Building a Green corporate culture
Posted By Carolyn on March 6, 2009
Potterhill Homes has been committed to Green Building and Energy Efficiency since we built our first home in 2001. However, the Green frenzy that began about two years ago pushed us to become even more aggressive about building energy efficient homes and reducing our impact on the environment. But we realized to truly be Green, we would have to extend our focus past just the homes we build to the organization we operate.
That is not as easy as it sounds. There is no culture switch. You can’t wave your magic wand and make your associates be “Green”. (I think there was a fairy tale about turning someone green but that is not the same thing at all!) Green is a lifestyle and people tend to be slow to make lifestyle changes. And, you have to get buy in. Not every cares and you can’t force them. But you can educate them – time and time again!
So we started small. We introduced more Green products into our homes and, in the process, trained our staff on those products. We started recycling a little bit more. We added Green tips to our newsletters. We made our newsletters electronic to save paper. We use fewer bottles of water and more glasses. This year, we’ve having a “Green Office” contest.
Slowly but surely, we’re getting there. Imagine my pleasure when one of my coworkers took the initiative to start recycling more items at our corporate office. Unfortunately we don’t have recycling pick up here so she volunteered to drive the materials to a recycling center. I love it!
I can’t stress enough the importance of being consistent and persistent. We’re always looking for new ideas and there are great companies out there to use as models. General Electric’s EcoMagination program is amazing. It has defined much of their product development but it has also changed their culture. Whole Foods lives its Green culture every day. Even cities, like Austin Texas have committed to the cause. There are models out there for Greening your culture and, like the mantra goes: reduce, reuse, recycle! I don’t think any of these companies would mind if we borrowed some of their Green culture ideas. There are plenty to go around.
Are we the Greenest company out there? No. But we are getting better every day and, when it comes to Green, trying is succeeding.
About the author
Can any sort of metal be taken in for recycling? Of course, I am sure they can be somehow, but will recycling centers actually pay you for any kind of metal? Even like steel? I have a whole bunch of scrap in my yard I would completely be willing to haul it down to the closest recycling place if I was certain they would give me some cash for it. Even if it was just a little bit. It would still be worth it I think.