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More and more companies are making sustainability a highly visible part of their corporate strategy. There are many factors driving companies to go green, from the desire to improve corporate image to competitive differentiation in the market. But whatever the reason, the training department can be a key part of a green strategy.
This dovetails nicely with the overall trend in training to align learning with corporate initiatives. If your company is championing a green strategy, there is a great opportunity for training professionals to become part of the effort. Not only do most environmental programs require employees to learn new ways of doing things, the training department itself can contribute through eco-friendly training methods.
What is Sustainability?
The basic definition of sustainability in the context of environmentalism is to make use of processes and materials that can be maintained for an indefinite period, reduce or eliminate contaminating toxins and in general minimize negative impact on the environment. For instance, by reducing the use of paper, an organization can contribute to the sustainability of the world’s forests. Companies that are careful not to pollute ground water are contributing to the sustainability of our drinking water supply.
However, what sustainability means for any given company is different based on the nature of its business. A manufacturer of heavy equipment has a much different view on sustainability than an Internet software company whose product is entirely digital. The manufacturer faces daily challenges in managing energy consumption, emissions and waste, in addition to complying with a multitude of government regulations; the software company may have little it can do beyond recycling office paper, using energy efficient computers and looking for opportunities to recycle obsolete computer equipment. But whatever kind of business your organization is in, the training department can probably find ways to contribute to improving environmental performance.
Good for the Environment, Good for Business
One thing that is important for training professionals to remember is that the most successful green strategies are those that also produce business benefits. In The Triple Bottom Line, the authors advise companies to look for synergies between business and environmental initiatives. “Finding the sweet spot is simple: be on the lookout for overlap between profit and public good.”
Cost Savings through Green Action
If executive management fails to see how the initiative produces business benefit, they are going to be reluctant to make necessary changes or support it for very long. Finding the overlap, however, is not as difficult as one might imagine. Many green initiatives also produce cost-savings. For instance, one of the priorities of environmentalism is to produce less waste. This may mean eliminating printed materials from a training event. Cost is saved on printing and waste is also eliminated – an easy win. In other cases there may be a trade-off involved of up-front cost versus long term return on investment. An example of this would be switching to longer lasting, energy efficient light bulbs in your training facility, in which case the actual savings may not be realized for several months, but the long term benefits are clear.
The cost of not being environmentally conscious can be enormous. Violating environmental regulations can result in fines of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. And, ignoring or hiding the problem can multiply the costs. “A problem that might cost a half a million dollars to fix today, because you had a spill in your back lot where chemicals are stored, might cost you 10 million dollars two years from now because now it is in the table water that people drink, creating a huge potential long-term financial liability,” says Robert Brehm, CEO of US Microbics, Inc.2 The liability itself is huge, but the cost of lost opportunity while the company engages in a protracted clean-up effort is also significant, says Brehn. This doesn’t even include the potential cost of negative publicity that will almost certainly result from such actions.
Benefits to Shareholders, Customers and Employees
Obviously being a good environmental citizen can save money. But when that money is put to work in more productive ways, it can also contribute to innovation and eventually revenue growth.
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