“How does a business become green?”  I was asked that question the other day, and, for the life of me, I didn’t have a simple, sound-bite-worthy answer. I think that’s because “green” is not a destination, it is a journey. But where does a satisfying, productive journey toward sustainability start? How about starting with Christopher Columbus? Why "Crazy Chris"? Because he set the example for everything you don’t want to do on your journey. When you think about it, when Chris started, he didn’t know where he was going. When he got there, he didn’t know where he was, and when he got back, he didn’t really know where he had been. (Imagine substantiating THAT expense report!) Where Chris went wrong was in not having a plan. But you should. And your plan to go green should include five Vs: a vision, a virus, verification, victories, and validation. Vision Your journey toward sustainability begins with a vision of what you would like your green printing business to look like in the future, say 3 to 5 years from now. What green attributes will your business have? What green practices will you employ? What do you want your customers, competitors, employees, investors, and others to say about you at that future point in time? Virus You need to be viral. It's up to you to infect your staff with your vision. Not just a few folks, but everyone. Because getting all of your team on board is central to your success. And despite being the captain of your expedition, you just cannot command your crew to buy-in to your vision of a more-sustainable business. Validation You can’t know how far you’ve come unless you know where you started. So before you plot your course toward greater sustainability, you will want to take a reading of where you are right now. For example, how much electricity do you use in a year? What percentage of your waste paper is recycled? What happens to other waste items, such as blankets, plates, banding, and pallets? What level of VOCs does your plant emit? Sure, it’s a lot of work. But it’s important, since it will map the starting point for your journey. And if you haven’t done a benchmarking assessment before, it will probably be an eye-opening experience that will show you that there are more areas in which you improve your sustainability performance than you ever knew. Victories Next, you’ll have to plot your course. Because you’ve done your visioning, you know where you want to end up. But what stops will you make along the way to ensure that you will get to your destination? And how can you ensure that you keep your crew happy and on-board as you go? The answer is to plan for a series of small victories – ambitious-but-achievable objectives that you and your team can accomplish and feel good about. Do you want to cut waste-to-landfill? Set a target that is a stretch, but that you think you can hit. Don't try to go to zero overnight. Work as a team to lay out the steps that are going to take you to that target. The more equity your crew has in the journey, the more likely they are to succeed. And be sure to set solid metrics so you will be able to know with certainty how close you are to the goal, and how soon you will get there. Validation When you hit your targets, celebrate the victories. A public round of praise for your crew is in order – use the company newsletter and a press release to your local newspaper for that. Food and drink are always good. (A traditional sailing reward was an extra ration of rum, but, given the times we live in, it is probably wiser to stick to pizza and sodas.) Remember that for most of your team, sustainability is uncharted territory. There is much to see, much to learn, and much to write home about. And the better they feel about the journey, the better ambassadors they will be in communicating your sustainability success story to their families, to your community, and to prospective customers.