Getting buy-in: Suggest a pilot

How do you get the green light to go green?

If your efforts to implement new sustainability measures are hitting a wall of “No” from decision-makers, try something that has worked well for others:

View full size image of A red bubble saying "big project", pointing to a yellow bubble that says "small pilot", pointing to a green bubble that says "big project"

Suggest piloting a new initiative.

It's easier to get sign-off on a trial run.

A pilot could be a short amount of time or a small amount of staff, or both. By starting small, when challenges arise, they’ll be on a smaller scale, and you can find solutions before rolling out full force.

Disprove the nay-sayers.

Often people’s perceived fears of what could go wrong are bigger than reality. Once you’re able to demonstrate that the wort-case-scenario didn’t happen, it will be easier to get buy-in.

Track complaints and compliments, issues and resolutions, as well as outcomes during the pilot. If you have a few vocal dissenters, their voice is put into the broader perspective of the whole workplace.

Once you’ve shown it can be done, it'll be easier to get the go-ahead to take it workplace-wide.