In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned the five steps to starting a Go Green program at any office. One of the first steps is choosing a Green Team Leader. In future posts, I will cover each of the other steps in more detail.

In order to find the right candidate, what type of attributes should you look for?

Depending on the size of your organization, these are the traits and characteristics of the ideal Green Team Leader.

1. Conviction: The person chosen to head up an organization’s green program needs to be passionate about the environment, which includes sustainability, recycling and energy savings. Look at the type of car they drive, or whether or not they carpool, take mass transit, etc. Are they involved in home recycling program? Are they constantly prodding others to turn down the heat in the winter? Do they drink from reusable bottles or mugs? Bottom line, do they practice sustainability at home and at work?

2. Enthusiastic: Any program, regardless of its importance, will die a quick and quiet death if the leader isn’t enthusiastic about it. When you ask for volunteers, their hand should be one of the first to go up. In fact, many times they are the ones to suggest a Go Green Campaign in the first place. Enthusiasm really does rub off on people and is highly contagious.

3. Dynamic: Just because somebody composts their newspapers and food scraps into mulch, and drives a Prius to work, doesn’t mean they can rouse up the troops and encourage participation from other members in various departments.

4. Political: A Green Team Leader must have the ear of someone in management in order to persuade them of the benefits of a green campaign, and to ask for meeting time and space, a small budget and the ability to reach within various departments for other Team members. If the idea has come from someone in management, then somebody with close ties to that person will be a wise choice, if not for leader, then at least as a liaison.

5. Leadership Skills: Someone needs to lead, and the Team Leader needs to choose volunteers from a variety of departments, which will all have various levels of enthusiasm. They need to recruit people that share their goals and aspirations in Going Green and can then rally the troops within their own departments. Good leadership skills can help guide the program through the necessary channels.

6. Passionate: Starting a green program from scratch takes a great deal of time and effort. Like any new program, there will be resistance and a constant call for keeping the status quo. With a tough economy, there will be talk of putting things off until budgets improve, times get better, a golden rainbow appears in the distance, etc. Passion for the program will help this leader through, as support will continuously rise and fall.

Do you know someone that meets these characteristics? Remember, these are the traits of the ideal candidate. Not every organization will have someone who meets all six traits, so the leader needs to surround themselves with other team members that can comprise a variety of these traits and characteristics, in order to be successful

Starting a sustainability program or green program should make sense for every company, regardless of size. Whether it is energy savings, improving one’s corporate image, corporate social responsibility, etc., it takes a leader to get the program off on the right foot.

Good luck in finding your Green Team Leader

Go Green Today for a Brighter Tomorrow.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.