How one communicator gradually moves employees—and himself—from ignorance to environmental enlightenment
Let us guess: Your company is going green and you’re trying to figure out how to get employees involved in a way that’s … well, sustainable.
Show of hands: Anybody not in that boat?
A lively and fruitful conversation on that topic took place on MyRagan recently, but no one contributed in more helpful detail than John Ochwat, electronic communications manager for a 1,000-employee civil engineering firm called David Evans and Associates.
We talked to Ochwat and found that his sustainability communication program isn’t astounding; it may not even be outstanding. But it’s steady and, more importantly, it’s doable by any communicator in any company with a sincere sustainability program. Also, Ochwat hopes, it avoids the feeling of some sustainability programs: “Go green now: Another dictate from Corporate.”
Before Ochwat came onboard two years ago, he knew no more than the next communication generalist about sustainability. He’s learned on the job—while juggling a boatload of other communications responsibilities, including care and feeding of the intranet and several external Web sites, and the writing and editing of a bimonthly intranet newsletter for employees.
Ochwat does the following to communicate his firm’s 5-year-old sustainability effort to employees:
• Maintains a special section of the intranet devoted to sustainability. Here, employees can find an explanation of the company’s sustainability program and all related initiatives and policies; working documents (e.g., criteria for selecting new office space that’s sufficiently green); “PSAs,” as Ochwat calls them, containing instructions on how to do sustainable office procedures (how to print double-sided, for instance); and any sustainability-related company news (pdf). (For instance, it just got local media play for a program that pays employees $6 round trip to ride their bikes or walk to work; that info is front and center on the sustainability section of the intranet.)
• Runs a “sustainability tip” in every issue of the electronic newsletter. They’ve been anything from an “Earth Day” index of interesting environmental facts, to a bit called “Inconvenient Truths About Produce,” to a series of facts about the world’s water supply for Water Day. (Ochwat gives his sustainability tips news pegs; he didn’t at first, but soon tired of “finger-wagging” tips: “You should do this and you should do that.”)
Ochwat’s anecdotal evidence that these tips are getting through range from his overhearing employees talking about them to getting guff from a crusty, pickup-driving company veteran for an article linking the eating of red meat to bad health and environmental problems. (The guy’s beef? Ochwat cited the United Nations for his statistics!)
• And any and all guerilla efforts he can think of, ranging from profiling employees who are making environmentally friendly changes in their offices, to getting the CEO to testify to the importance of sustainability, to personally spearheading the installation of an energy-saving device on vending machines at its Portland, Ore., headquarters.
What’s the point of all these activities? Ochwat’s aims are humble. “You have to have [sustainability] on the back burner,” he says. Employees must be reminded that the program “is here and we’re keeping some heat on it.”
He also believes he’s teaching employees a new vocabulary. How does he know? Because he’s teaching himself a new vocabulary. “In-car air pollution,” for instance. Ever heard of it? Us neither, until we talked to Ochwat, who explained that it’s “the crap that ends up in your car” while you drive on the highway.
Ochwat’s faith that this drip-drip-dripping communication effort will eventually change people’s minds is based on the fact that “it’s totally changed how I look at a lot of this stuff.”
He actually hopes to someday parlay all he’s learned into a full-time job doing sustainability communication.
Sounds like a good idea to us.
| How to communicate sustainability to employees—sustainably |
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It’s not easy believing green. Your employees know that every company under the sun is a) installing solar panels, and b) bragging about it. How can you communicate your organization’s sustainability strategy in a way that the most skeptical audience in the world, employees, will believe?
1. Answer employees’ first question: “Like, since when were we all about the environment?”
Ray Anderson was asked more than 14 years ago “what was [his] environmental position,” and the founder of Interface, Inc. didn’t have an answer. As environmental consultant K.J. McCorry chronicled on Ragan.com, Anderson did some research and eventually created one of the most-benchmarked sustainability strategies around.
There must be a singular moment in your company’s history when a senior executive decided this was a special priority. If you can find that genuine moment (even if it was only 14 months ago)—and clearly connect it with the company’s business strategy—you’ll have a more credible tale to tell employees.
2. Fool employees once, shame on you. Environmental marketing firm TerraChoice recently released a study identifying the “Six Sins of Greenwashing,” which it listed in order of frequency of commission. Fifty-seven percent of the consumer products surveyed contained a “hidden trade-off”; for example, when so-called “energy efficient” electronics contain hazardous materials. Twenty-six percent of products committed the “sin of no proof,” e.g., they’re “certified organic,” but by no certifying organization. Other greenwashing tactics: intentional vagueness, irrelevant claims, outright fibs and boasts about being the “lesser of two evils,” e.g., organic cigarettes or “environmentally friendly pesticides.”
Distracted consumers might be thrown by such maneuvers, but many employees attach their employer’s sustainability practices with the very meaning of their lives. They’ll smell hypocrisy quick.
The key to avoiding charges or suspicion of greenwashing from employees is to clearly define what the organization is trying to do and why, then establish metrics to measure results and communicate the results “every chance they get,” said HR consultant Pamela Moore in a discussion on MyRagan.com. “Everyone has their own definition of ‘green.’ Only measurable results can prove the term.”
3. Mobilize your in-house environmental zealots. “You can’t mandate excitement” in all employees, said one MyRaganite. But many employees are already passionate about the issue. “Hopefully, some of them sit on your sustainability committee,” she suggested.
Find ways to get the rest of them to share their passion in print, online and on video.
4. Communicator, green thyself. For instance, woe unto the employee newsletter that touts environmental sustainability yet isn’t printed on recycled paper.
Conversely, don’t be a greenwashing goofball, like this communicator who wrote in an online forum, “We’ll ask for ‘green ideas,’ determine some criteria for validity and throw all those that pass muster into a hat for a drawing.”
Hint: If you have to put “green ideas” in quotes, they’re not for real and neither are you.
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