Building Capacity

New Trim Tab: Exploring the Place of Leadership and the Leadership of Place

This week, the most delicious treat arrived in my in-box. Trim Tab (Volume 18)'s Summer Edition features one of my favorite examples of transformative thinking and doing: the Bertschi School's Science Wing, the fourth project in the world and the first in Washington State to achieve full certification under the Living Building Challenge, and the first ever to receive certification under Version 2.0 of the system. 

O'Brien & Company has enjoyed its association with the forward-thinking Bertschi School for several years, starting with the non-profit's decision to design and build its gym and community building to earn LEED Gold certification, and then its decision to become one of the pioneer participants in the Washington Green Schools certification program, and then its decision to work with the Restorative Collective to design the School's Science Wing to meet all 20 of the Living Building Imperatives. As part of the Restorative Collective, O'Brien & Company offered its services pro bono with other design professionals to build an informed foundation for designing buildings "to [meet] the 2030 Challenge and [create] net-zero buildings."

Also, drum roll....this issue of Trim Tab features my first published explanation of the EMERGE Leadership Model, the foundation for the EMERGE Leadership Project (ELP). ELP is my primary focus these days and consists of training, mentoring, writing and speaking on the topic of leadership from the vantage point of more than 30 years of experience in the sustainable building movement, as well as a particular focus on "emergent" leadership. We urgently need more effective leaders, and more of them. For more details, you can read my article: "EMERGE: Effective Leadership for Sustainable Solutions that Stick."

Associated with the article is a case study in which EMERGE principles were applied. This is a planning project for a very special place, the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands. The project, which was led by Berger Partnership and included O'Brien & Company's participation was stimulus for articulating how EMERGE Leadership principles could be applied in a collaborative community planning project. You can read the Case Study.

Trim Tab offers other nourishment: a great conversation with one of the most humble (and for that I really appreciate him) movement leaders out there, Paul Hawken, a feature on child-centered design, and a wonderful report on and call to further local leadership by Mona LeMoine in the feature "Rooted in the Region."

A great summer or anytime read.

Kathleen O'Brien, Editor of the Building Capacity Blog is a Cascadia Fellow, a lifetime designation provided by the Cascadia Green Building Council, a program of the International Living Future Institute. ILFI is the publisher of Trim Tab. Kathleen is also founder of the non-profit EMERGE Leadership Project. The primary vehicle for conveying the EMERGE Leadership Model is through the two-day workshop EMERGE: Leadership Skills for Green Building Advocates. See the upcoming Fall/Winter workshop schedule. 

There isn't anything better coming along.

I recently wondered aloud with Bronwyn Barry why members of our tribe (and by that I mean anyone actively working in the green building, sustainable development field on the West Coast), wait 'til the last minute to register for the Emerge: Leadership Skills for Green Building Advocates. In taking this route, it costs more money, risks not getting a place, and generally adds unnecessary tension to the process for you and for me.

Bronwyn, planner and convener for many successful Passive House California events cleared it up for me. "It's not just Emerge," she countered "but pretty much any event. What I've found is that people put it in their calendar, but hold out on actually registering, just in case something 'better' comes along."

Well, I'm here to say there isn't anything better coming along. "What Chutzpah!" I can hear you saying!

Maybe so, But I am certain that Emerge is genuinely different from anything else out there. It's a leadership workshop, and yes, there's lot of leadership offerings to be found. In fact, if you Google the term(s) leadership workshop, you'll get dozens of interesting entries. It's a workshop that incorporates sustainable concepts, as well, and yes, there are plenty of laudable offerings to be found in that realm as well.

And I've been told that the philosophy of Emerge -- an integrated systems-based  approach to leadership that combines the best leadership practices with an emphasis on servant leadership, change science and technology, and the collective intelligence and impact of community -- would be helpful for anyone endeavoring to lead social change in any realm.

However, Emerge has a specific mission, is designed with that mission in mind, and designed FOR those who align with that mission. And for that reason, it does a really good job. If you want to hear that from attendees, check out the testimonials (written and video) at www.emergeleadership.net. Emerge alumni share success stories relating to personal, organizational, and communitywide leadership. Anonymous evaluations compiled at the conclusion of the workshops are through the roof with positive ratings and comments. No lie.

Emerge is designed for you if: First, you are somehow involved in the shaping of our built environment and desire a built environment that is sustainable; Second, you know that leadership is involved in creating that world in the truest, biggest sense; and Third, you are personally committed to providing that leadership.

For that reason, you will find the Emerge curriculum incorporates examples, exercises, and stories pertinent to the overall mission: to create a built environment where sustainability is the norm, not an abstraction. Rather than professional motivational speakers, you'll find a faculty that is inspiring because we share your goals -- we just happen to be further down the road with some important lessons to share. The faculty scheduled for Winter 2012-2013 are award-winning dynamos, heartfelt speakers, and authors with a combined experience of nearly a century in the sustainable building arena.

