What happens if

It used to be that our office strategized daily about how to improve our performance, how to improve our customer satisfaction, how to improve our sales and how to improve the overall experience that we give to our local community. We spent and still spend countless hours analyzing these issues and working to progress forward. We challenge ourselves with being current and futuristic about how our business works and how it will look in 5 years. Lately it seems that the voyeurism of 5 years into the future has cut been down to a time frame that is less than Moore's Law of 18 months.  What happens right now to all of us as the cost of gas rises and rises.

Our offices are in UTC and while we love our location, access to any transportation is pretty low.  I occasionally ride the Coaster to Sorrento Valley but that means someone has to come pick me up at the train and get me to our offices.  So, I don't ride the Coaster very often, it just is not that convenient.  This led to a larger conversation about how many people would ride the Coaster or Trolley if it were "possible".  This led to conversations about working 4 days a week in the office and 1 day at home to save gas.  Then we talked about moving to a location that had easy access to trains and trolleys - and using a communal car to meet with clients and visit job sites.  When you put all this together you get a whole lot of information and options.  How are we going to address the cost of gas in the microcosm of just getting to work and back home.  

I can go down the path of thought about how our San Diego world will change holistically as gas prices grow to $7-8-9 a gallon.  Maybe instead of one central office/showroom we will need 3 offices in regional markets - say north county, golden triangle and Chula Vista.  Our clients won't want to travel to a central spot to look for furniture because it will cost too much.  Do lease spaces become smaller?  Maybe we invest in technology and have our teammates work from home or in satellite spots.  How do you keep the cohesion of a team and the quantum thoughts that arrive out of putting collective thought and effort towards problem solving and our overall business if the teammates are scattered all over the place? Let's not forget that our company trucks and talented installation technicians have to deliver furniture and equipment throughout San Diego County with diesel fuel prices breaking the $5 a gallon mark.  But this is just about us.  What about our entire market - other companies face the same prospects.  

There was an article in the WSJ a couple of weeks ago about a company that is giving their employees $50 per paycheck to pay for the rising fuel costs.  I loved that idea but it is really not sustainable if gas continues to escalate.  It is more of a band-aid but an effective band-aid.  There was an article in the LA Times this week about a company in San Diego that is making "green crude" oil out of algae and carbon dioxide and processing it in existing oil refineries - Sapphire Energy.   The amount of articles about this subject in every publication is astounding.   The combination of innovative thought, innovative products and willingness to open our minds to see a different pattern will lead us through the needed changes that are coming quickly.

As we progress into a new economy and a new world, it is really important to keep an open mind about what we can do and how we can do it.  The current way of thinking and behaving is just going to have to morph because we are so reliant on gas and it is effecting us all.  Leading the way for change can be hard but not leading change is more painful.  What if we just do nothing.  That is just not an option for us.   

5 Tips for Leading Transformation ( from the CEO, Douglas Conant, of Cambell Soup Co.)

1.  Bring an "all things possible" attitude to the workplace

2.  Confront the brutal facts and be clear-eyed about the situation

3.  Set high standards and make expectations clear, as the ability to mobilize people is the key to success

4.  Give the organization time to do things right

5.  Do what you say you will, this is about performance, not intentions.

So, our roundabout conversation internally about what to do ended in a interesting place.   We have to do something and one solution doesn't work for everyone.   We have already moved team meetings to accommodate car pooling schedules, we are exploiting technology to create and transport visualizations of space and functional workplaces,  we are coordinating schedules with one another to avoid redundancies and share in transportation, we are finding key partners in destinations outside our a core area that can service the needs of our clients less expensively and we are talking about ideas daily.  The short, short term solution looks like ride sharing, public transportation usage and a communal hybrid for use after you get to the office.   The long term solution looks like a lot of small term thoughts strung together based on an overall strategy.   

Footprint

If you haven't taken your carbon/ecological footprint, there is a fun interactive site to visit that will open your eyes.  www.ecofoot.org.   I have looked at other tests and sites that offer this type of evaluation but this one was pretty good.  It is certainly about your personal consumption versus your work consumption but of course, those worlds collide.  

