How to start?
Try to ensure that the green team includes employees fulfilling a variety of roles and/or coming from a variety of departments. The more diverse the team is, the more comprehensive its perspective and reasoning will be. Identify key people without whom pro-environmental change in your organisation would be difficult, and try to involve them in the change process. Make sure that the meetings are held during working hours and establish framework rules for the team’s functioning, such as regularity of meetings (e.g. once a month) or planning the course of the meeting (agenda, chairperson, minute taker). If the group was created as a grassroots initiative, present the initiative to the management to ensure that the team’s activities are supported by the board and to strengthen the effectiveness of your recommendations.
Mapping and scaling
Map out your organisation’s existing pro-environmental initiatives (what they are, which are completed), including small-scale ones, so that you understand where your starting point is. In the first phase of planning changes, focus on what you as a team/organisation can influence. Start by thinking about small steps, consider when you want to achieve your first goals and in what time frame you plan to work on further modifications.
Thematic areas
When planning activities, define the thematic areas of the green team’s work, e.g. everyday practices, buildings, digital ecology, partnerships, programming, etc. We encourage you to use the catalogue of areas described in this guide, but you can also create your own categories – the most important thing is that they meet your needs.
Introducing initial changes
Introducing the first changes to an institution often does not require additional costs and, in some respects, can be done without negotiation with management or other administrative bodies. Such steps include, for example, creating a code of daily practices and introducing rules such as double-sided printing, serving tap water, or eliminating plastic bottles. Although these are minor changes, on an institutional scale they can have a significant impact on building pro-environmental attitudes. (see: EVERYDAY PRACTICES)
Another possible action is to develop pro-environmental regulations in cooperation with those hiring your institution’s space, e.g. the obligation to sort waste during commercial events, limiting plastic and gadgets, serving eco-friendly catering, etc. (see: ECO-ETHICS OF COOPERATION)
This guide includes tips on what first steps can be taken in various areas of the institution’s activities. Their multitude indicates how many aspects we can already influence directly at the first stage of the green team’s work.
Sustainable processes
To ensure that responsibility for implementing changes does not rest with just one person but is shared across the team, it is worth appointing leaders in specific areas. To avoid demotivation resulting from encountering initial difficulties and challenges, the first stage of the green team’s work can be treated as a pilot, i.e. a period of exploring the terrain and testing ideas. It is also worth ensuring that the goals of the green team become part of the professional responsibilities of its members – otherwise, involvement in the greening of the institution may become a ‘passion project’, opening the door to strain on employee well-being.
Formats
Green teams can take on a variety of organisational formats, more or less complex, depending on the capabilities and conditions of individual institutions. In smaller organisations, a function similar to that of a green team may be performed by a single individual (green ambassador, environmental coordinator, green leader, etc.).