Besides the obvious benefit of such a focused learning environment, there is the additional advantage of building a community that shares the emergent philosophy AND is committed to a sustainable building. When you leave you'll have become part of a network with strategic professional alignments and personal commitments. And you can stay connected through alumni "clinics" and fun gatherings.

Regardless of when you register, you'll get the benefit of all this, and more: CEUs for your LEED CMP, and/or ILFI Living Future Accreditation, a follow up mentoring session to complement the personal leadership development plan you created at the workshop, and permanent access to alumni resources on the Emerge Leadership Project website.

Additional discounts encourage membership in local green building non-profits and reward those who've taken the Sustainable Building Advisor Program and passed the national CSBA exam, and these exist for both the Early Bird and Standard optons.

So you don't HAVE to register by the Early Bird registration deadline...but it would be fabulous if you did. (Here's how.) Save some bucks, ensure your seat, and make me very happy.

Kathleen O'Brien is Editor of the Building Capacity Blog and contributes monthly to the DJC Green Building Blog. She has been in the sustainable building field for nearly three decades and currently provides special projects consulting for O'Brien & Company, the firm she founded over twenty years ago, and leadership training and mentoring through her legacy project: The Emerge Leadership Project (ELP). She was instrumental in the development of the Sustainable Building Advisor Program and the SBA Institute (SBAi).

International Living Future Institute Rolls out Living Future Accreditation in time for GreenBuild

For those in the sustainable building field hoping to distinguish themselves with a Living Future Accreditation  (LFA), the ILFI has just rolled out a clear path to do so.

There are actually two paths, Path One for those with LEED APs with Specialty, which requires 45 hours of approved education, and Path Two for those who are already certified as a Living Building Challenge/Facilitator, which requires 35 hours of approved education. Additional requirements, including prerequisites can be viewed at the ILFI site.

The LFA must be renewed on a two-year basis. According to Mona LeMoine, Vice-President, Education and Events for the International Living Future Institute and Executive Director of the Cascadia Green Building Council, "Accreditation demonstrates that an individual frames sustainability holistically and understands what is needed to help lead a transformation toward communities that are socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative."

LFA's debut includes an on-line education catalog that lists  approved programs that in the ILFI's view contributes towards an individual's capacity to understand sustainability in this transformative fashion and would earn hours towards accreditation. If you peruse the inaugural catalog you will see some familiar titles, such as "Emerge: Leadership Skills for Green Building Advocates" and the Sustainable Building Advisor certificate course offered by the SBA Institute.

These partner-offered programs are approved in addition to ILFI-specific training programs (required for the LEED AP Specialty Path) in order to benefit from existing educational resources that already support the comprehensive framing that implementing the Living Building Challenge successfully requires. It also, according to LeMoine helps professionals "avoid the hassle (and cost) of redundant training."  Each course listed in the catalog has been curated through an application process similar to those offered by other professional credentialing bodies (such as GBCI).

Kathleen O'Brien is Editor of the Building Capacity Blog and contributes monthly to the DJC Green Building Blog. She has been in the sustainable building field for nearly three decades and currently provides special projects consulting for O'Brien & Company, the firm she founded over twenty years ago, and leadership training and mentoring through her legacy project: The Emerge Leadership Project (ELP). She was instrumental in the development of the Sustainable Building Advisor Program and the SBA Institute (SBAi). If you visit the GreenBuild Expo, you can learn more about both ELP and SBAi at Booth T-34 in the North Building.

Emerge Leadership Project Launches Vital Training for Green Building Advocates in Northern California

The Emerge Leadership Project took to the road this past summer, introducing the concept of emergent leadership to green building advocates in Northern California. Introductory sessions in Yountville, Santa Rosa, and San Rafael and Pleasanton (where Kathleen is "feeling it" at Dahlin Group's LEED Silver Headquarters, see photo) provided an overview of emergent leadership.  The intros were an opportunity to provide a taste of the learning tools used in the Project's more intensive two-day workshop, which will be offered for the first time in California at NatureBridge Conference Center (Marin Headlands), January 12-13, 2013.

Emergent leadership combines three elements -- servant leadership, change science, and community context -- to forge a path uniquely appropriate for achieving the vision of Emerge's founder, Kathleen O'Brien. "To reach the stage where sustainable building is the norm and not an abstraction, we need a transformation that really only integrated solutions will provide. Emergent leadership is designed to encourage integrated solutions. It's that simple," she says.

Ann Edminster, long term green building advocate and author of Energy Free: Homes for a Small Planet, agrees. Ann partnered with Kathleen on the Bay area educational road show this summer and will be part of the faculty for the two-day workshop. "Those of us who have been immersed in green building for many years have arrived at the collective realization that our highest-performing (i.e., lowest-impact/most restorative) building projects inevitably come about through extreme collaboration, a.k.a., integrated project delivery. This is not our normal industry process, and its successful implementation is an acquired skill – one of emergent or servant leadership. It also is a skill that can be taught (by effective emergent leaders). We need a lot more people learning, applying, and teaching this skill!"

