1. Green Team
Best Practices
www.thinkpaydirt.com

2. Arming Brand Ambassadors
 Employees are a company’s most important
resource – and they’re hungry to get involved!
 Educated, eco-minded employees foster creativity
and drive progress. Harness their grassroots
ingenuity and passion to integrate sustainable
innovation across your business.
 Internal programs should be customized for each
company’s unique culture, mission and values.
© 2010 Paydirt, LLC 2

3. From Facilities to Operations
• It’s important to move beyond “green buildings”
to evaluate how employees operate within a
building.
• Employees are on the front-lines of the business
and should be engaged in defining those new
sustainable operational practices.
• Green Teams are the perfect entity for
identifying, vetting and implementing those
opportunities.
© 2010 Paydirt, LLC 3

4. Common Green Team Obstacles
• Grassroots efforts don’t align with
corporate sustainability vision and
objectives
• Team lacks direction or commitment
• Team members’ managers are not
supportive
© 2010 Paydirt, LLC 4

5. Common Green Team Obstacles
• Inadequate policies, tools and resources
• No clear process for vetting proposals
• Team lacks specialized sustainability
expertise
© 2010 Paydirt, LLC 5

6. Best Practices: Green Teams
 Leadership should clearly communicate both its
support and objectives for the Green Team
 Team responsibilities and commitment level must
be understood by team members and their
managers
 A well-defined scope, decision making framework
and approval process can streamline progress
© 2010 Paydirt, LLC 6

7. Best Practices: Green Teams
 Teams can learn by looking at typical business
impacts and then move on to assessing company-
specific operations and processes
 Ongoing education is critical to success
 Incentivize participation
 Reward progress
© 2010 Paydirt, LLC 7

8. Best Practices: Employee Engagement
 Design broader employee engagement efforts
to fuel the company’s overall sustainability and
business objectives
 Take a “top-down, bottom-up and sideways”
approach to internal communications
 Provide education and tools on-demand
© 2010 Paydirt, LLC 8

9. Best Practices: Employee Engagement
 Cultivate an ongoing dialogue
 Supplement education with fun and
inspiration
 Establish benchmarks, metrics and
accountability
 Integrate campaign with overall brand,
mission and culture
© 2010 Paydirt, LLC 9

10. For More Information:
jkolling@thinkpaydirt.com
612.840.5673
www.thinkpaydirt.com