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You Have Your Green Team, Now What?

Steps to establishing a cohesive and effective sustainability management team

A graduate of Presidio’s Graduate School of Sustainable Management, Jamie Simon was Red Bull North America’s first Director of Sustainability, establishing the global giant’s internal sustainability platform. Currently, she is a Managing Partner with Canopy Strategies–a team of professionals aimed at delivering forward-looking corporate social responsibility vision through applied, practical solutions. With a long history of project and team management, Simon provided valuable insight into creating the infrastructure, communications platform and time frame needed to facilitate an effective Green Team.

What once was just a glorified buzzword has gone on to become the most substantial business practice movement of the past century. Sustainable business is no longer just a hypothetical notion, but a necessary aspect to any successful business model. With the impetus and desire to put a “Green Team” into place, the question is no longer, “What?” but instead, “How?”

First Steps

Start by outlining the Mission and Vision of the Green Team. Consider your current brand and make sure both the Mission and Vision are inline with existing brand values. Follow this initial step by getting buy-in from other company stakeholders and departments, including marketing, branding, operations and leadership. This will be essential every step of the way. Even if not directly involved, it’s important to let all employees know they’re included in the “greening” process, allowing them to claim ownership and be proud of their company’s corporate responsibility. Once established among the Green Team, share the Mission, Vision and ultimate objectives company-wide via frequent internal communications.

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