Local educational partners for Emerge Leadership training in California include the Sustainable Building Advisor Bay Area Program  and local chapters of the Green Building Council, including the Northern California and Redwood Empire Chapters. Venue partners for the introductory sessions included Dahlin Group, Dominican University's Sustainable Enterprise MBA Program, the North Coast Builders Exchange Green Building Program and LEED Platinum certified Bardessono Hotel, Restaurant, and Spa*.

Lorraine Alexander, U.S. Green Building Council Redwood Empire Chair and Pacific Regional Council Vice-Chair (and Interior Designer), explains the significance of her organization's educational partnership with Emerge: "It seems the topic of leadership gets very little attention in the realm of sustainability and green building. Many people may shy away from the term 'leader,' as they may not feel worthy of such a lofty title. Leadership is not bigger than us, it is not beyond us. Stepping into those shoes can be an exceptional experience, and if you are effective in your role, personally satisfying. Leadership is something we all need to hear and learn about, as we work towards sustainability in our lives and professions."

In addition to Ann, faculty for the Bay Area Emerge workshop will include David Eisenberg, the Executive Director of the non-profit DCAT, the Development Center for Appropriate Technology based in Tucson, AZ. "David is an outstanding example of emergent leadership," says O'Brien, "as he's managed to help bring about a true transformation in the thinking among code officials and code development bodies that's led to green building codes and related policy. And his humility about this achievement is absolutely inspiring."

The workshop is designed for a special type of person -- someone who is already committed to a sustainable future and to leading the change. Bob Massaro, owner of Healthy Building Technologies Group (HTBG),   Andres Edwards, author of Thriving Beyond Sustainability and The Sustainability Revolution and Bronwyn Barry, Director of OneSky Homes all attended  introductory sessions and are planning on attending the workshop in January.  Notes Bronwyn, "I've already effectively used two great leadership concepts that I learned at the Introductory Workshop.  I can't wait to attend the full two-day program to learn more." (Watch a video invitation.)

The workshop offers 13 CE hours through the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) allied with the US Green Building Council and has been approved for credit towards earning Living Future Accreditation. Earlybird and educational partner discounts are available. To maintain an intimate learning environment, registration is limited so, given the interest expressed by participants in the introductory sessions, early signups are suggested. Learn more about the Bay area workshop.

O'Brien & Company is a major sponsor of the Emerge Leadership Project. * O'Brien & Company provided LEED technical consulting for the Bardessono Project.

RFM's Sustainable Urban Infill Project Transforms: More than Bricks and Mortar

Kathleen O'Brien recently returned to the former site of a derelict Sears Auto Store and now the award-winning high performance headquarters for RiceFergusMiller. This urban Infill project reveals how a sustainable built environment is about so much more than bricks and mortar.

 In 2009, James Jenkins and I met with RiceFergusMiller principals and staff to lay groundwork for sustainable goal-setting for their new office and studio. They had just purchased the old Sears Auto Center near their existing (and crowded) digs in downtown Bremerton and wanted to showcase sustainability. In addition to O'Brien & Company, Shawn Oram from Ecotope participated in the workshop, bringing a depth of building energy expertise and innovative spirit.

RFM was still in the process of cleaning up the building at the time to see what they had. As prelude to the workshop, we carefully (and I mean carefully!) wended our way through the abandoned structure that in the 80s had been an anchor for Bremerton's retail business core. Old signage gave us an inkling of what it must have been like at its peak, but it was truly a mess. However, it was hard not to get too excited. Here was an existing building in a downtown that was crying out for revitalization, with a team invested in all three aspects of sustainability -- environment, economy, and social benefit. Wow!

And in particular, they had the good sense to recognize the importance of "place" in achieving sustainable goals. "We didn't want to replicate green building projects being built in more urban areas. We wanted a project that was the most sustainable it could be, and that would further the agenda, here in Bremerton," Principal Steve Rice opines. In addition to keeping a piece of Bremerton's retail heritage intact, they have proven that with a bit of willingness to experiment, what they call "high performance sustainability" is achievable even outside green building hubs. Unlike nearby Seattle where LEED buildings abound, RFM's LEED Platinum headquarters is one of a very few LEED buildings on the West Sound. LEED is the nationally recognized rating system of the US Green Building Council (GBC).

One of the major factors in how far any client is willing to go is risk. In that early workshop, we ran through an analogy of river rafting and asked the RFM team to choose which "class" of difficulty they were willing to take on, with Class 1 representing the least risk and Class 6 representing suicidal risk (really). They chose Class 3 - Difficult. This class requires expertise for maneuvering, scouts who have been there before, a good operator, and a good boat. In a recent interview and tour of the facility, I asked Steve whether the project experience rated a Class 3, and he quickly responded that it was probably more difficult than that. But like any good run after it's done, the satisfaction he and his mates are experiencing is written all over Steve's smiling face.

And he wants everyone to know about it. "This may seem weird, but for me this building is a sort of 'temple' where everyone who comes here leaves as a bit of a green disciple, because they all see it makes sense." The first floor is designed for easy reconfiguration for public events. In the 15 months since they've opened (June 2011) they've had nearly 40 community events with anywhere from 10 to 200 attendees at a pop. Whether the event is focused on green building or not, host Steve gets to say something about what they've been able to accomplish.

