Food for thought -The marzipan layer
When I was at Base (a conference for sustainable business) last week one of the speakers mentioned that the marzipan layer of people, typically in
their late 30s to mid 50s are often the hardest to win over when rolling out staff environmental engagement programmes. Although I don’t like to generalise or be ageist, I had to agree – working with a cross section of businesses large and small, I am always struck at how in general those in their 20s and 30s assume that an environmental approach is an accepted part of the way to do business, and want to know how to do it, not why.
It demonstrates to me that environmental considerations and carbon is becoming, and will become, embedded in mainstream business and not on the nice-to-have fringes, just as awareness of climate change has dramatically increased and moved to centre stage.
It also challenges those working to engage staff to know the audience and tailor the approach to where they happen to be, not where we want them to be. Getting the marzipan layer, often middle management, on board is key to effective implementation of any environmental programme.
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