Taking the Green Leap

‘The Overview Effect’ was first described by author Frank White in 1987. It speaks to an experience that transforms an astronaut’s perspective of the planet and mankind’s place on it. When astronauts are up in space with a perfect view of the earth’s curvature, they experience a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life and the fragility of the eco-system, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

Why Green Thinking Matters

Global warming, climate change and consumption of scarce resources has everyone talking and it affects us all. Over centuries the human population has grown exponentially and altered the composition of the atmosphere, raised air and ocean temperatures, scarred land surfaces, consumed scarce resources, created mountains of waste, changed rainfall patterns and adjusted sea levels. It’s no doubt that decisions made today and in the past, affect the future.

Poor past practices and their outcomes can be difficult to undo but future decisions can protect what we still have. It is an overwhelming responsibility on our shoulders but is doing nothing really an option? We have a duty to cultivate a liveable condition for our children, their children and so on by doing right, now. It matters what we do today and although one person’s voice may be small and somewhat ineffectual, it is the collective effort of change agents that will create a tipping point and ultimately adjust the course we are on––for the better of our species and others we share space with.

Green Thinking is a paradigm shift. It’s about changing our underlying assumptions and developing a common outlook to environmental sustainability. It’s a pattern of thinking that triggers behaviours and practices to result in positive planet outcomes that protect our natural resources. So, what we think matters. How we act on that thinking, collectively, matters. If culture is defined as the sum of people’s habits (Creating a Lean Culture, Mann, 2005) then instilling a green-conscious culture relies on the habits nurtured in each organisation (and in our homes) to drive this performance. 

Developing green thinkers in the organisation can have far-reaching implications. The obvious outcome is the impact this thinking will have on the future. The not-so-obvious outcome is the relationship environmental protection shares with profitability, competition and cost management. It is a symbiosis busting the myth that going green is too expensive to take a chance on. Forward-thinking organisations have learned to take advantage of the benefits that not only make them look good to customers, shareholders and employees, but also yield significant financial benefits by hammering labour, material and overhead costs on the head whilst leaving competition behind in the dust. These benefits manifest in:

·      More efficient processes that cost less to run

·      Less material wasted and procured

·      Product and consumable life-cycles extended

·      Energy usage optimised

·      Responsible practices that lead to less fines

·      Optimal asset usage to defer or eliminate new purchases and expansions

·      Products get to market faster, already complying with international standards

Cost savings are both tangible and measurable and always get the attention of leaders and shareholders. But the eco-advantage extends beyond the accounting books and touches several other elements that sustain the long-term survival and resilience of the organisation even in times of chaos:

·      The organisation develops a reputation for being responsible

·      Customers are attracted to the organisation and loyalty ensues

·      Employees want to work for responsible organisations

·      It prompts innovation, growth and new technology development

·      It blows competition out of the water

Could Green Thinking shift your organisation to new heights of performance? Is this an untapped goldmine where you get money back for every Rand spent, whilst doing the right thing? This is reason enough to include environmental sustainability in the business strategy and to integrate the practices into the management system for Operational Excellence. 

Get set for Clear Direction

The North Star, Current and Future State

Think about where your organisation needs to be in the next year, five years, ten years. What are the strategic goals, objectives and key initiatives? With Clear Direction in hand, you know where you currently stand but also where you need to be in the short, medium and long term (see Figure 1.1 below modified from Rother, 2010). 

Figure 1.1: Phased timelines to meet the Future State

Now consider what you know about the Current State of your environmental impact. Is there a vision for the future and phased milestones to work towards? From what we have learned about Operational Excellence, we begin with Clear Direction before diving into improvement projects to ensure what we are doing on the ground aligns with the strategic intents of the organisation.

The Voice of the Business details the goals, objectives, key initiatives and current performance is illustrated. Thereafter the Voice of the Customer clarifies their requirements as expressed in their own terms. The Voice of the Employee completes the picture, offering insider-perspective on what must change within the organisation to move it forward towards its goals. With the long-term vision articulated and the target conditions in sight (Figure 1.1) we consider the external inputs (e.g. from the market) and internal inputs (e.g. from employee insight) to focus everyone to a common goal of change (Figure 1.2). This has the advantage of offering both a top-down and bottom-up approach to setting Clear Direction.

