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Sustainability is finally poised to have its moment— and it’ s going to be a long moment. Powered by worsening climate change, growing regulatory pressure and massive generational behaviour changes, sustainability is positioned to be the defining trend of the next 50 years.
The reality is we can no longer accept the status quo. After all, doing the same thing is what created this crisis in the first place. The good news is that we can individually and collectively make a difference today for generations to come. If we choose to not cause more harm, we can allow the planet to recover.
Thinking sustainably about your organisation is simply good business practice. It creates better working environments, better profit margins, better communities and more importantly a better planet.
Every organisation is different, and your approach should recognise this, however it should not be an excuse not to act. The urgency is now. We need to act today.
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As we mature our thinking and approach to sustainability, we should acknowledge our ambitions( our ultimate goal) alongside where we are as an organisation today.
Fundamentally it is you and the people in your organisation that need to change. We must change in behaviour, change in values and potentially change in beliefs to realise the outcome we wish to see.
If we take the position that this is about citizenship, and that we all have a role to play, as individuals and as organisations, then we shift the mindset to united autonomy
To create change we should focus on where there is energy and passion, taking incremental as well as transformational steps towards our goal.
If we drive thinking and activity from bottom up and top down it is amazing what can be achieved when we recognise the sense of urgency, see the value and know individually we can make a difference.
Like any change there are different levels
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we can work from. In terms of sustainability, it is worth considering three core levels when thinking about your organisation and the people within it. This enables you to target how you will best effect change. The aim is to move to Level 3 –‘ strategic change’.
1. Effectiveness Typically in this frame we are looking solely at sustainability through a lens of efficiency and effectiveness, for example measuring, seeking cost savings and reducing our footprint.
2. Transformative We embody effectiveness but are also seeking to make significant changes. We may be seeking to change the way we work. For example, digitising to remove waste, creating new operating models that create better working environments, or making waste into new products.
3. Strategic We embody both effectiveness and transformation but seek to recognise
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our goal is both internal and externally referenced. Our objectives and work focusses on the impact outside of our organisation and begins to consider the change and impact we can make to enable our organisation to be a force for good. For example, seeking to work on a particular sustainable development goal.
It is important to remember that there is no right or wrong. It simply starts by having conversations, creating a shared vision and taking action.
Remember, it is often the many small changes that result in the biggest breakthroughs and strategically transformative change.
For more info: www. digitalwonderlab. com
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We work paperless The average office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of paper each year. If you have five employees, that’ s about 50,000 sheets every 365 days! Wasted money, and pointless emissions.
We use cloud storage to save documents, and we don’ t print out emails, which saves us a lot of paper and ink. If there is ever something that NEEDS printing, we will be sure to print on both sides of the paper, which saves up to 50 per cent more than normal printing.
We use sustainable packaging We use sustainable packaging wherever we can, and like to make sure we only send out parcels and packages when we really need to- if we can create an e-book or pdf and email it over then certainly we will.
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The environmental benefits of using sustainable packaging are obvious: reduced waste; less energy used in production; and less air pollution caused by the transportation of goods( and therefore shorter journeys too).
Offer hybrid work Hybrid work is the perfect way to help both your company and the environment. It ' s a win-win situation.
If you don ' t know what hybrid work is, where have you been these past couple years? To summarise, hybrid working is splitting your work time between home and the office- and we LOVE it! It allows us to cut the commute in half, and work from our homes whenever we can.
In fact we love hybrid working so much that a couple of months ago, Adobe selected
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me and my team, as the influencer brand for their hybrid working campaign. Since then, we have influenced many teams to implement a hybrid working model and they haven ' t looked back since. If you haven ' t tried hybrid working, then you know what to do!
Travel to the office / work events together When we do go into the office or out to events, we try to remain eco-friendly. This is why we travel to work together whenever possible rather than separately driving vehicles. It ' s cheaper, environmentally friendly and will result in less congestion, which means fewer emissions released into earth ' s atmosphere. It also allows us to kickstart our morning and even save money on parking fees if we share the cost of petrol or public transport costs- which may get spent on a coffee or breakfast instead.
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Conclusion If you are looking for ways to implement sustainable and eco-friendly practices into your workplace, use this as your kick in the backside. The longer you wait, the more damage you are doing to our environment. Don ' t wait until it is too late, take action and get green!
For more info: www. smashittraining. com
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