Creating a “green culture” within an organization, especially one as dynamic as a hospital, can seem like an overwhelming challenge. Employee engagement can be an important first step in overcoming this challenge.
This week’s Going Green! features The Chester Network, a growing group of hospitals working under one umbrella of staff engagement with respect to energy efficiency. The Network currently includes Alexandra Marine and General Hospital (AMGH), Stratford General Hospital (SGH), Seaforth Community Hospital (SCH), Clinton Public Hospital (CPH), St. Mary’s Memorial Hospital (SMH), London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), and St. Joseph’s Health Care, London (SJHC).
Find a Champion, Build a Team
Green teams are essential to the success of sustainability programs in hospitals. In addition to assisting with the hands-on aspects of behavior change, a green team will help build a culture of sustainability within the hospital, which has been shown to benefit staff retention and satisfaction. A good place to start is with an executive champion, who can ensure you receive the support you need to get started.
Make it Meaningful
The Chester Network has been built on eight years of success and is hosted by the energy mascot Chester. The program engages all hospital employees by using effective behaviour change strategies. Chester takes a light and fun approach while focusing on aspects of energy saving that are meaningful and of value to the employees. The employees, in turn, are able to utilize the program to save money at home while helping to create a new norm of energy efficient behaviour at work.
“Once you are able to create a new perceived norm - that people are engaged in helping to save energy at the hospital - the program beings to do the work for you.” says Mark Read, Chester Network Coordinator.
Make it Fun!
Creating a challenge or competition for employees is a fun and effective way to demonstrate the impact of employee behaviour and offer immediate gratification. Within The Chester Network, energy challenges are run at the department level as well as between hospitals.
Departmental Energy Challenge
Using a portable power analyzer, the electricity used by departments is measured before and after the department is challenged to reduce. The challenges are run for five weeks at a time and are a great team building and engagement activity.
Hospital Energy Challenge
The Chester Network recently began its first inter-hospital energy challenge. Using 2010 electricity consumption as a baseline, five hospitals (AMGH, SGH, CPH, SCH, and SMH) are competing to achieve the greatest energy reduction during the month of June. To keep the challenge fun, a boxing theme is being used. Employees that pledge to keep an eye on energy use in their area can have their energy AVATARS created and added to ring on the network website.
Communicate Success
In order to secure ongoing participation, successes need to be communicated. Teams and individuals who are recognized for their work are likely to continue to create savings and motivate friends and colleagues to do the same.
Employees that are making an extra effort toward energy saving are rewarded and recognized as energy heroes. Their story and picture is circulated through the hospital and placed on the energy website where they can recognized by colleagues and friends as champions in their area.
If your hospital has taken on environmental initiatives, the OHA wants to hear about it! Email Green@oha.com to share your organization’s case studies and stories.
Submissions for 2011 Green Health Care Awards are due by June 30. The Green Health Care Awards recognize leadership and excellence in reducing health care’s environmental impact. Nomination and award details can be found here.