If you want to save green—dollars that is—you need to go green.

Sustainable business practice continues to be the catch phrase for strategic business planning, but the ways and methods for making this happen can often get lost when dealing with deadlines and demands.

Making the transition to green does not have to be difficult. Rather than making wholesale, massive changes, many green gurus suggest building sustainability into your daily practices. It’s about changing the corporate culture, so that everyone can support your businesses initiatives to provide a greener environment (that is, often, easier on the corporate bottom line).

These fundamental steps will help your office go green, now, and in future endeavours:

1)         Make it a daily habit.
           
Start small. By taking on one task at a time you set achievable goals that generate excitement and fuel enthusiasm. For example, set a challenge to your employees by asking them to reduce their paper use by printing on both sides of a page before recycling. Offer rewards or give recognition to departments that are able to achieve significant savings.

Another option is to challenge employees to limit their use of plastic bottles, disposable plates/glasses/cutlery and paper coffee cups. Small incentives promote the use of reusable drink and food containers but can also help build team momentum. For example, offering to purchase one small coffee for anyone using a travel mug on a casual Friday helps to facilitate the goal of reducing use and provides an opportunity for everyone to share in the enjoyment of that goal.  

Another problem that baffles many employees are the copious number of lights and machines left on at night. As a decision-maker, determine what lights and machines need to be powered on at night. Make a list and determine teams that are responsible for shutting down and off all unnecessary electronic items. Then look at your utilities bill drop.

2)         Recruit others to join your effort.
           
Add PDFs to your e-mails of relevant documents, rather than sending a hard copy. Post signs near all office printers saying: Think Before You Print. Change your e-mail signature to include a line that discourages people from printing out e-mails. Talk to friends and colleagues in your department and in different department to determine their environmental triumphs—and then share them with others. Also talk to your about their concerns and challenges—and then informally brainstorm potential solutions. Talking about these issues in a non-judgmental way is a great way to build momentum for the cause.

3)         Share the savings.

One of the fastest ways to get your personnel onboard to the green business strategy is to calculate the corporate savings. Team up with your finance department to help calculate the monetary savings your company is and/or will realize from waste-reduction efforts.

Present the figures to your employees/manager and share the results across the company or with industry associations. Getting the word out will help spread the value of being green.

Tim Sanders, author of Saving the World at Work, explains that sharing the good news is vital. “You’ll be surprised how relevant this might be during these tough economic times.”

4)         Bottom up, top down—either works.

Get executives and staff involved in the initiative at all levels. Set goals and personal challenges and regularly review your company’s successes, either on Earth Day or at more regularly scheduled company events.

5)         Have a good time.

When people enjoy what they are doing they intuitively continue doing it. For that reason, many executives have found that the most important component of any green office initiative is to have fun.

For example, visitors to TRIRIGA, an enterprise software company in Las Vegas, will never drink from a Styrofoam or paper cup. Instead, they can take their pick from a funky assortment of mugs and china cups, explained George Ahn, president and CEO. “Make it fun. Build it into your system,” said Ahn. “That way, everyone will want to help.”