Partner with Human Resources for Successful Sustainability
An Interview of Dr. Melonie Boone
Dr. Melonie Boone
Sustainability should be for and include everyone in an organization. We need to be careful that green teams (or whatever you call those who are mostly doing the work of sustainability) do not become something just for executives or the elite. Everyone should be seen as a vital part of successful implementation. We want to set up green team to be inclusive and integrated; therefore, we need the buy-in and support of Human Resources.
I have invited a former colleague, Dr. Melonie Boone, who has extensive experience in HR and operations, to share some wisdom on best practices for involving HR in sustainability initiatives. (Watch the full interview below.)
Question: From an HR perspective, what are some of the best practices for employees who want to initiate a grassroots movement such as starting a green team?
Partnering with human resources is important! Dr. Boone suggests you go to HR with your plan but make sure it's a flexible plan. There is a spectrum of pitfalls here. On the one extreme, be careful not to approach HR with the expectation that they will create the plan and set up the green team. On the other end, do not expect HR will follow your plan detailed plan. (2:06 - "now go") Both of these approaches ignore the regular workload HR already has to deal with, as well as the factors at play to really launch such an endeavor successfully.
Dr. Boone suggests you approach HR in this manner:
Here's an idea
Here are people who are interested in participation and leadership
Here's an outline of a plan
Let's work together on this.
Dr. Boone has been on the receiving end of such requests ("you want me to do what?!). She sees there is excitement but also the need to balance all of the demands on the HR professional. Keep in mind, that unless someone has officially made this an HR task, which is often not the case, even in organizations with claims to prioritize sustainability, it can be challenging to get help in an official capacity.
Question: While executive buy-in is critical, in Astrapto's work helping people start green teams, many of those people have been low level employees who did not necessarily start it up with executive support (our Sustainability is a Team Sport course runs as a college course in which students must start a green team as their assignment). And in many instances, once executives began to see the business benefits - efficiencies, team bonding and improved culture, etc. they began to offer more support. How can HR fast track this process?
Dr. Boone feels HR can help out in a number of ways:
First, she states, "You want an advocate who understands the way executives think, to be on your side." I could not agree more! Much of Astrapto's IGNITE course and series is about really understanding why people reject ideas or respond to sustainability the way they do. Such an understanding enables you to identify leadership and messaging strategies for overcoming those obstacles.
Second, she emphasizes the importance of the business case. "They'll buy into it once they see the results. So if you can give them an early snapshot of what those results are going to look like, that's also going to be beneficial." One of the key benefits of a green team, as well as other sustainability initiatives, is employee morale and retention. HR is an excellent resource for determining how to best measure and report such results.
Dr. Boone adds a few tips for creating the business case:
Look at what other organizations are doing as case studies, show screenshots of their websites and other evidence. I recommend you particularly note what competitors or similar organizations are doing, as this sort of benchmark could provide extra incentive for executives to support your ideas.
Pitch the green team as an alternative way to connecting employees (vs. the Zoom happy hour).
Ask is sustainability has come up on employee engagement surveys. If it has, it may be that the organization's leaders have wanted to get to it but it just hasn't yet bubbled to the surface. Your plan could be the perfect opportunity to address this need.
Third, Dr. Boone points out that HR may be able to position you to speak to the person who is most likely to have a positive stance and be willing to support your ideas. She suggests, "You need buy-in at all levels of the organization, so you need buy-in from the executives to get the authorization to move forward. But then you're also going to need buy-in from other members of the company so you can build the team. Partnering with HR gets you access to the details and information that you may not know."
She shares the example of a time when something is going on in a company that most staff may not be aware of, and while HR cannot divulge details, they can guide you that the timing is not ideal and suggest a timeframe when the initiative will be met with a more favorable response. "That's better beelining straight for the CEO's door to pitch your plan to him," she says with a laugh, "not realizing that there are other things going on in the background."
Question: What are some best practices for reaching out across departments, language and cultural differences, education levels, and other potential barriers, to start a green team?
Dr. Boone's answer to this leads of with one of my top recommendations in early stages of starting a green team: Communicate the "what's in it for me?" angle! She explains, "Individuals want to know how it aligns with them, their goals, and their vision for what sustainability actually means."
She further explains that because such efforts generally start as "word of mouth" then you will inevitably end up with a group that is not very diverse because we tend to talk to others like us within our organization. Her recommendation is to create a recruitment campaign. In addition to the why and "what's in it for me" elements, make sure the campaign includes: expectations, time commitments, other benefits, how to sign up, logistics, and more.
I asked Dr. Boone her thoughts on explicitly identifying diversity elements one might want on the team and recruiting in that way. First, she reminds us that diversity is diversity in thoughts and ideas and backgrounds, as much as it is diversity in race and ethnicity, gender, age, and other common diversity factors. Be sure diversity is "not superficial (e.g. "you want six women sitting around the table"); explore and you will find people are interested but may be scared to step up and say something…make sure you have one very extroverted person on that team."
Then, she warns us to be careful that people don't feel "targeted." She suggests partnering with marketing and taking the same approach you might in a customer campaign - who are you trying to reach, what is the message that appeals to them, who is delivering the message (something Dr. Boone said is important).
And similar to how you might conduct a focus group and market research before a customer campaign, you should talk to different types of people in different departments to get an idea what interests them. "There's a lot of legwork that needs to be done in the beginning through research, testing the waters, talking to different people, having those people talk to their peers," she stated. In fact, if you already have others on board when you present the plan, you will appear as a more united front, rather than a Lone Ranger.
Dr. Boone points out that the real benefit of such an approach is collaboration. Build something that's interesting to a wider group of people and "not just your three buddies you go to lunch with every day."
Question: what are the top 3 things to keep in mind when engaging HR for sustainability initiatives?
Dr. Boone provides these three tips:
Keep in mind HR really wants to engage on topics like sustainability; however, they are really busy and may not have the bandwidth. This is where a well-thought out plan will help. Also, be sure you don't just hand the plan over expecting HR will run the show. Meet with the HR person you know. Don't know one? Build the relationship because it's an important one. Start with an introductory meeting and bounce ideas off them and use their input to refine your plan.
Be flexible and willing to adapt. There may be elements of your plan that do not align with organizational happenings that are outside your knowledge or control. This is especially true of decision makers who will always want to tweak plans to leave their mark on it.
Have fun. Don't get to entrenched in the logistics that you can't have fun with it. Green teams and similar efforts are hard work so leave room for joy too!
In her final words of wisdom, Dr. Boone suggests you find "passion partners" who will be your advocates and help recruit. She recommends you watch for body language that conveys excitement or listen out for those who ask you lots of questions about sustainability ideas.
I am very grateful that Dr. Boone was willing to share her time and insights with me. Be sure to watch the full interview with Dr. Boone to learn all her fantastic tips for partnering with HR.
Watch the full interview with Dr. Boone.
