Page 91 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

70 CHAPTER 2

The Other Green in Green Glue

So what are the costs of all this green glue involved in culture creation? Does it pay off?
It is hard to sell the return on investment of soft practices in business. What seems
to happen as I work with leaders of companies is that, as they begin to internalize the
skills and practices introduced, they begin to see people act and perform differently
on the individual and team level. They begin to train people to implement the human
resource practices that improve people performance. They begin to see improved
financial performance as people get better at leading and managing themselves and
others. Thus, the strategic plan includes goals for development. Then, the leaders sup-
port the budget to implement the plan.
Sustainable companies get it. They know they have to devote dollars to ongoing
practices to ensure long-term success. Just as we learn that sustainable farming is not
a fast business, we know that sustainable business cannot plant a seed, ignore it, and
expect to see results. Thus, managing the people side of your business is one of the
most important strategies you can implement. Remember that you have to have the
right people on the farm working together, aligned in values and following a vision.
They need to be going in the right direction together to create alignment in order to
see their vision become a reality. They need the right skills and knowledge to perform.
The organic fertilizer for a sustainable company is interpersonal skills.
Having such a long, consistent tenure with Melaver, Inc. does enable us to put some
hard numbers in place to analyze the costs and benefits of the green glue that goes into
shaping a green culture. Over the most recent seven years, I have devoted about fifty-
four hours annually (or just over a half-day each month) to working with this company.
Of those fifty-four hours, two full days are allocated to the annual retreat with all staff
members present, and the balance is equally divided between my work with the
Sanskrit team (about ten people) and one-on-one coaching sessions. Roughly speaking,
I devote about a third of my time to the entire staff, a third to the leadership team, and
a third to individual discussions. The time devoted to Melaver, Inc. is not precisely the
same year after year. Work at an annual retreat can and often does set off a flurry of
human resources work focused on a particular aspect of culture building. As the work
progresses and various practices are implemented, my time tends to trail off until a new
set of challenges presents itself and the cycle begins anew. And there are times when
fiscal restraint or the sheer volume of work facing the staff limits the amount of money
and time Melaver, Inc. is able to devote to outside consultants, myself included. A
breakdown of my time from 2000 through 2007 can be seen in Table 2.3.
About five hundred staff hours are spent annually working with me, on average.
Most of that time is spent working with entire staff. About 25 percent of the hours are
with the Sanskrit management team; a small amount of time is spent in one-on-one
coaching, as shown in Table 2.4.
So what are the costs and benefits involved in the time devoted to culture building?
There is, of course, the cost of my time, which—on average—amounts to $10,725
each year. There is also the lost opportunity of revenue that comes from diverting