Colleagues, employees and partners need to understand the thinking behind your net zero journey: why you are doing it, the changes required – and the individual role they play. We bring a unique skills set to help you foster and sustain a net zero culture.
We connect your net zero strategy and actions to the people who play a central role in making it all happen: your managers, employees, business partners and wider people community.
For most organisations, earlier work in sustainability is nothing compared to the changes now needed. Rolling cultural engagement is the key, and we don’t mean po-faced messaging or guilting people into switching off lights. Old-school approaches are why so many energy saving initiatives failed.
We offer a different and more productive way: tailored communications that treat people as adults, tell them how it is, make them think differently – and ideally smile along the way. A “carrot and stick” approach doesn’t work: we need to take people with us, to make the change and make it stick.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel in terms of internal communications and colleague engagement. But you will benefit from a fresh, tailored approach: your net zero voice. We can build on channels and methods in place, bringing new ideas and creativity to share your net zero story and goals, changing behaviours and making sure everyone understands what they can do. Every organisation and story will be different.
The Net Zero Pathway tool is a great starting point. We can also talk you through the various options and services available.
We understand how people tick, and the vital role they play in achieving net zero.
Many net zero interventions and activities are already industry standard and best practice. It’s the people factor that can make the difference in your speed and direction of travel towards net zero.
Few organisations have as much experience as Consultus in aligning energy and sustainability strategies – your new net zero internal ‘brand’ – with your operational set-up, internal culture and organisational values. We do it ourselves, for our own business and people.
We take a holistic view of all the efforts and actions needed, and never underestimate the changes in mindset and behaviour required. Employee engagement must be a core activity as we transition to a low carbon economy, embedding new behaviours and fostering a culture in which the measures and activities needed to bring down energy demand and improve energy efficiency become second nature.
Our consultants will align your new or reinvigorated sustainability plans with your mission, values and culture, creating a workable people strategy that supports meaningful outreach, tailored high impact communications and high levels of employee engagement.
We can also monitor and report on the impacts and ROI from your net zero people strategy and communications programmes, for example through incentive-led programmes.
It’s often a humdrum “me too” world when it comes to marketing and communications. We can help your net zero messages to rise above the rest, and have a real impact on your people and culture.
To turn strategy into reality, we provide strong and persuasive messages for you to share via consistent and relevant communications, at the right time, in the right tone of voice, and using the most effective channels. This is an important way to accelerate your net zero journey.
We give you options. Flexible design templates and communications packages – online and off – reflect the personality you want to project, how fast you want to move towards net zero, and how you want your people to respond. Choose where you want to be on the spectrum: from a cautious slow-and-steady approach to full “eco warrior” mode.
We bring something you won’t get anywhere else: an outlook and approach in tone, messaging and graphics designed to elicit a positive and, we believe, more thoughtful response in people. Being smart without being clever-clever; using language and images that people perhaps weren’t expecting.
This is about keeping people engaged on the journey: delivering relevant messages in quirky and distinctive ways. We call this approach “double take – not double talk”.
Every situation is different. Communications services, channels and collateral available include:
- Review internal communications and employee engagement platform(s)
- Leadership and top-down comms
- Town hall / webcast content and presentations
- Storytelling
- Net Zero Champion programmes
- Performance and progress reports
- Workshops and discussion forum
- Workplace pulse surveys
- Net zero news cascades
- Team sites and net zero microsites
- Virtual suggestion boxes
- Internal blogging programmes
- Social media spaces
- Manager/team leader messaging support
- Awareness campaigns including posters and desk drops
- Competitions, promotions and incentive schemes
- Peer recognition schemes
- Employee accolades, awards and recognition
Our experience in multiple sectors and business settings means we will quickly align net zero messaging and internal communications activity with your branding, set-up, mission and values, and internal culture.
We help you to develop and manage tailored net zero incentive programmes to encourage employees to reduce their environmental footprint and be rewarded in the process.
There’s nothing wrong in rewarding people for doing the right thing: human brains are wired to respond positively to some form of recompense.
Incentive schemes can focus on diverse activities including energy saving throughout the day, suggesting and promoting net zero innovation, measuring and reporting on positive actions, reducing waste, and improving the organisation’s supply chain and processes to reduce carbon emissions.
Our experts design the right incentive schemes for your organisation and its culture. For example, financial rewards can link environmental performance to the compensation that employees receive: the organisation’s net zero goals are embedded into everyone’s day-to-day work.
Alternatively, a points system means employees can donate to a charity based on the “net zero points” they accrue in their work. Such a scheme directly links your own efforts to the wider community and society in general through charities that are themselves working towards a low carbon world.
Consultus charitable foundation
We are developing a broader corporate incentive scheme for net zero based on a charitable foundation model. As responsible corporate citizens, taking the notions of ‘profit with purpose’ and ‘leaving the world better than when we found it’ as our starting point, this model will enable organisations and brands to invest in global initiatives for sustainability and carbon reduction, including micro plants, decarbonisation efforts, renewable projects such as onshore and offshore wind, education and training programmes, agricultural projects, forestation and other activities. This will be a shared endeavour, with Consultus matching client investments.
Sometimes, you want to go further, however dynamic, relevant and engaging a communications campaign may be. The human touch is important, which is why we can support you in person.
As pandemic measures ease and with social distancing no longer a necessity, onsite support can help you to restate and reinforce engagement activity as you seek to change behaviours and develop a net zero culture.
Options and activities include:
- Classroom-based training and workshops: net zero awareness; why it matters; what you can do
- “Meet the expert” – employee Q&A sessions
- Net zero coaching: senior leadership team, managers, team leaders
- Town hall meetings
- Managing workplace discussion forum
- Net Zero Champion mentoring
- Storytelling workshops
- Communications and content training