Which is no small thing. At a very reasonable $105/sf cost, RFM's design team reduced energy consumption from the CBEC Standard for this building type by 78%, saving $24K annually. They saved 58% in construction costs due to retaining as much of the original structure and materials. They've reduced water consumption by 70% and save over 60,000 gallons of potable water a year. And, according to Steve, they've done this with off-the-shelf components, used innovatively. They were also willing to work with local officials when water saving technologies didn't pencil out simply because of municipal billing policies, rather than just giving up on them.

Much of what they've accomplished has been made visible by leaving elements exposed. Rather than an industrial environment however, the building has a very clean, calming aesthetic. Even the 14-foot fan circulating air above the heads of those in the lobby for practical reasons, provides flair, and for those of us in the biz, a reminder that hidden under the building's success is the circular pattern provided by an integrated project process.

Steve recalls that after that very first workshop, he and his partners realized that this was much bigger than even creating a high performance building -- which is big enough. They were creating a story of transformation. Of a derelict building in a struggling downtown. What they may or may not have realized is that, in the opinion of this author, they too have been transformed -- into the best type of green building evangelists there are. The kind who practices what they preach.

Kathleen O'Brien is Editor of Building Capacity Blog, and contributes monthly to the Daily Journal of Commerce's Green Building Blog. She has been in the sustainable development field for nearly three decades. She provides consulting on special projects for O'Brien & Company, the firm she founded over 20 years ago, and provides leadership training and mentoring through her legacy project: The Emerge Leadership Project. Her book The Northwest Green Home Primer, is popular with both professionals and the public. James Jenkins now works with BNBuilders.

Hunter Lovins: On Business Education, Public Service and our Green Future

I recently had the opportunity to interview Hunter Lovins over breakfast at the Streamliner Diner on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Kathleen: So Hunter, what brings you here?

Hunter: I'm teaching at Bainbridge Graduate Institute this weekend at Islandwood, which is truly a singular honor. BGI remains the MBA program with the deepest and most authentic commitment to their vision -- "changing business for good." If you look at the most recent data projected for our planet's future, all of life is literally at risk. Things have to change. They are going to change. It's a matter of how. Transforming business education, which is what BGI has done, is critical to transforming our business model, which is critical to our survival. One of the things I am most impressed by is BGI's willingness to keep improving an already successful program.

Yes. I noted a similar impression in my post about Vision 2050 this past year. At that point BGI had decided to integrate the Vision 2050 goals into their curriculum, across the board. It's an incredible example of leadership. Speaking of leadership, I know you've met this past week with green team members from some of the most committed cities in the region. What do you think of their work?

I met with some folks on an informal basis, at a potluck hosted by the City of Shoreline's green team, and then got to participate in King County Green Tools' Sustainable Cities Roundtable. What I saw were some truly dedicated and intelligent individuals grappling with all the right questions, and reporting on the fairly sophisticated projects they have underway. There are a million reasons to get discouraged, but the work at the local level is really where much of the work is being done. And you've been pretty successful in the Pacific Northwest providing leadership in sustainable development. 

In what way?

Well, this where the Living Building Challenge came from, for example. And you have the legacy of leaders like Greg Nickels and Ron Sims who years ago recognized that we'd already locked in harm from climate change, and that we needed to look at adaptation not just prevention. One thing I've noticed is that local government leaders in the Northwest are willing to look beyond their jurisdictional borders and beyond serving only constituents. For them it's about truly serving the public and the well-being of all.

What advice would you give to public sector folks working in the trenches?

First I would caution them to prepare for the disruption that climate change will -- not may -- produce. Our best hope is for a soft landing. Cities need to plan for that transition and look at how to provide the basics -- food, water, health care -- using local resources. Second, I would celebrate what you are already doing. For the Sustainable Roundtable discussion, we met in the Kenmore City Hall. This is a LEED Gold Building that narrowly missed Platinum. LEED isn't perfect but it does provide accountability. The quality of light, air, and acoustics was just so high in that building. People feel better and produce more in green buildings. In conventional buildings, everyone's tense with their shoulders up around their ears. Keep up with good, basic green building practices -- performance contracting, transit oriented development, green team management, keeping yourself accountable by using LEED for your public buildings.

One of the issues public servants face is the lack of financial resources, especially with the economic downturn, do you have any suggestions? Foster initiatives that bring businesses together to work on conservation, perhaps through their Chamber of Commerce. Improved profitability through sustainability will both improve your local economy (and thus your tax base), but it will also help meet your goal of sustainability.

Since not all businesses have the resources of a Walmart, my organization has developed a rapid e-learning tool (Solutions @ the speed of business)

to help small businesses (which is what comprises the majority of business in most towns) improve their profitability through sustainable practices.  You can also look at local educational institutions for students that might help coach small businesses in sustainability. We are working with the City of  San Rafael, where students from the Dominican Green MBA program provide this kind of hands-on assistance. BGI's internship program is an obvious  resource for coaches here.

