I was in a discussion with some professors at College Leadership Conference about the "Green Movement". I made the comment that many colleges and businesses are shifting to green initiatives because it is the "in" thing recently. While I visit many college campuses I see litter and little to no recycling and I see false environmental Jargon with no teeth. These professors stared at me for a moment, then expressed that many of them do not know what to do to justify the environmental movement on campus.
I agree we often (this includes businesses with New Business theories) jump into this frenzy of doing the "NEW THING" and have no idea how to implement it or even if it is right for the organizational culture and climate. I remember when the "Fish Philosophy" emerged. Many companies I was facilitating and consulting on team goals and team skills wanted their training to be "Fish Philosophy". I read the books and studied about "Fish Philosophy" created customized trainings based on the philosophy. Many of the groups after I consulted really had no concept of what it really meant. They heard that this was the "IT" thing and thought "WE have to do this because Betty in accounting said it is great!" These ideas come and pass rapidly and HR as well as Team managers have very little to no thought about the long term effects.
This "flavor of the month" creates a culture of false buy-in. Employees know that if they attend the parties sit in the consultant training meeting - while creating and illusion of following the new company track - things will go back to the way they have always been. A crying wolf culture the team soon becomes numb to new ideas and concepts within the culture. Take care when jumping into the new trends - A new one I see that makes me nervous is the Generation Y wave of fear and trainings going on - I understand and see the irony - I lead gen-y trainings myself and I feel that it is not just a Gen-Y shift we are going through it is a full spectrum of all generations at the workplace. If you are going to follow the "IT" theory think about how it can be implemented into the work and college or university culture. These juggernauts often shift slowly - so choose wisely where to spend time and organizational change.
Back to environmentalism WHAT are you and your culture doing? It is easy to create false claims the challenge to is implement plans and organizational change.
- Michael Cardus serves as an Adventure Consultant for Create-Learning Team Building. Mike facilitates, trains, and speaks to groups in a variety of settings including Fortune 500 Companies, small business, universities and classrooms. Currently he lives in Buffalo NY, he travels to serve your groups needs - where and when your group desires.