Since I tend to work well with check lists, I thought I'd take some green practices that are relevant to the office  and list them here.  So many of us inhabit office space that was not built green - and even if you do work in a green building, here are some tactical things you can do to better your green world.  

At your desk, or as an individual, here you go - things you can somewhat control.

1.  Use a coffee mug instead of paper/Styrofoam/plastic cup for your coffee.  1.9 million tons of paper and plastic cups and plates are thrown away each year.  Yes, your Starbucks cup is recycled paper and can be recycled but that requires energy so just don't use paper cups.

2.  Get rid of the disposable pens and pencils.  5.1 billion pens are disposed of each year when you run out of ink.  Get a refillable pen and enjoy better quality and produce less waste.  Cut down those purchases from Office Depot.

3.  Paper is an easy one.  Print on both sides, print less, save paper in a tray on your desk that is only used on one side and use it as scrap paper, proof on the screen so you only print once, recycle the used paper and buy recycled paper.  It is so hard to stop using paper but you can certainly cut down on the amount by a bit and that little bit adds up.

4.  Turn off your computer completely at night and turn off your monitor at night too.  If you are away during the day, put your computer to sleep ( system preferences on your computer allows you to change settings ).  www.energystar.gov has some "how to" guidelines for computer users.

5.  Bring your lunch to work in reusable containers.  You don't need to buy new containers, just reuse the ones from the take out food you ordered.  Reuse bread wrappers and other plastic packaging and avoid buying plastic bags.  Give up yucky plastic forks and spoons.  

Pretty simple stuff that adds up and makes sense.

The Intention of Green

I attended a wonderful lunch sponsored by CREW San Diego a couple of weeks ago.  It was a board discussion that involved the Port of San Diego, the Airport of San Diego and the Pacific Gateway development in San Diego.  The discussion was not about green or anything so specific but,  there was this one statement made that stuck in my brain and resonated over and over.   I will never get the exact wording right but the statement went something like this - The Pacific Gateway project will of course be LEED certified...  Then later in the conversation when the board was talking about opposition to work done by any of the entities ( the airport, the port, Manchester etc ) it was said that the "environmentalists" are always fighting and very vocal.  I totally appreciate both sides of that story - those fast adapter, radical environmentalists can be completely anti-development and crazy in the minds of business people.  In the same light though, would we be building green buildings if it weren't for the efforts of the USGBC to help educate and evolve the way we build?  There is a happy medium between development and green and they can coexist in my mind.  There is clearly an intention to being green.

There was an RFP out on the street that had the intention of green but judging by the words chosen, it is clearly an intention without an understanding.  Would the team building a new corporate headquarters really build green if they didn't feel some pressure?  'A key goal of the project is to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for this project.  Products that support LEED are of interest and may be considered over other products'.  Well now that barely makes sense other than you can figure out the intention of being green.  Products don't get you to LEED certification.  Process, teamwork and collaboration will get you a "green" building.  There is not a "greener" product per say - especially as it relates to this evaluation because you can only add into the mix of calculations for the overall project.  

To be truly helpful and relevant to LEED, an RFP could ask questions that go like this:

Describe your documentation process for materials you are proposing to supply to the project.    This is no easy feat as the products we support are varied and each one different.  It is cumbersome and hugely time consuming to do this - that is assuming you even know where to start.  

Provide the documentation relevant to LEED credits early on and submit using calculations.  Jeez, you really have to know what you are doing here.

Provide your process of touch up for the products you are supplying.  Often times the dealerships install these wonderful Greenguard products and then slather on the high VOC touch up paint in the field.  Yikes, talk about blowing out the LEED points.

Provide details about the packaging and disposal of trash on site.  This RFP had the standard statement that says we can't use the GC's dumpster.  Well according to LEED, that is a no-brainer - how about if we offer up our own cardboard dumpster for 100% recycling and then we provide our waste tickets to our LEED coordinator.  Wow, different approach huh.

There is really so much to learn and so much to know with how to build green.  I am just truly happy we are getting to the point where most things we hear about are intending on green building - and learning how to green build along the way.