Green as a business strategy

Sheila Samuelson looks in companies' recycling bins. Then she checks their trash.

She also might examine their kitchenettes to see if reusable products are being used, or if unnecessary lighting is on during the day in snack vending machines.

“I look at some very granular things,” she admitted.

Her assessments are part of eco-assessments she does for clients, as owner of Bright Green Strategy, an Iowa City-based business that helps businesses work toward sustainability.

“Sometimes it's a matter of meeting with the staff for an hour or two and then touring their facility for an hour or two,” she explained. “I have to put my green glasses on and look at everything through that lens of efficiency by looking at every detail of their operation.”

Samuelson, an MBA graduate from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, formerly worked for a company in Chicago whose client base included such companies as McDonalds, Starbucks and Staples.

“I was the account rep for those companies and helped them with their sustainability tracking,” she said.

Her desire to start her own business brought her back to Iowa City, where she launched Bright Green Strategy in March 2010.

Turning a company toward sustainability is about assessing - not coaching - according to Samuelson.

“Sustainability includes taking care of people. People are part of the environment, but it is also about economics,” she added.

“If you are making a business decision that is a bad economic decision - by its very nature that is not going to be sustainable, and that can put your business out of business.”

MEASURE TWICE

Her company offers a five-step approach:

•  Measuring performance
•  Analyzing findings
•  Developing a strategy
•  Implementing that strategy
•  Remeasuring.

An initial baseline performance analysis is done, what she calls an eco-assessment - the process that includes studying recycling bins and the lights in the candy machine.

“The first thing I do is help them understand how they are performing today,” she said of her methodology. “I don't believe you can improve strategically unless you know how you are performing right now.”

Samuelson likened it to improving one's finances.

“You have to take stock of how much money you have in the bank, where you have money coming in and where you have money going out,” she said.

Samuelson uses this data in a written report that she presents to the client.

“It can be anywhere from 20 to 60 pages, depending on how much there is to write about,” she said.

The report is like a SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats - analysis.

“Once we understand their baseline, then we go through the process of setting goals for future performance,” she explained. “We're going to look at what we call SMART goals - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

“As an example, say the company wants to reduce its energy use by 20 percent in 5 years. We don't want to just say we want to use less energy, we set that specific goal and then once we have that, we have to come up with a path to reach that goal,” she explained.

At that point Samuelson works with the business to help integrate specific sustainability practices into their operations.

The business needs to study their energy bills, record and track every month's usage, and question the trends. Is billing going up? Are the peaks and valleys a result of current weather patterns, or are costs up because a new piece of equipment has been added, and so forth.

“It's about really looking at the data and understanding what is going on,” Samuelson said.

“With sustainability goals, you need to look at them monthly or quarterly - just the same as you would when you are tracking your financial goals. You don't set a goal at the beginning of the year and then wait to look at it at the end of the year.”

Samuelson suggested that there is a good business case behind sustainability.

“When you are using fewer resources, you are paying for fewer resources,” she explained.

“When you are creating less waste, you are not paying for it up front. You are also not paying to have it hauled away,” she added.

Kirkwood College recently contacted Samuelson when it wanted to launch a campus-wide “single-bin” recycling program. She helped design the program, and locate grant money to fund it.

“Now we're keeping track of the metrics and reporting back to a committee on a quarterly basis on how their recycling progress on the campus is going,” she said.

WHY GREEN CAN BE GOOD

“The environment and environmental considerations are part of it - but there is so much more,” said Sheila Samuelson, owner of Bright Green Strategy.

She cited 10 reasons why green is good for business:

1 Reduce expenses

2 Drive top line growth

3 Stakeholders expect it

4 Pre-empt regulation

5 Outperform competitors

6 Boost productivity

7 Improve brand image

8 Drive innovation

9 Differentiation

10 Attract and retain staff