Green Teams: Empowering Sustainability Initiatives

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Green teams increase employee engagement and provide more minds tackling issues and developing creative solutions, leading to a stronger culture of sustainability [51]

• They activate an organization's (clinic or hospital or surgery center or unit) sustainability mission, raise awareness of sustainability practices, and facilitate education of fellow employees to help stimulate ideas and actions for systemic improvements [46]
• Green teams work to get management buy-in on sustainable actions in order to obtain resources and support for success [50]
• They embed sustainability into the organization, focusing on the organization's operations and educating employees, identifying opportunities for improvement that might otherwise get missed [51]

• Identify sustainable goals and objectives
• Design and plan programs to meet those sustainability goals
• Gather organizational support and tools to implement programs
• Recognize and reward successful green efforts
• Communicate with leadership and front-line staff
• Track and report sustainability metrics
• Maintain vitality in sustainability programs

[46]

Practical Actions a Team Can Take

• Collect learning materials to share with others
• Talk to experts to see what they're doing and how
• Call meetings to discuss learning and actions
• Explore current methods and opportunities for greening the organization
• Establish goals for the group and the organization
• Start an email distribution list for communication
• Build affiliations with other professional groups
• Contact facility newsletter writers to share updates
• Host educational workshops in the organization

[49]

Including staff from all levels of multiple departments promotes multiple perspectives and areas of expertise, contributing to a comprehensive approach to change [45]

Employee engagement is crucial to develop and promote environmental responsibility across a team or organization [45]

This can include

• Front-line staff from multiple teams
• At least one C suite representative
• The Chief Financial Officer or one of their direct reports
• Operational leaders
• Clinical leaders
• Project managers
• Marketing and/or Communications team members

[48]

• Has support from upper management
• Represents all departments of the organization
• Made up of committed and participative members
• Establish structure with defined meeting times and guidelines
• Collaborative and welcoming
• Have a shared purpose and goals
• Have a defined action plan to achieve their goals
• Are project-focused
• Share and celebrate their and others' successes
• Creative
• Make sustainable actions fun

[46]

Be inclusive [9]

• Recruit a multidisciplinary group
• Allow anyone who wants to join
• Start a journal club to bring in a variety of voices and perspectives

Be consistent [50]

• Host regular meetings
• Establish group member responsibilities
• Be a resource for others
• Be knowledgeable about one's represented team

Be active [52]

• Set goals and a mission at the first meeting
• Gather data and tools
• Learn about the organization's energy and sustainability performance
• Share wins and progress with people and groups outside of the team

Be interested [49]

• Assess for and examine opportunities for improvement in the immediate work area
• Invite like-minded colleagues to join
• See out mini-grants for green initiatives from non-profits

Be transparent [50]

• Write a sustainability plan
• Incorporate areas of focus, baseline organization information, goals, and prioritized actions
• Use this as a road map and as a baseline for check-ins later
• Prioritize goals to guide the direction of the team's activities and initiatives