Lessons in Learning: “Green Classrooms” Part 1

How a major consumer-products manufacturer saved some green by innovating training delivery.

It’s been my privilege to work with this client, a global consumer-products manufacturer, over the past four years as they’ve implemented a comprehensive training program within their innovation management discipline – training designed to help create a consistent Program Management Community of Practice.

First, under the leadership of the innovation management director, a competency model was defined and implemented. As the firm’s training partner, PM College assisted in the design of the curriculum and helped deliver the training content. The curriculum was created to match a four-tier Program Management Competency Model:

• Tier 1 – Basic Program Manager
• Tier 2 – Intermediate Program Manager
• Tier 3 – Advanced Program Manager
• Tier 4 – Master Program Manager

We deployed the first four courses as quickly as possible to support key corporate initiatives and then rolled out the complete curriculum, which included seven instructor-led course offerings and 20+ virtual/web-based training opportunities.

As if this were not challenge enough, at the same time, the innovation management team looked for new ways to support their company’s corporate commitment to sustainability, a commitment that requires every department to examine every aspect of the work it does with an eye towards sustainability. This is not intended to be a slow and protracted effort: the company is making an accelerated commitment to work against some of the global environmental challenges that we face. Naturally, to accomplish these goals, innovative thinking and practices will be needed, and  where better to “walk the talk” than within an innovation management training initiative?

The Case for Change
In a world of constant change, we often ask ourselves, “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” The innovation curriculum was widely recognized inside and outside of the company as a “Best in Class” learning experience so why change? The answer was simple – business and products constantly change, students’ needs constantly change, and accordingly training efforts must be continually improved to ensure the best possible learning results in content, delivery and environment. In addition, for a company that generates tons of packaging by the nature of its business, the imperative to be part of the solution, instead of merely contributing to the problem, has become pressing.

Defining the “Green” Sustainable Classroom
The term “green” classroom suggests a space and a learning environment that is environmentally friendly.

As applied by this client's leadership team, the green classroom is one that takes advantage of every opportunity to conserve resources, while at the same time preserving or enhancing the learning experience. The immediate question was: “Is it possible to deliver sustainably and not subtract from the learning experience?” There were many reasons that could be given for not moving to greener classes. But for this client, the direction was clear and, emboldened by strong, clear leadership commitment, the team was challenged to think outside the norms of training execution and create innovative solutions.

Immediately, it was recognized that not every class is suitable to “go green” but every option still should be explored. In the end, as we’ll see in next week’s blog post, the “green classroom” saved some “green” as well as conserving resources.

The company hopes that, in publicizing this effort, those savings will be amplified as other corporate training initiatives follow suit. “We hope that our successes and lessons learned will inspire others to go “green” and in doing so, our efforts will be multiplied,” says the innovation department manager.

Next week: In the Green Classroom, Even First Steps Yield Cost Savings