Green Jujitsu

Business has recently woken up to the need to address environmental sustainability in a meaningful way. No longer is it sufficient to have an environmental policy or environmental management system – substantial changes to business practice are required. Culture change is widely regarded as the most vital and the most difficult element of this paradigm shift. The standard methods of "switch it off" stickers, awareness presentations and proclamations from the top have proved incapable of delivering the shift in attitudes required. Green Jujitsu is a completely different way of looking at culture change for environmental sustainability. Instead of trying to correct your colleagues’ perceived "weaknesses", it focuses instead on playing to their strengths to get them truly interested and engaged. This principle is applied to the "elephant model" of culture change: providing clear guidance, inspiring people emotionally and altering the working environment. These techniques are illustrated with case studies from the author’s own experience of facilitating culture change on the front line in some of the world’s leading organizations.