Hunter Lovins, author and a promoter of sustainable development for over 30 years, is president and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, a 501(c)3 non-profit in Colorado. She teaches sustainable business management at Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI) in Seattle, Washington, and Denver University. She co-founded with Amory Lovins, her then-husband, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), which she led for 20 years. Named a "green business icon" by Newsweek, a millennium "Hero of the Planet" by Time Magazine, she has also received the Right Livelihood Award, the Leadership in Business Award and dozens of other honors.

Kathleen O'Brien is Editor of Building Capacity Blog, and contributes monthly to the Daily Journal of Commerce's Green Building Blog.  Like Hunter, she has been in the sustainable development field for nearly three decades. She provides consulting on special projects for O'Brien & Company, the firm she founded over 20 years ago, and provides leadership training and mentoring through her legacy project: The Emerge Leadership Project. Her book The Northwest Green Home Primer, is popular with both professionals and laypersons alike.

A Taste of Living Future 2012

 

 

 

Chris Edlin, Donna Trost, and Kathleen O'Brien from O'Brien and Company attended Living Future 2012 in Portland. In addition to enjoying  great food at the local street food carts for lunch, we picked up some tasty tidbits we'd like to share with Building Capacity fans. Please keep in mind we weren't everywhere, and this isn't everything we participated in, either.

Note:  If you were there and you have additional highlights (or critiques) you want to share, COMMENT on this post.  If you weren't there, you can download or view presentations at Living Future 2012 -- and start planning now to go to Living Future, Seattle,  2013. They are (happily) capping attendance at 1000 (this year's tally), so don't miss out.

Money Talks

Both Kathleen and Donna attended sessions focused on money -- how to get it (funding) and how to get others to spend it (investment). The bottom line for the first continues to be creative partnerships that produce projects that have multiple uses (and therefore benefits) that can be monetized and "pitched" to potential funders. The Portland Public School District hooked up with the Boys and Girls Club and the University Park Recreation Center in a partnership that not only saved the school from building their o wn gymnasium but also created a Community Campus for the largest revitalization project in Oregon history. Hood River Middle School's new science and music building; and greenhouse doubles as the local farmers’ market on weekends and offers its amphitheatre for public use.

The Vernonia School in Northwest Oregon was able to achieve LEED Platinum partly because it also serves as a community and emergency center and received funding to rebuild its flood damaged school (on higher ground!) for these uses; in addition the school was able to meet FSC wood goals because it included local lumber companies in its planning discussions. Another reason the Vernonia School succeeded in its fundraising is its decision to work with local residents first to approve a bond measure. This local buy-in was compelling when the district applied for county, state, and federal funding.

Partnership also figures in moving the needle on real estate investment. A team, including Jason Twill (Vulcan), David Batker (Earth Economics), Theddi Wright Chappell (Cushman & Wakefield), Stuart Cowan (Autopoiesis), reported on the work they've done to identify where the investment barriers (and opportunities) are now relevant to sustainable real estate. The results of their efforts, which they now call Phase I, are included in "Economics of Change: Catalyzing the Investment Shift Towards a Restorative Built Environment." They are now partnered with the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) for Phase 2, which is anticipated to produce an open source investment decision making tool that integrates public and private benefits not currently considered for a variety of reasons. In the U.S. where investors are driven primarily on ROI, going beyond LEED Platinum is not yet defensible, in the opinion of the panelists. In Phase 2, the team hopes their work will help justify investments in meeting the performance requirements of the Living Building Challenge.

Another tool that might be used to justify investment in the future if and when decarbonization becomes a defensible real estate investment has been hatched in Chicago by architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill. The decarbonization strategies they are promoting for existing buildings and infrastructure are familiar to most of us, but the new angle is a calculator that provides feedback on the potential carbon emissions reduction these design strategies have in a specific building project and/or a district (in their research case the Chicago Loop). Of course, one hopes that investors will look at this data in the context of other benefits.

What's the Economy, Stupid?

Turning perceptions on their head is a regular exercise at the Living Future Unconference. This year was no exception. The Living Future bookstore featured "What's the Economy For Anyway?" co-authored by David Batker (mentioned above) with John de Graaf. The book explains "why it's time to stop chasing growth and start pursuing happiness." David and Kathleen traded books and autographs, and Kathleen just lauuuvs the book -- really.

Donna attended a session on "Living Economies," which posed the need for a more complete articulation of economic value (to include social and natural assets now seen as externalities to the economy) as a design problem, not a design constraint, and suggested that Biomimicry could be the framework for solving this problem.

Vandana Shiva offered an inspiring keynote at the conference that touched on the Living Future conference theme "Women Reshaping the World." She described the critical importance of seeing nature as a living feminine being, not an industrial resource to keep the world's GDP spinning upward. With her project Naydanya (Nine Seeds), and her book "Soil not Oil" she is working for food security in India, while enlarging the definition of economic value to include seeds, soil, and the protection of nature as a whole.

