Step Seven: Monitoring the Programme

Once your programme is underway, the Green Team will need to undertake careful monitoring to gauge its effectiveness.   This monitoring should consider the following variables: what data to record, how frequently to monitor, and the type and format of recording system.   Only through regular monitoring (and recording what you find) will you be able to adequately assess your programme's effectiveness.

Why Measure?

Measuring success provides you with information to help promote your programme and find ways to improve it. Measuring will tell you if you are on track to meet your goals. Top management, stakeholders, employees, tenants, and the community can learn how your organisation is eliminating waste, saving money, and helping the environment. If one of your goals is to receive external recognition for your efforts, then measuring your programme’s effectiveness is essential to provide evidence of your activities and successes. It also gives you the hard data you might need to justify the continuation of the programme and to let employees or tenants know that their extra efforts are indeed making a difference.

If the measurements reveal that the programme is not meeting your goals, the team needs to decide what the problems are and how to correct them. Be sure to document any changes to the programme and why they were made. This experience can help you with future projects. On the other hand, if the results show that the programme is effective, you’re ready to take on your next challenge!

Next Steps

The Green Team, in conjunction with the organisation's management, will decide the next steps to take. As part of its decision, the team will need to answer such questions as:

• Has enough time passed to accurately judge the success of the first effort?
• If so, did the team meet its goals?
• If not, can the problems be solved?
• Are team members willing and able to begin another initiative.
• Is the management ready to support another effort?

If the goals were not met, the Green Team needs to find out why, make corrections, and give the initiative more time to show success before beginning any new challenges. Without  initial success, management support for future efforts is unlikely.

Once you have the programme in place and are getting measurable results, call another meeting of the Green Team to re-examine your activities. What were your other priorities?

Remember, the goal is to continually expand and improve your environmental programme, thus making your business more sustainable. The most important thing is to keep moving forward and communicating change across the organisation.