With more than 150 agents and staff, four diverse offices and just a few short weeks to gather the necessary information to get our greenhouse gas emission inventory prepared, our partner Indigo Teiwes from the Earth Advantage Institute had her hands full. Her task? To create a customized set of data collection tools that were easy to use and would accurately compile the correct information to include with our application.
Indigo’s first step was to work with us to design a simple and yet effective questionnaire for all agents and staff that would be delivered using SurveyMonkey, allowing for anonymous, but tracked, responses regarding business travel, which we expect will be our largest source of emissions. Keeping it simple was important to ensure maximum participation and allow for rigorous data. Our agents are independent, busy entrepreneurs working in what has become an increasingly complex marketplace; they don’t have time to spend wading through endless survey questions. Indigo created two brief, seven-question surveys relevant for different groups within our organization. Her next step was to work directly with our fiscal manager and branch coordinators to create data collection sheets for office supply use/purchases and office energy consumption. While the complexity and volume of the data was greater, working with our fiscal manager and branch coordinators was by far the easier task. They’re employees who were given the time to provide the necessary information by the partners. But getting the information out of our agents? That’s a different story.
Categories:
Sustainability
Post: http://www.realtytrust.com/blog/posts/information-overload.htm
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