innovation curve

Last week I had my first Agent of Change class. It went well and the students come from a variety of professions and lifestyles. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect walking in, but one thing that surprised me was the founders’ approach to making change.

Early in the class the teachers (also the founders of the course) brought up an old friend I had studied in college, the diffusion of innovations and innovations curve. Basically, the curve depicts how ideas are picked up by others and thus move through society (including the sustainability trend). Those who pioneer new ideas and technology are considered “innovators” and quickly adapt to the new idea/technology, whereas those who are the last to get on board are “laggards”. We split into groups and when I really started to consider the curve with my partners I realized how Europe, for instance, and my home state of Ohio need to be considered on separate curves. Sure, on a curve depicting the developed world, Europe is at the front while Ohio is farther back, but when you consider just one place, those in Ohio who have started to make positive change would qualify as the early adopters. Here in Portland if you are just getting on board you may be considered an early or late majority. It’s all relative.

I mention this curve because the idea of the class is not to try to target those in the back of the curve, which I previously would have suspected. The founders decided that there is power in numbers, and if they can reach out and provide training to the early adopter crowd there would be a larger group available to help the late majority and laggards. More and more, it makes me want to take my knowledge and help another area develop and implement a sustainability plan.

Each student in the class chooses a group they are a part of and want to create positive change in. For the purposes of the assignment, I’ll need to choose a group in Portland to practice on, and this will hopefully set me up to work on a bigger project elsewhere. I’m still brainstorming, but will use this blog to record each step of my project.

“the recycling nazi”

Last week I was riding MAX with some friends and we started chatting about work. I’m not sure how it even came up, but one of my friends started telling me about one of her co-workers who has taken it upon himself to micromanage the disposal of items in the communal kitchen. Apparently he makes his own signs to hang by the compost bin, lightly scolds those who do not rinse their plastic before tossing it in the recycling bin, and even told my friend she should request that the nearby coffee shop she patrons switch to biodegradable cups.

At first I thought this guy sounded cool. I assume their office has no Green Team, so this fellow is stepping up and making sure the compost and recycling aren’t being contaminated to the point where they will end up in the landfill. He’s educating his coworkers, right? But the more my friend talked about this guy (and even referred to him as the “recycling nazi”) the more I saw her point of view. After a stressful meeting no one likes to spend their lunch break being told by some random office mate to rinse their yogurt cup or have tons of all caps signs in their face. Her not-so-positive feelings toward this guy and his kitchen project really resonated with me.

Most people would agree that recycling is good and something they want to do, but I’m learning more and more that you have to be careful with how you communicate the message. This is where I feel my trusty marketing degree could come in handy, but I sometimes feel lost about how to apply it correctly to a cause I feel so passionate about. That evening I went home and did something that has been recommended to me by more than one person: I signed up for the Agent of Change course through the Center for Earth Leadership.

Starting this February I’ll be joining weekly with a group of others who have sought out this course to brainstorm ideas for positive change in our respective circles. I’m excited to learn how to take all this energy and good intention I have and direct it toward a project based around positive change. Best of all, this course is offered at no charge for those inspired and able to attend all courses.

If I were my friend’s “recycling nazi” coworker, I would redirect my time and energy spent monitoring the kitchen to establish a Green Team at the company. There must be other folks who want to make sure items are being properly recycled, and with a small team to split up the workload a proposal could be drafted to ask for support and funding from the operations department. He could start the process by getting help from this Bureau of Planning & Sustainability Green Team web page.

Or who knows, maybe I’ll meet this guy in my Agent of Change course.