This larger view of our natural, living systems should not be unfamiliar, but a form of "Re-Connecting." Chris enjoyed a presentation by Bill Reed (Alliance for Regeneration) and John Boecker (7Group), which explored the nature and practice of pattern thinking to harmonize the interrelationships between human aspirations (where the economy comes in) and the nature of living systems.

Speaking of the larger view, Pliny Fisk, as usual, invited us to his orbit on EcoBalance design, but thank goodness, Gail Vittori (his life partner and his Co-Director at the Center for Maximum Building Potential) was there to explain what Pliny was talking about. (It's okay, Pliny can take it, he and Kathleen are old pals.) Chris' take-homes: think in cycles, utilize new information visualization tools to bring together abundant and complex data, reprogram thinking that your product will look different, and learn the value of cycles and regeneration.

See Women Lead

To be honest, Kathleen, and several of her women colleagues, cringed at first when this year's theme was announced at the 2011 conference. Would the conference "trivialize" women's issues by making the their contributions "special?" Although there were a few odd moments in the program -- for example why (???) should women especially be the ones balancing business and families, the topic of one session. (Shouldn't we all be concerned about that? Let's hear it for paternity leave!) And a keynote by Carol Sanford that seemed to promote being tough and argumentative, while selling her book (Did anyone not know the name of her current and future books by the time you left the talk? Shame on you.)

But there were two workshops on the theme that were just terrific. The first launched "Making Women's Leadership Visible"-- an advocacy project that involves women interviewing each other as a way to make our achievements visible. As women readers are painfully aware, women are generally uncomfortable taking credit for their work, often qualifying their claims with "helped, was instrumental in developing, was part of a team, etc." Nothing wrong with these statements, except that men don't seem to share this discomfort. Project principals Ann Edminster (Design Avenues), Christine Magar (Greenform), and Karen Tucker (iLiv) believe that building womens' ability to stand up and be counted will actually benefit all of us . For the curious, interviews are located on youtube channel seewomenlead. If you want to contribute an interview, contact any one of these folks for the instructions.

The second workshop included a panel of women leaders ranging in age from the mid 20s to the early 80s. Besides the fact that this was a total hoot for the panelists (we know this firsthand, since Kathleen was on the panel) it was clear that the topic and the workshop design were pretty darn engaging. From what we can tell, not a single person -- woman or man -- left before the session was over! In addition to visual presentations and stories by each participant, focusing on significant moments in each panelist's professional development, as well as personal inspiration and achievements, a timeline exercise designed by Ellen Southard (Site Story) allowed participants to identify critical moments in their lives that led to their current passion and involvement in sustainability. And Marj Barlow (The Possible Woman) and Nadine Gudz (InterfaceFlor) led an affirmation exercise that brought the session to a resounding and hope-filled finale. Other panelists for this workshop included Patti Southard (King County Green Tools), Jamie Statter (Clinton Global Initiative), and Kerry Mason (TetraTech).

Chris was particularly moved by Pete Munoz (Natural Systems International) in the closing session, who emotionally voiced his opinion that the UnConference theme was not about gender at all, but about all of us integrating the qualities often associated with the feminine. This attitude will go a long way towards redefining the value of money, the scope of our economy, and the health of our professional community.

Green Communities National Summit Identifies Challenges and Solutions: Keep it Up!

I recently attended the Enterprise Green Communities National Summit – Feb 27 and 28 in Dallas, TX. In fact, my colleague, Elly Bunzendahl and I delivered a Green Communities Criteria 101 training as a prelude to the National Summit, in part to provide an introduction to the Green Communities 2011 Criteria for Summit attendees who were not familiar with the program. Roughly 80 of the 200 summit registrants attended the training, suggesting that, even after more than seven years in the field, there are many newcomers to Green Communities' approach to greening affordable housing. This is a good sign.

For O’Brien & Company, the synergy of sustainability and affordable housing has always had gravity. Who better appreciates the benefits of lifecycle thinking than the client who is required to hold a new property for 30 or 40 years, or more! And what better way to address the “equity” component of sustainability’s “Three Es” (Environment, Economy, Equity) than in the pursuit of providing high performance, healthy housing to people who are economically and/or socially marginalized?

So, what of the Summit? In 2009, Enterprise deepened its commitment to green affordable housing by setting a goal that all the housing they helped produce or preserve would be green by 2013. This later evolved into a National Call to Action; that ALL publicly subsidized housing should have the opportunity to benefit from green practices by 2020. Prior to this National Summit, Enterprise held a series of regional Convenings in Denver, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.in 2011 and early 2012 to help focus the national discussion.

The goal of the National Summit was, through the participation of national affordable housing leaders, to identify the major barriers to achieving the 2020 objective and to identify innovative approaches to overcoming those barriers. The 200-person brainstorm was facilitated and focused using the services of AmericaSpeaks; a non-profit dedicated to engaging citizens in the democratic process, and experienced in the use of technology to enhance dialogue and sharing in large-group settings, among other things. Certainly, the ability to synthesize the ideas from twenty tables into a series of powerful themes that we could then vote on using personal, wireless voting tablets put the old-fashioned flip charts and dot-voting process to shame. And the fact that they could take the output of an eight-hour session with 200 people and summarize it into a 4-page hard-copy document that was handed to participants before they left the session was impressive indeed. Not inexpensive, for sure, but if you are involved in large group process and haven’t seen this technology at work, I urge you to check it out.

