Putting Mentoring to Work for Your Company
Companies concerned about environmental performance have long turned to colleagues for help. Several organizations — GEMI, for example — were founded on the notion that peer-to-peer assistance was the most effective means of grasping the complexities of environmental business issues.
But GEMI and most other organizations have focused on the big guys, the multinationals whose environmental problems were large and global. Smaller firms — the millions of machine shops, metal-finishing plants, printers, chemical refiners, manufacturing facilities, retailers, and countless others — aren’t able to benefit from such advice.
That represents a missed opportunity. In the U.S., businesses with 500 or more employees represent less than 1% of the total 5.3 million companies, according to census data. More than 98% have fewer than 100 employees. And a substantial number of these smaller firms lack the knowledge, time, money, and other resources to invest in pollution prevention, waste minimization, and other aspects of eco-management.
That’s starting to change, thanks to the growing number of mentoring programs aimed at small and mid-sized companies. The programs come from federal, state, and local government agencies; trade groups, both national and regional; academe; and from companies themselves.
Mentoring is maturing, as evidenced last month at a one-day workshop sponsored by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF), which recently launched a new mentoring institute.
The event brought together more than 100 representatives of various sectors to showcase programs and to discuss how to replicate their good work. Promoting mentoring is of prime government interest: Encouraging business-to-business mentoring brings more companies into — and beyond — compliance. That is one reason why the EPA’s Office of Reinvention was a visible player at the NEETF workshop.
The event pointed up the diversity of mentoring programs: their varied sponsors, styles, and motivations. Some are based principally on the need to share knowledge; others involve a more direct business logic, such as forging closer relations with customers or suppliers. We’ve tried to capture that diversity by summarizing ten programs in an accompanying table (see below).
Typical of company-sponsored programs is one by The John Roberts Co., a midsized Minneapolis-based printing company with a history of involvement in proactive environmental measures. In 1995, when the company was selected to participate in the EPA’s pilot Environmental Leadership program — one of just 12 companies — it tested the idea of mentoring eco-management techniques to a series of small printers ranging in size from 18 to 62 employees.
A major part of that effort was taking the John Roberts environmental management system (EMS) and “minifying” it to fit the specific needs of smaller companies, says Jeffrey R. Adrian, John Roberts’ environmental director. By doing so, he reasoned, “these companies would have a valuable tool to help them ensure their future environmental health.” The valuable lesson his company learned was that “any company, with a little practical help, could accomplish the implementation of an EMS, and smaller companies could benefit greatly from an EMS sized to meet their needs.”
The effort yielded dividends to the mentor, too. Adrian says that participating in the mentoring program reinvigorated his own company’s environmental efforts, encouraged the growth of new ideas, and provided opportunities for effective networking.
Helping Customers Cope
Chemical giant 3M took a different approach. Working in concert with the American Furniture Manufacturers Association and another company, Akzo-Nobel, it created a 1,100-page guidebook that contains environmental requirements specific to the furniture industry. It includes basic compliance information as well as more proactive measures. The project cost the two companies about $250,000, mostly for printing and an outside consultant who wrote the guidebook.
Why bother? “We sell to a lot of smaller companies,” says Tom Zosel, 3M’s manager of environmental initiatives. “This helps them to better meet their responsibilities and to use our products more responsibly.” He says the company hasn’t measured the direct benefits of the effort, though one result is that “customers are asking more questions about our products.”
The Local Angle
Most mentor programs are more localized, often involving regional business associations and government entities. One example is the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission’s “Texas EnviroMentor” program, aimed at helping more than 100,000 small companies in the state cope with regulations. The program matches volunteer legal and environmental professionals with small businesses needing assistance, offering site visits, workshops, and a telephone hotline.
Another local program is the Northeast Business Environmental Network, a network of environmental, health, and safety professionals that share EMS practices and procedures. The Lawrence, Mass.-based group has amassed a database of best management practices, including “the forms, policies, and procedures actually being used by companies,” which it makes available to mentees.
Making Mentoring Work
While mentoring is simple in concept, its execution requires some careful consideration. For starters, the issue of liability raises its ugly head any time one offers advice — even solicited advice — to companies: if the advice results in any kind of problem for the mentee, a mentor could incur liabilities. And what if a mentor sees a violation at a mentee’s facility and doesn’t report it? In theory, the mentor could become criminally liable.
Another issue is antitrust: Certain communications among competitors could become problematic if they are construed to be limiting competition or otherwise seen as conspiratorial.
