Well, I made it to 25 years as an environmental practitioner last year and I am well and truly in the veteran status of my career! It’s been some journey.
Every year for the past few years I have written a blog post on new years resolutions for environmental practitioners, and these are my musings for this year. Hopefully it will give you some ideas for how you can progress in 2025.
1. Research case study organisations
There are many good practice examples of how organisations can improve. Why not spend some time on the internet and take time to find some that have progressed with their sustainability journey. This will perhaps give you some ideas as to what you can do to improve the organisation that you work for, or if your organisation is more advanced, justify your organisation’s performance. There is always a lot to be learnt from other organisations that can be applied to your own.
2. Understand environmental law
What’s your knowledge like on legal requirements that apply to your organisation? As I always say when delivering courses, compliance with the law is a minimum requirement. Ideally, organisation should go further as law does not cover all areas of good practice. So, understanding environmental law is a must for most environmental practitioners as we often must provide competent advice to our organisations.
3. Keep up with the latest initiatives
I have found over the years that environmental management is constantly changing and evolving. There are constantly new initiatives that are being released. Although keeping up to date with everything can be difficult, spending some time researching the latest initiatives every so often is important so that you can provide the latest competent advice to your organisations.
4. Structure your work
I am a really big fan of structure. After all these years teaching it I am still amazed by the plan-do-check-act (PDCA). It is so simple, yet a majorly effective way to manage just about anything. Why not try to implement a more strategic formalised structure to your work as an environmental professional, possibly based around PDCA. Get it right and it can make your job easier, you will be more efficient, and you will be able to provide better advice to your organisation or clients.
5. Take yourself out of your comfort zone
Doing the same things day to day can be comforting but we don’t always progress as an environmental professional. It might be worth considering trying something new at work. Why not put yourself forward to try something different, particularly those things that you find a little scary. A few examples might include public speaking for example at a conference or training course, learning about a topic that you currently find difficult or completing a new qualification. For the first time this year I delivered a webinar, completed a podcast, and did some filming all of which were a great experience!
Final Note
This list of resolutions will hopefully give you some ideas of what you can do to improve in 2025. I guess that your list might not cover exactly what has been proposed above but whatever you choose it should be interesting to you and challenge you professionally. Have a great 2025!
John Binns BSc (Hons) MSc MIEMA is an experienced environmental tutor and consultant.
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