For me, a few things stood out from my personal discussions with attendees at the training, at my Summit table and from the synthesized themes from the whole group:

1. The affordable housing “universe” is made up of an uncommonly dedicated, creative and realistic collection of people – if we can’t figure out the solutions to this challenge, I’m sure no-one can!

 2. The dominant themes that drive this community were “creating resilient communities of choice that fulfilled the promise of the USA,” “promoting social justice,” “creating healthier outcomes for residents,” and, “reducing costs for owners and occupants.” Nothing very surprising here, but a happy blend of idealism and pragmatism;

3. Regarding challenges, the top items were:

• In Design, Construction and Operations: Reliable data for construction and operations; changing occupant behavior; and education (somewhat related).
• In Financing: Capturing the true costs and benefits; monetizing Long-term savings; and, devising a way to subsidized the first cost of green affordable housing.
• In Policy and Regulation: Inexperienced regulators, policy makers and funders; the need for incentives for owners and residents; and the lack of a consistent approach to green requirements across Qualified Allocation Plans from different federal and state agencies.

4. In terms of innovations and breakthroughs, the top items were:

• In Design, Construction and Operations: A central repository for design, cost/benefit, operations and performance data; incentives to facilitate behavioral changes among residents; and, a “Process in a Box,” – a turn-key, step-by-step guide for designing, building and operating a green affordable housing project. (Hey! Can this really be so hard?)
• In Financing: Devise more financing options, such as Green US Treasury Bonds, PACE and on-bill financing, social impact bonds, etc.; develop a financial product to monetize off-site effects such as water quality, human and community health; and standardize underwriting by GSEs and banks.
• In Policy and Regulation – Pass a GREEN Community Reinvestment Act that requires banks and insurance companies to require green practices in CRA investments; create a uniform national green building requirement with Treasury that would apply to ALL QAPs; and, make the connection between green strategies and human health more explicitly understood.

Overall, I came away feeling optimistic. A few, well thought out and implemented policy and financing interventions could move the focus from subtraction to integration. Instead of conversations about what needs to be value-engineered out to meet capital budget and the per unit cost caps, we have conversations on how to draw more capital into the first cost of the project in order to eliminate long term utility and O&M costs, and minimize replacement requirements.

The Summit also highlighted a couple of areas that need the same kind of positive, solution-based focus:

1. There is a woeful lack of meaningful performance data available on the achieved performance of green-certified multi-family projects, most particularly affordable projects. How can we make capturing and sharing this data routine and convenient? Can this be added to the scope of affordable development projects? This is worth more discussion.

2. An increasingly large percentage of the energy, water and health impacts of a residential unit is up to the behavior of the occupants. As designing in green features becomes the norm for affordable housing, more emphasis will need to be on addressing occupant behavior. We have worked with Enterprise to create, test, and promulgate effective models of residential engagement and education. Can these be routinely added to the scope of funding for new and existing affordable development projects?

Enterprise hopes to continue this discussion. If you want to participate, check out: http://enterprisecommunity.force.com/greenforum.

Did you enjoy this article?  You may also enjoy reading Green Resident Engagement Cards Inform AND Empower in California Non-Profit Housing Developments: Interview with Maria Elena Marquez-Brookes, LINC Housing’s Director of Resident Services

Alistair Jackson, CSBA is a Principal at O’Brien & Company. He was involved in the development of the original LEED for Homes Pilot Rating System and is, among other things, the Quality Assurance Designee (QAD) for O’Brien & Company’s role as LEED for Homes Provider. He is a strong advocate for market-led innovation and market transformation towards sustainability. He is also a father of two – and impatient for change towards a better future.

Emerge: What's the Difference?

With the closing registration date only a week away for the upcoming Emerge workshop scheduled at Islandwood, I thought I'd respond to some of the more popular questions I'm getting from individuals thinking of participating.

What makes the Emerge workshop different from conventional leadership training?

Emerge: Leadership for a more sustainable society is specifically designed for individuals who are already convinced sustainable building is the right thing to do, and is committed to taking a leadership role in their communities and organizations to advancing sustainable building as part of their practice and personal lives. The agreed-upon destination for everyone participating in the workshop is a sustainably built environment. We start from that premise, wasting no energy on arguing with naysayers.

Since a society where a sustainably built environment is not the norm, we are talking about a leadership that fosters a dramatic shift in thinking and practice -- a radical, permanent change. It's not about being successful, it's about being effective.

A key ingredient of emergent leadership is a desire to serve the greater good intelligently and compassionately, and to instill that desire in others. What this workshop is not, is a lesson in how to beat out your competition in the sustainable building field. In fact, because it draws from a single area of focus, the Emerge workshop naturally appeals to individuals and organizations that have business relationships with each other (including competitive ones). This only makes the Emerge experience richer for everyone involved.

