My colleague, Brian Hunt, and I recently attended and presented at the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) Annual Summit this past April. Our presentation, Green Strategies that Create both Business and Attendee Value, was an open discussion among more than 90 attendees. Filled with great dialogues and exchanges, many questions came up regarding the difference between green-focused and green-friendly meetings/events and incentive travel integrations. From those discussions, we offered up three ways to improve green strategy and create awareness within an organization.
- Green in the Absence of Vision, Mission and Values - It’s important for companies to openly communicate green-related positioning, goals and practices. When an organization lacks "green" identifiers and/or inclusions in its vision, mission and values statements, it’s highly likely that the culture doesn’t perceive the company as either green-friendly or green-focused. Each organization needs to take a well-positioned stand to ensure it effectively communicates their position and the level of importance green means to them. In doing so, employees, customers and channel partners are more aligned and help spread the "think more green" movement.
- From a Single to a Triple Bottom Line - To draw forward the values of what green-related strategies can mean, organizations need to evolve beyond standard performance concepts. In this case, it’s a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept that provides stronger strategic direction and a set of performance metrics based on People, Planet and Profit. When green-related adoptions take place with only one or two of these in mind, we simply miss the mark of achieving the most effective value. Evaluating across the TBL requires an appreciation of both tangible and intangible values of fiscal, quantitative and qualitative insights.
- ‘Crawl’, ‘Walk’ and ‘Run’ Approaches - Organizations are interested in how green adoptions affect program operations, economics and overall participant experiences. To more thoroughly understand these areas, we need to consider the progressive steps that help grow our green adoptions from both an organizational sponsor, as well as from a participant’s viewpoint. Not too fast, not too slow, but at a pace that inspires adoption, provides meaningful experiences and influences future commitments.
• Do we integrate green efforts early in the meeting/event or incentive-travel planning process?
• How are we translating our green principles into actionable practices?
• Are our green practices strategic or do they represent standalone tactics?
• Do we work with sponsors, suppliers and vendors that align to our core principles?
• How are we evaluating performance?
Going green requires long-term and unwavering commitment to the Triple Bottom Line – People, Planet and Profit. Answering simple questions about current green initiatives and setting future benchmarks helps provide direction for future efforts. As companies progress, it is important to celebrate success, openly promote and advise others, and challenge those within the organization to change for the better.
Together, we all make a greater difference.
