It’s Not Easy Being Green…

It’s Earth Day in Hong Kong. I know it’s Earth Day because it’s on CNN International. Yet here in Hong Kong there are not parades, signs, or slogans. Life just goes on. I believe in being a good steward of the planet and I do what I can to live that way. I also believe that most people want to be good stewards, even governments and corporations.

Yet, many times, there is a disconnect between our words and our actions. Hotels are a good example. I stay in many hotels from the major chains to a local-one-of-a-kind. Usually I can find a card in my room that stresses the hotel’s commitment to being green by asking me to reuse towels and not change sheets everyday. This saves water by reducing the amount of laundering needed. Great idea. It’s a simple thing that I can do – just hang up my towels!

So, I do that. I hang up my towels. However, when I return to my room, I discover that all the towels are new. They changed them anyhow! I tried refolding them and hiding them among the other towels and that didn’t work. Frustrating as it is, I continue to do my part I hang up the towels.

Recycling is another simple way of being green. Many places I visit have receptacles to separate our waste for recycling. Another great idea! I do my part - I throw paper, cans, plastic, and trash into separate containers. One day I happened to stay late in the meeting room. I noticed that the cleaning crew emptied all the separate containers into one large container. They mixed all the stuff together! So much for recycling. Frustrating as it is, I continue to do my part I still separate the paper, cans, plastic, and trash.

Organizations may have a good green idea and yet the execution of that idea falls short. Is it because organizations are evil and only create these policies for the public consumption? Do they secretly tell the people to ignore that green policy? Sorry conspiracy lovers the answer is not that devious.

Being curious when I kept getting new towels, I started asking the people who cleaned my room about why they replaced my towels. I got two answers. The first answer was simple, “What policy?” I found confused housekeepers who had never heard of the policy. So they continued to do what they had always done…change all the towels.

The second answer was also simple…it is easier to replace the towels than to take time to figure out which towels were which. Deciding which to replace meant that they might not finish on time. I got a similar response came from the people who collected the waste in the meeting rooms. It takes longer and that affects their “performance standards”.

It is easy to create a policy; it is tougher to make sure that all the people understand it. It is even harder to insure that one policy doesn’t contradict another policy. When they do, the individual has to decide, “Do I follow the green policy and not get finished?” or “Do I replace the towels, be late, and run the risk of getting fired?” What choice would you make?

So the next time you are creating a new policy or wondering why an existing policy doesn’t work, think first and ask yourself…

1. How will this new policy align with other existing policies?
2. How do I ensure that people understand the policy and will carry it out?
3. Will this policy cause good performance to be punished?

Now I will tell you what one very clever hotel did regarding the towels. They installed a specific set of hooks in the bath and marked them for towels to be reused. They also told the housekeeping staff to ignore those towels. It worked! Everyone was happy – especially me.

From the shores of Cape Cod wondering why the power generating windmills are still on hold and realizing that, it’s not easy being green…

Charlie