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Internal Team Facilitation

Engaging your staff in pollution prevention and energy efficiency teams may be beneficial to your facility. MnTAP can help develop an internal team designed to investigate your waste-related issues.

Fill out our questionnaire [PDF 52KB] and submit it to MnTAP to get started forming a team.

Trained MnTAP staff members can work with you to form an internal team that can tackle energy and waste-related issues at your facility. Once a team has been formed, MnTAP can train members about effective brainstorming and investigation techniques as well as pollution prevention and energy efficiency strategies. Many companies have employed the team structure and have realized significant waste and energy use reductions as well as cost savings due to the nature of the team. Many teams consist of members from all ranks of the company and all locations in the facility. This enables the team to tackle projects and get many points of view regarding solutions.

What to Expect

MnTAP’s process for forming internal pollution prevention and energy efficiency teams involves multiple steps that get your employees engaged and prepared. We recommend forming a team of staff members from multiple departments and management or non-management levels. After forming the team, MnTAP can provide training on effective teamwork, pollution prevention, energy efficiency, and moving forward with implementation. MnTAP staff members can continue to meet with your team regularly for up to a year to help facilitate discussion, provide engineering expertise, and identify opportunities for implementation.

MnTAP’s Commitment

1. A staff member from MnTAP can conduct team training if your team is newly formed. This training provides a basis for all team meetings and highlights tips for a successful team.
2. The staff member will attend team meetings regularly as determined during one of the first few meetings.
3. During the meetings, the MnTAP staff member will bring pollution prevention and energy efficiency ideas and success stories to the team. He/she will also facilitate discussions and brainstorming sessions to ensure the team makes the most of the meeting time.
4. The MnTAP staff member will provide sound advice and technical knowledge to the team and the proposed ideas. He/she may take on the role of third-party verification for certain ideas, if necessary.
5. The MnTAP staff member can remain a part of the team for 12 months to help achieve the goals set by the team.
6. Throughout the team’s work, the MnTAP staff member will work with the team members to provide cost savings and environmental reductions calculations if needed. This information can be valuable feedback for the company in terms of team results and environmental and cost reductions.
7. MnTAP will provide a final report of the progress and activities of the team to management.
8. Once a team has ended or had significant success, MnTAP may wish to publish a success story about the projects. The MnTAP staff member will work with a designated contact within the team to ensure that written documents are accurate and approved within the company. We will work to avoid including any sensitive, proprietary or confidential information and will confirm the final draft of any document with the company prior to publication.

Company Benefits

Your facility can benefit from empowering a team of employees to address your pollution prevention or energy efficiency concerns. Teams are a great tool to use because:

• The structure encourages employees from all areas of the facility to be involved.
• Teamwork drives creativity and results in numerous possible solutions.
• Teams build continued support for pollution prevention and energy efficiency solutions among employees.

Example: Pepsi Bottling Group Team

Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) formed an energy efficiency team in the fall of 2008 to reduce energy use throughout the facility and meet their 2009 goal. MnTAP provided technical guidance and team facilitation. The PBG team and MnTAP worked together to recognize energy saving projects that had previously gone unnoticed. The team found energy reduction opportunities through improving heat exchangers and reconnecting their drying dispenser, which saves them $1,000 each year. This and other energy efficiency team efforts lead to cost savings of approximately $14,000. A Source article was published in 2009 and provides more information on the success of the team at PBG.

Additional Resources

• Articles: How to Conduct a Treasure Hunt. GreenBiz.com took an in-depth look at how companies are conducting rigorous treasure hunts for energy efficiency projects. This blog entry provides a step-by-step primer to help your firm get started with energy efficiency teams.