But talking about preparation is often underappreciated because most people want action as fast as possible.
Yet this impatience can lead them to achieve less in the end:
Today's Lesson: How To Prepare For Change
What we can do to pave the way for sustainability
Number Of The Day
Sometimes we have to be patient. Waiting for the right moment is hard, but often worth it. Although we have previously identified 133 options to make your lab greener, I haven’t seen anyone writing about preparation. However, without proper preparation, large-scale change becomes tedious and overwhelming. Therefore, let’s address why you sometimes need to take a step back.
133
How to Get Prepared
Go for the low-hanging fruit, find a team, get a sustainability advisor. But then…
I once heard an amazing metaphor: the longer a runway you build, the larger the plane that can take off.
Making the decision to make your laboratory more sustainable is the most important step. However, for larger changes, proper preparation will save you a lot of headaches. And when you get help from an advisor or consultant, which often makes sense, having some basics prepared will make change much easier.
Success in any kind of change requires the right strategy and techniques.
Therefore, although taking action is key, there are four indicators I want to share with you that require us to be more deliberate.
The first is trivial: if you don’t yet understand exactly how a change should work, don’t rush. Keep a cool head and figure it out. Patch fixes won’t do well.
Secondly, if you need others to buy in but they currently have significantly more stress than usual or are going through some kind of trouble, take a breath.
Thirdly, if you know you will get pushback and you know you will need more allies or additional resources to convince those who are skeptical.
Finally, if you know there’s a good moment coming soon—like your lab is about to move, you’re wrapping up a project and starting a new one, or you’ve decided to get an advisor.
So, if you hire an advisor, or you are about to enter the Christmas holiday, what can you do now?
In essence, if you rush into action, you will pay with stress, blunders, or unnecessary pushback. So don’t let time senselessly pass by, as this drains your momentum - but don’t rush at sensitive points either. Working with someone who is experienced can help you know when to push and when not to. Just like you need to clean your home or sit down to eat, sometimes you cannot push ahead if you want to succeed in the long term.
Essentially, don’t confuse preparation with inaction. During this period, there are three essential things that many overlook:
Thinking Ahead
Now you are in the right mindset to think deliberately. Pave the way by preparing what will be required but can be time consuming to find:
For example, it can be extremely valuable to collect internal rules or regulations that might limit you later.
If you plan broad change, getting an overview of what different groups do, what they’re working on, and which methodologies they use can also be very useful.
It might seem trivial, but often how change is implemented differs depending on how many instruments your institution has or whether they are organized through core facilities. Also, knowing the age of the instruments and whether certain problems are already apparent can be very valuable. Some inspiration can be found in this lesson.
Also, find out what fundamentals you can build on - that is, what is already measured, such as energy use or whether procurement is tracked.
Even if you cannot access this data right away, knowing whom to contact or how to get it will make future work much easier.
Networking
Since you have time now, it can also be useful to write emails to people who may become important later, such as facility management staff or vendors:
Therefore, here is a template to help you get started reaching out to your lab or institution. Although it might seem intuitive to start with your closest colleagues, often, it can work even better reaching out broadly to get some people on board you might not even have talked to.
For broader change, consider internal communication channels.
How well do they work? Are emails actually read at your institute?
Do people pay attention to notice boards or digital screens?
Are there events everyone attends, or tightly knit groups within the organization?
And if you need allies, although it may seem counterintuitive, especially when people are stressed, many enjoy casual conversations during coffee breaks about topics other than work.
At this stage, you are not pitching sustainability initiatives. Instead, you are listening. You build connections, learn what motivates them, and understand the challenges they face in their daily work.
Setting Up Resources
If you already have concrete project ideas, create a written step-by-step plan.
What feels clear in your head often reveals gaps once written down. At the same time, having written materials allows you to share them with supervisors or colleagues more easily.
Talking of which, compiling resources such as scientific papers to persuade others, or graphs and numbers for presentations, can go a long way.
Also, preparing templates (for example, for quantification or reporting) in advance can be extremely helpful, as you will then know what to measure and pay attention to.
This is also the right time to look closely at what you may need to order for change.
If you are interested in energy consumption, investigate which energy meters might be suitable. If you are interested in bioplastics, explore which products you’d like to test.
You see a common plug-in-meter for US or EU and a portable clamp meter on the right.
Of note, when an advisor joins, you can ask targeted, informed questions.
A consultant is not only there to answer questions but also to help research solutions - so the more specific your questions are, the better.
Applying The Knowledge
It is crucial that you don’t underestimate your own skills or your ability to pave the way for change. You should not be afraid to think two or three steps ahead.
At this point you’re allowed to dream and imagine what it would take to make those ideas a reality. Indeed, even big achievements will feel less exciting when you had to deal with time consuming challenges that drag out for far too long.
The main goal is to identify tasks that seem simple but often take a long time - such as researching procurement options or reaching out to people.
This is a phase in which you can be incredibly productive, even if you are not yet implementing change in the laboratory itself.
Later, your preparation will not only make things faster but also far more enjoyable - reducing long nights and unnecessary stress because you have already thought through potential challenges.
Even if you cannot solve them yet, you are prepared. They will not catch you by surprise, and that makes the entire process much easier and more rewarding.
How We Feel Today
References
Penndorf, P., et al., 2024. Reducing plastic waste in scientific protocols by 65%: practical steps for sustainable research. FEBS Letters, 598(11), pp.1331–1334. doi:10.1002/1873-3468.14909.
McGain, F., et al., 2016. Hospital steam sterilizer usage: could we switch off to save electricity and water? Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 21(3), pp.166–171. doi:10.1177/1355819615625698.
Kilcoyne, J., et al., 2022. Reducing environmental impacts of marine biotoxin monitoring: a laboratory report. PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, 1(3), e0000001. doi:10.1371/journal.pstr.0000001.
Alves, J., et al., 2020. A case report: insights into reducing plastic waste in a microbiology laboratory. Access Microbiology, 3(3), 000173. doi:10.1099/acmi.0.000173
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Edited by Patrick Penndorf Connection@ReAdvance.com Lutherstraße 159, 07743, Jena, Thuringia, Germany Data Protection & Impressum If you think we do a bad job: Unsubscribe
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