Figure 1.2: Synthesising the Voice of the Business, Customer, Employee and Planet into a clear and unambiguous message

These important elements blend into a single, visual, hard-hitting beacon to direct improvement activities to the so-called ‘North Star’ (Figure 1.3). At this stage, you include the key focus areas for environmental sustainability alongside (not separate to) other strategic imperatives. Everyone can see what must change, by how much and over which period.

Figure 1.3: Example of a 3-year North Star illustrating key focus areas 

Green Indicators to Expose Opportunity

As with other areas of performance it takes effort to select indicators that make sense for your environment and that drive improvement behaviour. This involves gathering data and presenting it in a way that triggers the improvement conversation so that root causes can be understood and eliminated in a structured way. Keeping it simple and focused without being overwhelming is critical. There will be strategic-level indicators that cascade down each level of the organisation so that what is measured is relevant to the department or team’s area of control, and combined adds up to the high-level impact targeted (Figure 1.4).

Figure 1.4: The 3S-Model: Cascading the strategy and indicators

The desired target condition, industry, current legislation, infrastructure, process type (and associated wastes) and materials all influence the indicators and where to place emphasis. Enlist the support of an environmental consultant if needed and consider constructing a Green Value Stream map to help visualise the opportunities.

Below are examples developed by other organisations, but always develop indicators to align with your own, unique Clear Direction and the level at which you are targeting:

·      Energy Consumption in kWh

·      Hazardous waste in tons

·      VOC and CO2 emissions in metric tons

·      Noise emissions in decibels

·      Conversion rate of gas and diesel to alternative fuels

·      Waste generated in kg

·      Re-use rates

·      Revenue protection in Rands (losing contracts to competition)

·      Environmental Audit results %

·      Environmental accident rates

·      Product yield %

·      Toxicity levels in parts per million

·      Employee wellness audit results %

When Green Thinking Stumbles

“What a farce! Look closer and you will see we are just 'green washing'. What have we really done to change our business in aid of an environmentally-friendly future?”

In pursuit of Operational Excellence, steer clear of unconvincing, superficial efforts that serve only to illustrate insincerity for the cause–which in itself is a waste. To convince customers and employees you’re serious requires an equally-serious attitude to delivering real results. In Green Thinking you aim to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. What are the things you will do to achieve this so that it doesn’t just become a ‘green washing’ exercise?

It begins with leadership. If those perched in a position of influence can’t see the benefit, there will be little chance of them stewarding the change. And if the leaders are not in the driver’s seat of change, those who report to them will likely think it unimportant as well. And so, the snowball of complacency gathers momentum and Green Thinking falls off the priority list faster than you can say ‘tree hugger’. Leaders sit up and take notice when the something affects the bottom line, so if the Motive for Change (Clear Direction, Heathcote, 2014) clearly shows the financial benefit, it stands a fighting chance.

Ready to take the green leap?

If you're ready to move forward take a few moments to run through the following questions and consider your next steps:

·      Is this a top-level priority and are leaders fully behind it?

·      Has the ‘cost-of-doing-nothing’ been established?

·      Even if your heart is in it this is sadly not enough. What is the return on investment for going green?

·      What is declared acceptable today, could be hazardous tomorrow. Are you up to date?

·      Is there a system’s view of the improvements? Improving in one area could be detrimental to another.

·      Is breakthrough change targeted as well as developing the management system to sustain it?

·      To what extent is this infiltrating into employee contracts and performance management?

We talk a lot of the 'why' of green thinking, and in future posts I will share more of the 'how' with you. But in the meantime feel free to use the tips provided here and in other posts to start building your business case for change and the message you will share among your colleagues.

For more information to support your improvement journey, refer to Clear Direction (Heathcote, 2014) and Making a Difference (Heathcote, 2016).

(Lean and Green, P.J. Gordon, 2001; Climate Change, B. Scholes et al, 2015; Clear Direction, R.T. Heathcote, 2014; Green Intentions, B. Wills, 2009, Making a Difference, R.T. Heathcote, 2016)