Slides from Sarah Church, Sustainability Project Manager, Alameda County GSA-Sustainability, presented at the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council’s 2019 Summit in Portland, OR.
7. Social Norming:
Amplify an Example
Interviewed Probation
Department
Their interests mirrored in
other departments
Developed “Plan-Ahead
Ordering” based on their
success
Told the story
8. Convenience: Make Green Easy
Collaborated with
Vendor: Green
Favorites List
Easier to buy…
….and easier to track
9. Social Diffusion:
The Messenger Matters
“Green & Healthy”
Event and meeting
certification
Identified “green
champions”
Free pitchers for
meetings
10. Prompts:
When and Where They Decide
“Range anxiety”
Bad news travels
Be as close to the
decision as possible
11. Address Challenges: Work
within other requirements
Small, Local Emerging Businesses
Find synergies between the programs
Address challenges FOR your buyers
12. Resources
Alameda County (more about our
engagement strategies): www.acsustain.org
CBSM.com (articles, case studies, forums):
www.cbsm.com
Tools of Change (free social marketing
planning tools and resources)
www.toolsofchange.org
We recognized that many of our sustainability initiatives not only involved sustainable purchasing, something we knew we would want to devote energy to, but that even if our centralized purchasing office did everything it could, there was still a human element, a behavior change element, that had to shift.
[click] If we wanted to shift our vehicle fleet to EVs, we had to make sure employees were comfortable with range and plugging in.
[click] If we wanted to switch to recycled content office supplies, each department or team might have their own admin staff ordering… we had to familiarize employees with these products and new processes.
[click] If we wanted to cut what we sent to the landfill, we would have to shift norms and product selection for small and large events being planned across 20 agencies.
Their interests: save time, don’t do the same process over and over if it can be done once, cut down on paperwork
Questions for their worksheets:
Think of some decision-makers whose engagement might improve your green purchasing outcomes. Who are they? What motivates them? What bugs them? How might sustainability be aligned with their goals?
Which of the strategies (social norming, social diffusion, prompts, addressing challenges) might help you engage these decision-makers?
Questions for their worksheets:
Think of some decision-makers whose engagement might improve your green purchasing outcomes. Who are they? What motivates them? What bugs them? How might sustainability be aligned with their goals?
Which of the strategies (social norming, social diffusion, prompts, addressing challenges) might help you engage these decision-makers?
Thank you! We would love to hear more about how you are using CBSM and answer questions.
[pause for questions if time]
