Capitalise on the existing interest and enthusiasm in the workforce for these initiatives. Find the staff members who know more about this than you do, involve them

• Set up research groups, give people a specific challenge, and give them the time and resources to investigate it. Only do this if you are prepared to take note of what they come up with

• Be clear about exactly what the behaviour is that you want. Telling people to ‘be greener’ is not sufficient, be specific

• Break big challenges down into smaller achievable steps. So don’t go from “everyone has cars” to “no one has cars”. Set targets, such as reducing mileage, replacing with greener cars as the opportunity arises

• Create longer-term strategic plans to tackle the bigger changes: instigating supplier standards, reducing international travel

• Recognise that change takes energy, time and attention, and allow for this. Accept that when people learn to do things differently it will seem harder than things they do habitually

• Acknowledge that some things will be harder than others and will incur a cost of convenience, time, privacy, enjoyment etc.

• Find compensatory rewarding activities for losses. For example, make sure they get back some of the time saved by video-conferencing and use some of the money saved on ‘jollies’ abroad on activities closer to home. Divert money saved into ‘adopt an endangered animal’ scheme and pin-up the newsletters

• Make it easy for people to make the changes: provide a place to padlock bikes, label bins clearly, set up double-sided printing, and recycle used paper. Make sure they can easily select the correct printer for their task

• Notice and reward early efforts frequently and generously – yours and theirs. Continue to acknowledge and reward the behaviour you want

• Pilot initiatives, measure effectiveness and learn what helped them be effective or ineffective

• Create some memorable statements of intent (with your people): We choose the greener path. Leaving the world a better place. A heavier boot, a lighter footprint

• Publicise your achievements to the wider world: attract strategic, future minded recruits, go for awards, create pride. Most importantly, as leader, you have to change your own behaviour.

• Do what you are asking others to do.

• Bring ‘green’ considerations to the heart of all discussions

• Develop some standard questions for business decisions ‘Is there a greener way to do this?’ ‘What will be the consequences in environmental terms of doing it this way – good and bad?’

• Put money where your mouth is: set up a shuttle bus to and from the station, maybe just one day a fortnight and reward people for trying it out

• Think "how can we do profitable business and be green?"

So I predict:
As your buying behaviour trickles down to all levels of manufacturing and distribution, the way we do business in the future will change dramatically, finally affording you the... "No, it will not cost you more."... you've been looking for.

It really is true: "Going green will save you more than big dollars in the future." But how can you save today?

There is something that you can do that will save money and allow you to tout your greenness. Save up to 90% off of your travel costs and reduce your carbon footprint all at the same time. Call us today at 888-551-5925 or visit our website at www.momentumconferencing.com to find out more!

We guarantee that using Momentum Conferencing as a professional business conferencing solution will save you 50% or more off your business travel costs, and that you will never be forgotten about even if you only use our services a little bit.

In fact, if you don't use us at all (even with an active* account) you never pay a dime!

See you next round....



*'active' refers to an internal status message, not usage on an account.