There is a significant emphasis on the importance of taking care of our planet, and rightly so. As businesses are looking to adopt cleaner, greener practices, it is essential to look at the importance of greener project management.
There is no denying that greener project management is going to be a thing of the future and it won’t be something that businesses can choose to do because it will become an expectation. From sustainability to Corporate Social Responsibility and staff culture, greener project management is something that businesses will need to adopt but how can they achieve this?
1. Consider Your Current Project Sustainability
Prior to adopting greener project management, it is important to look at your current situation. Carrying out a thorough analysis will enable you to determine where improvements need to be made and will allow you to measure progress. This will also enable you to determine when a greener approach is only applicable to certain projects or your project management approaches in general.
2. Create a Sustainability Strategy
After you have completed your assessment, you should now create a strategy that identifies the goals of the organisation and how it will improve sustainability. It will also identify how you will achieve the improvements and what the outcome will be.
3. Put a Set of Sustainability Standards in Place
As project sustainability becomes an integral part of your business, it’s important to consider putting standards in place. To ensure that you are meeting targets and goals, standards can be used by executive leaders and project managers to measure the outcomes. A set of goals and metrics will enable you to guide each project so that it becomes greener and more sustainable.
4. Work with Partners and Suppliers Who Believe in Sustainability
If your business is large, then it might make it possible to place pressure on companies that you work with to become greener and more sustainable. You can ask them to become more sustainable as this will help to reduce your impact on the environment but will also help others to improve along the way.
5. Work With Teams
Once you have put your sustainability strategy in place and it has been clearly defined, you can begin working with teams and involving them in the process. You can work with them to obtain their feedback on your sustainability goals and ask them to come up with any ideas or solutions that can enhance your sustainable approach to project management. If they feel a part of the process then they are likely to become more aligned with your goals and help you to achieve them.
It’s imperative that more businesses look to adopt a greener approach to project management. In doing so, this new approach and mentality will filter through the business and bring with it a range of positive effects. Furthermore, it will enhance morale, improve efficiency and reduce waste all of which will help to give your business the ability to look more appealing to existing and potential clients.
So, what changes can YOU make to make your project planning a greener practice? Identifying greener options in your organisation can be a simple task, whilst other areas will require a little more research.
Resources
Initially, look at the tangible resources that you are using through your project management or general organisation. Where do these come from, what is the energy and carbon footprint to produce and use them? Could you make a switch to a local supplier if physical shipping is involved? This could be as simple as your paper supplier, printing process or materials for product production.
Equipment
The equipment your staff are using may not be project-specific however it is playing a vital role in your workforce and will often use huge amounts of energy. For example, a single laptop charger that is plugged in but not in use i.e. not connected to a laptop or where the laptop is fully charged, costs around £60 a year per charger. If you are an office-based business that’s a lot of chargers and if you have remote-working staff that is an expense, they are absorbing. Regardless of who is paying the bill, the excess energy used can certainly be powered down to make greener choices.
Suppliers & Platforms
As the saying goes ‘you vote with your wallet’, if your organisation is paying suppliers and using certain platforms and software to execute your projects, it is always essential to work with companies with positive ethics and values towards sustainability. In most cases, this information is outlined on the company’s website but if not, they should be able to tell you quickly where they source your supplies or the impact of their platform.
At Project Plan Services (PPS), we are here to support you and your business as you evolve and continue success in all environments. Our experts are on hand to understand the unique requirements of your organisation and support project management practices throughout. Book a complimentary Discovery Call to discuss how we can help you.