A Roadmap to Sustainable Success
One of the most difficult aspects of launching a rocketship into space is the takeoff. The rocketship must overcome Earth’s powerful gravity and avoid burning up to exit the atmosphere and complete a successful space flight. Think of your company’s sustainability initiative as a fully equipped rocketship ready for takeoff. Your job is to make sure your rocketship is sturdy, full of gas, and completely functional.
JouleBug makes launching your sustainability initiatives simple and effective. The easy-to-use mobile app makes inspiring your workforce to participate in climate mitigation completely straightforward. With the ability to completely customize your ESG initiatives, you have the ability to tailor climate progress to directly reflect company goals. Put simply, launching your company’s sustainability initiatives can be accomplished in 5 simple steps:
- Obtain Leadership Buy-In
- Align Sustainability Content with Company Values
- Construct a Communication and Marketing Plan
- Establish and Empower Champions
- Incentivize Participation to Inspire Change
Obtain Leadership to Buy In
Your company’s leaders should represent the company’s core values. If your boss is not on board with your important sustainability initiatives, why would your workforce be eager to get involved? According to velocityEHS and the article titled, “5 Ways to Get Leadership Buy-In to Sustainability and ESG Initiatives,” the best way to convince company leaders to back ESG programs is by offering them compelling data. The data you bring to your company’s leaders should illustrate the benefit and necessity of climate mitigation at the corporate level.
In the United States, climate initiatives are under fire. Despite the desire of some political leaders to ignore the detrimental effects of climate change, we must dig in our heels and continue pushing for stricter environmental protections. From construction management to software engineering, every company will face the effects of climate change, and your workforce will be the first to suffer the consequences. Now, more than ever, is the time for business leaders to get involved.
When you bring your ESG initiatives to your company leaders make sure to convey the importance of climate mitigation for the future of your company in a way that resonates. Emphasize that in order for a company to thrive long-term, it must adopt sustainable practices. No matter the political debate about the validity of climate science in your country, eventually our leaders will come to terms with the dire need for action, and you want to be ahead of the game.
Ensure that your proposed sustainability initiatives align with company fiduciary goals and highlight the value that prioritizing climate-friendly business practices will bring to achieve those goals. In practice, this means striking a balance between short-term initiatives and long-term investments to future-proof access to essential resources. Involving employees and establishing foundational knowledge allows for the next level of deeper investigation, data collection, and recommendations. But first, leadership needs to be onboard with ESG as a practical practice.
We are stronger together. Sustainability is no longer a one person or one department job. It must be a company-wide commitment. May not be easiest but having leadership onboard ensures these initiatives are prioritized and funded appropriately.
Align Sustainability Content with Company Values
Your company offers a unique perspective. With a distinctive workforce and company mission, you have the ability to come at climate mitigation from an original angle. Climate progress needs more voices of individuals and companies from all aspects of business. The truth is that without intervention, we will all feel the effects of a changing climate, despite how “well” your company is doing right now.
Your employees work for your company for a reason. According to the World Economic Forum, a LinkedIn poll illustrated that 87% of workers in the United States consider it important to work for companies that align with their values. Amplify this passion by curating ESG initiatives that are a continuation of everything your company deems important. When your sustainability initiative aligns with core values, your employees are more likely to get involved.
Actions speak louder than words. Here at JouleBug, we believe that your workforce is willing to do the work to put your core values into action. It’s great to say you value environmental conservation, but without tangible impact, those values are just empty promises. JouleBug’s admin dashboard allows sustainability leaders to pick and choose impactful actions for their employees to log. We encourage you to carefully consider which actions align best with your company’s mission, and curate JouleBug challenges that will resonate with your workforce. If you don’t see sustainability content that resonates with your team, contact the JouleBug team and we can work with you to create custom actions.
Spread the Word
Communication is key. The most successful corporate initiatives are ones with the greatest company participation. With access to internal communication channels, your team should be able to spread information about upcoming sustainability initiatives swiftly and effectively. You can utilize platforms such as Teams, Slack, and emails to communicate the need for climate action in real time. When your employees are fully aware of the impactful work you plan to do, they are more likely to get involved.
Once a JouleBug challenge has been created, you will have the opportunity to save and post a pre-made flier from the JouleBug dashboard. You can print and post that flier or share it on social media platforms. Company bulletin boards and office hallways are an underutilized resource. Physically posting fliers around your office building keeps people thinking about your company’s commitments to sustainable success and wanting to take action themselves. Similarly, you can encourage employees who have already joined the challenge to send texts and emails with challenge links to their friends and family through the mobile app.
You should begin advertising company sustainability initiatives months in advance to give your workforce adequate time to prepare and plan for climate action. Make use of employee engagements such as lunches, volunteer days, or group meetings to spread the word about upcoming plans for sustainability face to face. Make sure your employees are equipped with the tools they need to succeed before the challenge starts.
Advertising your initiatives doesn’t stop when the challenge begins. In fact, we believe the key to long lasting sustainable success is tangible impact data. JouleBug is unique in the fact that our mobile app offers individuals and admin the ability to view their climate savings in terms of CO2 saving, waste diversion, and water savings. Consider highlighting your company’s progress throughout the duration of your challenger to convey the success of sustainability initiatives to your workforce.
Establish and Empower Champions
One of the unique features of JouleBug’s mobile app is the leaderboard. When employees participate in challenges, the actions they log are associated with points. The more difficult the action, the more points that are associated with it. As an admin, you have the ability to access the leaderboard and recognize which individual/team is making the greatest impact.
While sustainable action should be done because of the desire for good, everyone likes a shout-out every now and again. In the midst of a sustainability initiative, make sure to call out individuals/teams that are staying at the top of the leaderboard. A little friendly competition never hurt anyone. The competitive nature of JouleBug is what sets it apart from other sustainability applications. We should all be striving to be the best versions of ourselves in all facets of life. Sustainability is no different.
The individuals who stay at the top of the leaderboard are committed to the success of climate action in your company, and are the foundation of a successful sustainability initiative. With their help, you can keep climate momentum going far into the future. Encourage sustainability leaders to participate in employee resource groups to share their keys to success with other members of your workforce. If your company has multiple locations, these individuals will be crucial to maintaining engagement throughout your company. These individuals are members of the grassroots force that sustains your company’s work, and have the power to motivate lasting action.
Incentivize Continuous Participation
Who doesn’t like free gifts? The best way to encourage continuous participation is by offering incentives. Consider offering your workforce prizes at all levels. Anything from office cookies to a monetary bonus is sure to get your team up and running. JouleBug offers a feature on the admin dashboard to input prizes and incentives so your workforce can see the prizes through their mobile application and plan to make an impact.
Houston, We Are Go For Launch 🚀
After you have completed these five steps, your team is ready to launch a successful sustainability initiative. You will have effectively motivated your team and leaders to participate and make a difference. The next step is to observe your impact and begin planning for your next initiative. Real progress will come through continuous action. Climate change is not slowing down, and neither should we. The JouleBug team is ready and eager to help you and your team complete a successful space flight to sustainability.
Reach out to the JouleBug team today to explore innovative ways to use the app to drive impactful sustainability initiatives across your organization.