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Advice on Monitoring Green Performance

By: Thomas Muller - Updated: 27 Jan 2013 | comments*Discuss
 
Green Diesel Fuel Green Performance

Rather than a one-stop fix, a successful green office policy should be an ongoing development process that is monitored regularly.

An Ongoing Green Process

Implementing the green office action plan should not be one giant leap, with fingers crossed, but a first step in an ongoing process.

However comprehensive and well researched, no action plan will immediately fit seamlessly into company practice, cure all environmental ills and be accepted by all members of staff. It will require regular monitoring, reviewing and updating for its good intentions to take hold.

Communicating Green Performance

Although you may have a brilliant list of new green policies that you want to introduce right away, a green office policy can be disruptive and create a bad feeling if too much is implemented too quickly.

The success of a green policy is dependent on its acceptance by staff. Therefore, instead of dumping a new set of rules on office employees and expecting them to take action, the process of introducing new environmental measures should be taken slowly with due care and consideration for their feelings and opinions.

Although it would be disingenuous to say there is no rush, it is better to ease the new measures in slowly and develop a super efficient green workplace than create chaos by trying to do too much too soon. Remember that small initial steps add up to big rewards.

Two-Way Communication

When new measures are introduced into the workplace, the green policy coordinator or committee should talk to the staff and ask for their opinions on the new actions – how are they affecting their work habits, how successful they are and what changes could be made to improve their impact?

Efforts should be made to maintain this two-way communicative relationship throughout the process – employees are not experiment guinea pigs forced to endure whatever’s thrown at them after all.

Facilities whereby staff can communicate their feelings and ideas about particular stages of the process should be available. The committee or coordinator should be available at all times and operate a dedicated email service.

If you want to obtain the opinions all staff rather than its most vocal members, then an additional idea is to send out a staff survey after each stage has been implemented. This could ask employees to rate the various aspects of the action plan from one to five and, if necessary, suggest improvements.

Benefits of Displaying Progress of Action in Recycling, Electricity , Diesel Fuel Economy and Others

To earn the trust and commitment of all staff it is important to make the scheme as transparent as possible – as the key to its success they should remain equal partners.

To achieve this, the monitoring process should be public one. Charts and notices promoting the progress of green office actions in paper recycling, electricity saving, the diesel fuel economy, for example, should be displayed around the workplace and featured in regular email updates.

This not only allows employees to monitor their own progress and assess which areas need greater attention or a rethink, but also shows the effects their efforts are having, and will hopefully inspire them to greater achievements.

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