Engaging your people in cutting carbon

Posted by Tom Ashfold on Feb 21, 2011 | 2 Comments

A very successful event with keynote from Ed Gillespie of Futerra, and speakers from Wessex Water and Bristol University. Hear more about sizzling sausages to purple cows and bio-bugs here…

In the first of two sessions centred on communications, members of the West of England Carbon Challenge came together at BBC Bristol to learn about how to better engage staff with their carbon reduction and sustainability efforts.

It was with great pleasure that we welcomed Ed Gillespie, Co-founder of Futerra and one of the UK’s leading experts in sustainability communications, as our keynote speaker. Ed was both witty and informative, providing plenty of valuable insights. We have attempted to summarise the top five take-home messages from his presentation…

1) Sell the sizzle, not the sausage! Do this by using the following four-step narrative:

Vision

Begin by using positive visions of a ‘low-carbon heaven’ rather than pessimistic threats of a ‘climate hell’ in order to capture the imagination of your audience and win the right to hold their attention long enough to get to the call for action.

Choice

Now they have the comfort of a low-carbon heaven to fall back on, show them what hell (i.e. climate chaos) looks like and make it clear that now is the time we must choose which of these two paths we wish to go down.

Plan

The next step is to offer a plan of how you will get to that low-carbon heaven. Keep it simple but strong (i.e. a short list of big actions) and stick to a 5 year timescale (any longer and you are likely to breed mistrust and dismissal).

Action

Finally, set out specific personal actions that individuals can take. Make it clear how these relate to the vision and once undertaken give quick feedback so they can see that their actions are genuinely helping to make progress.

2) Some advice on the do not’s. Don’t…

Be unnecessarily complicated
Nag people
Use guilt trips
Be boring

3) Our decisions are heavily influenced by the following factors:

Habit, emotions and rules of thumb (personal)

For instance, ‘present beats future’ and ‘loss beats gain’. Use these to your advantage where possible, for example when trying to sell the case for energy efficiency measures to your colleagues (i.e. focus on how much money your organisation is losing at present as a result of inefficiency rather than how much it stands to gain in the future through improved efficiency).

Those around us (social)

An important point here is that in a world of many choices and little time, only ‘purple cows’ are remarkable enough to be remarked upon. As such, you will need to be imaginative if you wish to catch people’s attention and get them talking about your sustainability agenda.

The physical environment (infrastructure)

For instance, people may be willing to take a particular action (e.g. recycle) but only if the infrastructure (e.g. recycling boxes/centre) is easily accessible. Smart meters are another example of ‘enabling’ infrastructure as they allow people to see their energy use in real time.

4) Intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation. The following intrinsic factors strongly influence staff engagement:

Autonomy – allowing them to own projects and work freely towards a goal
Mastery – allowing them to fulfil the urge to get better at things they enjoy
Purpose – allowing them to hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves

5) “Less complaining and more sexy rumpus!” You heard it here first.

We then heard a couple of local examples that helped put some of Ed’s messages into context. Martin Wiles, Head of Sustainability at Bristol University, spoke about the lessons he has learnt from the successful implementation of the Green Impact Awards scheme. Two key messages from Martin’s presentation are:

Find an interested party in each sector of your organisation to act as a champion on your behalf. This will also help you to build a strong communications network.
Handing out awards can add a form of friendly competition that draws in those not motivated by the environmental side of things. A tiered system (e.g. Bronze, Silver and Gold) also gives people a benchmark to improve upon.

Martin was followed by Dan Green, Head of Waste and Carbon Management at Wessex Water, an organisation that has set itself the ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2020. Two key messages from Dan’s presentation are:

Recognise your audience and tailor your approach accordingly. For instance, those at a strategic level are likely to respond to forecasts and position papers, whilst those of a technical nature are generally more comfortable dealing with numbers and specific pieces of legislation. Meanwhile, the intranet, newsletters, lunchtime talks and staff awards can all be useful means of engaging non-technical people.
Ensure your data is consistent and that you communicate it in a way that is both meaningful and interesting; for instance, by visually demonstrating how much space a tonne of carbon occupies.

We were also introduced to Wessex Water’s very own purple cow – the ‘Bio-Bug’. This VW Beetle, which runs on methane gas generated during the sewage treatment process, is definitely remarkable, having received worldwide media attention since its release in August 2010.

The event ended with the three speakers taking part in a ‘Blind Date’ style question and answer session, followed by a brief summary of the key points discussed. With well over 50 attendees and plenty of lively debate this was arguably our most successful event yet; in the words of one attendee ‘the venue, the speakers and the topic were excellent, as was the bar afterwards…!’

Ed Gillespie, Futerra

Martin Wiles, Bristol University

Dan Green, Wessex Water