In practice, these things don’t seem much of a problem. Indeed, no one at the Washington workshop could recall an instance where either liability or antitrust issues put a damper on a mentoring program. Still, they should be considered.
The more likely challenges are those involved with ensuring a program’s effectiveness. Stan Christian, director of safety and environment at Motorola, which has a robust supplier mentoring program, says key questions to evaluate are:
- Does the program add value to the mentee?
- Is it legally acceptable?
- Is there the full cooperation of all parties?
- Is the program manageable?
He stresses that nothing ensures a successful program like an eager mentee. Concludes Christian: “You have to keep in mind that it takes two to tango.”
Examples of Business Mentoring Initiatives
One-to-One: WasteCap Maine offers mentoring and technical assistance on waste-management issues. Services include site visits and telephone counseling. Emphasis is on beyond-compliance issues, including harnessing improvements to reduce costs, improve productivity, decrease liabilities, and improve reputation. For information contact: Gayle Briggs, program mgr., WasteCap Maine, c/o Center for Technology Transfer, 190 Riverside Street, Portland, ME 04103, 207-871-8254, gbriggs@ctt.org
One-to-Several: The John Roberts Company, a large (320-employee) company, provides direct, hands-on mentoring to a handful of smaller printers. Its emphasis is on “minifying” its own environmental management system to work in a smaller firm. Mentees are encouraged to use the EMS model to tackle specific challenges. For information contact: Jeffrey Adrian, environmental director, The John Roberts Co., 9687 E. River Rd., Minneapolis, MN 55433, phone 612-754-4420, jeffadrian@johnroberts.com
Customer-Supplier: Volvo Cars of North America Helps strategically important suppliers develop environmental management systems and attain Volvo objectives for reducing environmental impact. Suppliers conduct self-assessment; Volvo follows up with technical assistance. Process is described as a “mutual discussion with suppliers.” For more information: William Shapiro, director, regulatory compliance and environmental affairs, Volvo, 7 Volvo Dr., Bldg. A, Rockleigh, NJ 07647, 201-767-4772, vna.vnaws@memo.volvo.com.
Supplier–Customer: 3M allying with Akzo Nobel, funded an environmental guide for the furniture industry, one of their key customers. The result, an 1100p;page volume, was published in both electronic and printed forms. 3M’s main motivation was to “get our customers to better handle our products.” For more information contact: Tom Zosel, manager, environmental initiatives, 3M, P.O. Box 33331, St. Paul, MN 55133, 612-778-4805, twzosel@mmm.com.
Industry: Chemical Manufacturers Association, Responsible Care Program with its “mutual assistance network” includes compiling company best practices, regional networking meetings, Internet support, and a Management Systems Verification process, which brings in technical experts and representatives from the public to critique members. For more information contact: Daniel Roczniak, director, Responsible Care, Chemical Manufacturers Association, 1300 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22209, 703-741-5306.
Federal Government: U.S. EPA, Environmental Leadership Program through its Mentoring Program, forms relationships between large, environmentally responsible facilities and smaller facilities. Mentors provide help developing environmental management systems as well as provide education, training, and basic environmental guidance. For more information contact: Deborah Thomas, director, ELP, U.S. EPA, 401 M St. SW (2223A), Washington, DC 20460, 202-564-5041, thomas.debra@epamail.epa.gov.
State Government: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Small Business Assistance Program provides on-site assistance to small companies regulated by environmental laws. Mentors are volunteer industry professionals, matched according to experience, sector, and geography. Assistance covers both compliance and beyond-compliance topics, and is guaranteed confidential. For more information contact: Steven Hutchinson, Small Business Assistance Program (MC106), TNRCC, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711, 512-239-0773.
Regional Government: Businesses for the Bay is for companies of all sizes in six states and Washington, D.C., comprising the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Its focus is on helping companies achieve voluntary pollution-prevention goals via telephone queries and on-site meetings. For more information contact: Kelly Mecum, coordinator, Businesses for the Bay, 410 Severn Ave., Ste. 109, Annapolis, MD 21403, 410-267-5719, mecum.kelly@epa.epamail.gov.
Local Government: Santa Clara County Pollution Prevention Program is a county government-sponsored peer mentoring program that facilitates an exchange of pollution-prevention expertise. Emphasizes sharing of industry best practices, economic competitiveness, and market-based solutions to meeting company environmental challenges. For more information contact: Robert D’Arcy, Santa Clara City. P2 Program, 1735 N. First St., Ste. 275, San Jose, CA 95112, 408-441-1198, rob_d’arcy@qmgate.pln.co.sc.ca.us.