Green Impact – ACS Blog
One for all, All for one- How to grow your GI team
Three years ago, ACS had no involvement in Green Impact at all. Now, we have 12 staff involved in 8 workbooks ranging from staff offices and working partners, through to commercial outlets- utilising the newly developed Catering tab in the workbook. But how did we do it?
Perseverance, patience and gratuitous violence?
Staff buy-in can be a real challenge; After all, we’re not just asking for help making a poster with a catchy slogan, we are trying to change behaviours, opinions and habits. Something not everyone has the motivation or interest to do.
We tried the ‘bottoms up’ approach- slugging away to very little affect. Little, lonesome me with my carbon trust stickers and recycling bin under arm. Not to say I didn’t get anywhere; in 2011/12 I was blessed with an extremely proactive and engaged Project Assistant. Our combined hard work, blood, sweat and tears were rewarded with achieving Gold standard. This was followed in 2012/13 with another fantastic Gold as well as an award for Most Improved. But again, it was still me and the GIPAs, I had yet to gain the interest of colleagues anywhere in the department.
Would 2013/14 be another year where my little office would achieve its Gold, tick that box and move on? Or would we take the next step- Expand the borders of Green Impact, and take ACS by storm?
Obviously this would need a new approach. I couldn’t do it all, I needed help, but how? This is when I changed tack, and went straight for the jugular. By actively engaging with the directorate, and upper management, in one move I could quickly increase staff awareness, raise the profile of Green Impact, and empower others to dedicate time to the campaign. This was further helped by the introduction of the ‘Champion Role’, to justify dedicating time to the workbook and act as a two-way communication between the department and the Energy & Environmental teams within EFM. We are all busy, so knowing you have the support of your manager to put your own work aside for an afternoon, and focus on something else, something bigger, was the key to our success this year.
So here we are, 3 years on in 2013/14, and 8 teams now represent ACS. Our next blog will look at how we’re all getting on. Are we still going for Gold? You bet we are.