Team Building & Sustainability: Going Green
Team building tends to be a one-off thing, held once a year usually with a different vendor from the previous year. But that’s not what matters here. With team building, events are usually resource intensive, partially because of their tendency to be large-scale events (i.e. Dinner & Dance), partially because they are held irregularly, which drives the perception that they are harmless.
However, with Global Warming and Climate Change taken into consideration, nature is suffering for our actions, and such practices with short-term focus are no longer sustainable. Thus, there is a need for team building to adapt to the zeitgeist and adopt sustainable practices. Here are some tips to make your team building greener, and more sustainable:
- Cardboard and paper frequently feature in such events. Worse yet, they are used in bulk. Why not think of Alternative resources that can be used? Plastic, while not exactly the most environmentally-friendly due to its being a non-biodegradable material, is possibly one of the best materials to use, because they can be re-used in future events, especially if the activity involves some form of construction.
- If paper and cardboard has to be used, and the nature of the activity means that it can only be used once, Recycle instead of throwing it away! Granted, transporting the materials may be quite the hassle, but consider this: what is more important, your convenience, or the state of the earth? The same applies for mineral water bottles. And in the case of leftover water, you can even water the surrounding flora with it before tossing the bottles into the recycling bin.
- Moreover, if possible, Conserve. If that means that teams have to work with limited materials, so be it! While a lack of resources is not exactly a good way to train one’s creativity, it does teach one to be more resourceful, which is a crucial part of being sustainable.
- Lastly, Sophistication. One way by which we can reduce the resources needed to organise and carry out team building events is to incorporate technology into such events. By making use of technology, it is possible to eliminate the need for materials such as paper entirely from such events, which is a great boon for the environment.
If ever you are lost and do not know how to run greener, more sustainable practices in your team building events, fret not! Think of sustainable team building as a rainbow. They make us happy, and they come in ARCS.
Know of how to make team building practices even more sustainable? Leave your comments in the section below:
