Upper management’s approval? Check. Green IT baseline? Check. Green IT strategy? Check. Engaged employees? Not quite.
This is the scenario of many organizations implementing green IT programs. Employee engagement is one of the most critical components to your organization’s green IT program but it’s often overlooked. The benefits of true staff engagement to your business and green IT program ensure the time and effort is well worth it. Engaging your employees can be achieved by following seven simple steps.
- Know your Audience
Ensure you understand the people you are targeting. It may be beneficial to bring in an outsider to hold a focus group to help you better understand how to engage your staff.
- Develop a Communications Plan
Identify how you can communicate with staff and keep them engaged. Your communications plan will force you to think about how you want your employees to participate.
- Inform
Ongoing, repeated, consistent communication internally will ensure that your employees care about and participate in your initiatives. There are many strategies, including hosting lunch and learns, holding competitions, and launching fun campaigns.
- Empower
In addition to informing employees, empowering them with tools to help monitor their consumption is an effective strategy.
- Recruit
Recruit a green IT team with representatives from various departments. This will give you a thorough understanding of opportunities and challenges across the organization.
- Set Targets
Assess your current operations and create a baseline that you can measure your efforts against. Armed with hard numbers and targets, you can set goals for the organization and employees.
- Celebrate Success
Finally, when you have started to see results, celebrate! Encourage and thank employees by rewarding them.
To learn more click here to view the complete article by Britt Burnham