I recently had the opportunity to listen to a podcast hosted by Gary Stringer at HowNow, which talked about the role of L&D in tackling climate change. It had two amazing guests, Ajay Jacob from TomTom and Fiona Morgan from SailGP.
Now, I’m not a big podcast person, but this one caught my attention because climate change is an issue that’s close to my heart, and I couldn’t not listen to it. The entire episode was insightful, with everyone sharing their thoughts on how to handle this crisis and the initiatives that are already on in their respective organizations.
Drawing insights from the podcast, and adding my own thoughts, here is what I believe L&D can do to tackle this important topic in their organizations.
In terms of goals, we’re aiming for:
- Attitudinal change (i.e., move people from wherever they are to the belief that ‘this is an important problem to be solved’)
- Behavior change (i.e., observable changes in the actions they take and the choices they make every day)
- Building up of and an improvement in relevant skills (i.e., the hard skills needed to make above choices and put them into action)
So, let’s get down to what L&D can actually do.
Educate
As the first step for educating employees, we want to:
- Raise awareness about the problem, if it didn’t already exist
- Build the necessary skills to help them take action
“The focus should be on selling the vision of a better future, not just the problems caused by plastic waste.”
This was one of the things I heard in the podcast, and it made so much sense.
Research too backs up the idea that a positive outlook, rather than a pessimistic one, causes people to look at things differently, which then can lead to a change in behavior. So, instead of ranting on about how the world is coming to an end, which can be extremely unhelpful, a good idea is to focus on a positive outlook for the planet and its inhabitants.
Also, in my individual endeavors at having climate conversations with people, I’ve found that making it personal elicits a good response most times. At least, the person I’m talking to responds positively to the message, acknowledging that climate change is indeed a problem to be addressed. Contrast this with other approaches where I talk in general about the impact of climate change on the planet, and I’ve had people walk away with an air of dismissal.
If your organization has the resources, by all means go for creating customized content to serve your specific audience. If not, there are plenty of resources available out there that can be utilized for this purpose. A couple of things to note here:
- In addition to looking for courses, search in the somewhat unlikely places too; for instance, YouTube videos, documentaries, and even blogs and vlogs who document their journey towards sustainability. Many times, I’ve found these resources to be to-the-point and highly useful.
- You need excellent curation skills, so you can find the right resources that are in line with the work of your organization. For instance, if your organization provides online services, there is no point in sharing a video that talks about making manufacturing practices sustainable.
Another way to educate is by embedding sustainability into the employee onboarding and other ongoing training programs. For instance, if you’re doing a training about decision-making, some of the scenarios could be about making planet friendly choices.
Communicate, constantly and relentlessly
Behavior rarely ever changes with one-and-done initiatives. And climate change is no exception.
So, now that the initial awareness building and persuasion are done (hopefully employees are convinced that this is a real problem that needs to be addressed), it’s time to start reinforcing the desired behaviors.
Remember, this is a continual process, and you will need to address this from as many directions as possible. Directions could mean:
- Aligning organizational systems and processes around this goal
- Ensuring that the employee benefits are structured around climate-oriented choices
- Embedding sustainability into individuals’ roles
- Structuring incentives around climate friendly actions
- Setting up rewards for good behavior
I realize that these actions are easier said than done, because in many organizations, L&D does not have a say in the overall functioning of the business. In which case, you could focus on setting up a consistent communication campaign.
Be practical and open
While you design communications and systems to encourage sustainable behavior, keep in mind that everyone is on their own journey. And even with the best of intentions, it may sometimes not be possible to make seemingly simple changes.
Therefore, although it’s a good idea to reward and celebrate good decisions and behavior, the last thing we want to do is to shame people into compliance.
Also, make sure to watch out for and recognize even small actions… these, sustained over a period of time, can lead to a bigger impact than major, one-and-done changes.
Mind your language
The use of language is important in framing the conversation about sustainability internally. The word ‘sustainability’ can sometimes have negative connotations, so rebranding it as something that’s more neutral such as ‘purpose’ can make it more attractive to people.
This again is one of the things I heard in the podcast, where Fiona Morgan talked about calling it the Big Picture group (rather than the Sustainability group). This apparently elicited greater interest and participation, and employees were more open to being a part of and contributing to the group.
Set an example, all the time and every where
This is perhaps the most important aspect of your initiative. A surefire way to disengage employees from the purpose is for the organization or its top leaders to not live the values themselves.
Is the organization following sustainable practices? How climate-friendly are the decisions made by the top management. What happens in company events? How responsible is the company environmentally?
These are questions that employees are asking in their minds all the time. The company’s and management’s actions must be cognizant of this.
And, make sure to communicate with employees at every juncture. If you’re replacing the snacks in your office cafeteria with vegan alternatives, explain why. And if you’re unable to make sustainable choices at your big company event, also explain why.
As mentioned before, everybody is on a journey when it comes to sustainability. And so is the organization. Sometimes we are able to make choices that are healthy and good for the planet, and sometimes we’re not. Keeping the lines of communication open with employees, explaining your rationale for decision making, and being receptive to suggestions from employees will go a long way in the organization being accepted as a responsible one.
Understand the barriers to taking action and address them
When it comes to climate change, there are two distinct categories of people:
- Climate alarmists – the people who believe that climate change is real, and it’s happening fast, and that the world as we know it is going to end soon
- Climate deniers – those who firmly believe that climate change is not real, and that they can continue to live their current lifestyle without thinking about the consequences
The reality is that the two categories are on opposite ends of a spectrum, with the majority of the people falling somewhere along the line. They believe that climate change is real. They also want to make changes to reduce their carbon footprint. However, there are some barriers preventing them from doing so.
Let me share some of these barriers from my own personal experience:
| BEHAVIOR | BARRIER |
| A friend of mine carries colored plastic bags for disposing used articles while traveling They love the idea of these pastel-colored bags, so they buy them in bulk regularly | Novelty |
| My neighbor insists on bringing party poppers (confetti) to every party They believe that no party is complete without this paper & plastic dust | Principle |
| My father-in-law refuses to fix a leaky tap Engaging a plumber costs money, while dripping water doesn’t | Budget-consciousness |
| An aunt of mine refuses to give up the use of Ziploc bags No more waiting for your neighbors to return your precious containers | Convenience |
All of these people want to make positive changes towards becoming more sustainable. But dig a little deeper, and we find that there are barriers to making these changes. Understanding these barriers and the underlying reasoning will go a long way to helping us address them.
In an organizational context, you can address these barriers either through campaigns or your learning solutions, or establish systems to enable the same.
In the podcast, Fiona Morgan talked about providing affordable reusables for their employees. Another example that Ajay Jacob shared is that in many countries, coffee shops offer subsidized or even free coffee to people who carry reusable cups.
Here’s yet another example of where creating a system helped people, and the organization, become more sustainable.
A few years ago, Walmart had set a goal to reduce their packaging by 5%. But they had 60,000 suppliers. So for a store manager, it’s really difficult to know which suppliers to use to hit that target. So, Walmart created a packaging scorecard which was a really quick way to compare suppliers so you could make a more sustainable decision and help the company achieve that goal.
Back to the barriers.
Learner personas – remember? If you do your homework, you will understand the barriers that prevent people from taking sustainable action. You can then bake these into your personas, ready for your next action.
So, lean in to your learner personas, and create systems, materials and campaigns to help your colleagues and organization become more sustainable.
What are your thoughts? What would you add?
Written by Srividya Kumar, Co-Founder @ Learnnovators