While the basic principles of emergent leadership stay constant, what it looks like when implemented will be as unique as those implementing it. Think snowflake, an example of emergence in nature. It is only natural that the Emerge workshop experience incorporate this organic sensibility. Teams will work together, applying their collective intelligence to scenarios addressing challenges identified by individual participants in pre-workshop surveys. While the problems may be predictable, the solutions teams have come with are not!

What makes Emerge leadership training different from other educational events in the sustainable building field?

Emergent leadership is premised on the idea that there is no one right answer, but many next right answers. Thus, Emerge training does not focus on a particular green building standard, building policy, or technology. Instead participants learn about the science of change, the significance of collaborative community as a context for sustained, permanent change, and real life examples of effective emergent leadership in the green building field.

There has been a tendency in sustainable building education to rely on celebrities or larger than life heroic figures to inspire those of us in the trenches. Keynote speakers go home. Epic heroes  fall off their pedestals. We need ordinary heroes. The kernel for emergent leadership is servant leadership, a concept formulated in the 70s by Robert Greenleaf, and which I adopted for O'Brien & Company's underlying management philosophy nearly a dozen years ago. The servant leader puts people first, collaboratively and compassionately works with others to better a given situation, using foresight, systems thinking, and skilled communication. All of these skills can be learned and applied if one is dedicated enough. Each Emerge workshop participant leaves with a personal development plan that identifies the unique leadership challenges they hope to address, and have the option of free follow-up mentoring sessions.

Transformational work, although inspiring to think about, can be draining day-to-day. The Emerge workshop is designed to be restorative, with a good mix of dialogue, presentation, and quiet reflection, integrating the outdoors and physical exercise, and healthy food. Since Emerge workshops are held in green buildings, participants get to enjoy the kind of environment they are devoted to bringing to the world.

How does Emerge address the urgency of our situation?

We no longer have time for quick fixes that do not work. What we need  is more long term, intergenerational thinking and sharing that allows for the truth to be told, now. True integrative design requires an honest appraisal of the options -- those we are thinking of, and those we've applied. The research on completed green building projects show, building performance of certified projects are all over the map, as are the costs of building them. That means that it is not the checklist that determines those things, but the people using them! A green building checklist is a tool, and as good as the team using it. Emphasis on TEAM. That is, on Teamwork.

As a panelist at the Living Future Conference a few years ago, I was asked how we could speed up adoption of living building principles. The fact is, and this is how I responded, this change could be instantaneous, if we surrendered our positions. No more posturing on standards or technologies. No more keeping solutions close to the chest. No more standing behind the idea that "we've always been green" (not!) Emerge is intended to bring this transformation about. But no one person can do it. Please join us for what one participant has called a "life-altering experience."

Kathleen O'Brien, LEED AP, CSBA is the Founder of O'Brien & Company, the Founder of the Emerge Leadership Project, and Editor of Building Capacity Blog. She is a long time green building advocate, and a Cascadia Fellow. Sponsors of the Emerge Leadership Project include AIA 2030, Cascadia Green Building Council, the Sustainable Building Advisor Institute, O'Brien & Company, and Eco-Maven. Kathleen was recently interviewed by Eco-Logical Radio Host Terry Phelan on the Emerge project, and has been invited to speak at TEDX Tacoma Transformation, this April 17, 2012. Register now for the only Seattle area workshop scheduled for this year at Islandwood, March 17-18, 2012.

Is Training the Answer? Not always, says Kelly Kirkland, CSBA, LEED AP O+M

The green building industry is slowly coming to realize that the most efficiently designed buildings in the world won’t operate at peak efficiency without well-trained building operators, managers and occupants. With technology evolving and people turning over, ongoing training is generally required to achieve peak efficiency and comfort.

But when faced with a building performance or comfort problem, throwing a training at it mindlessly could end up as money wasted. Experienced trainers can crank out PowerPoint slides on any topic at a moments notice to be delivered to warm bodies in a dark room. A friend, who is the training manager at a large company, refers to this as the “magical training factory.” But will anything this factory spits out result in real learning, or provide a solution to the problem?

Here are a few real examples of green building problems that may or may not have a training solution:

The Scene: A small, remote building that operates 24 hours a day to serve military personnel. Individual staff members rotate through this location every few years, and the person put in charge of building operations is likely to have had little to no previous experience—plus a slate of many other duties related to their “primary mission.” The complex building DDS system is something no one really understands. When something in the building goes wrong, a huge amount of the maintenance budget must be spent to fly in an outside expert.

Is Training the Answer? Probably not—at least not at first. When I talked to the staff members all they really wanted was something simple and intuitive that they could operate themselves. Making a change to the equipment with the next building upgrade would likely save a lot more energy and maintenance budget in the future. If the new system came with intuitive documentation, a simple recorded training could ensure that all new staff could be oriented to their role as building manager quickly and without taking time away from their other duties. Another option would be to reevaluate staffing structure to allow for a dedicated building manager—what a great skill that would be to take home to the civilian workforce!

The Scene: A governmental organization adopts a new green policy mandate that all project managers need to follow. The staff in charge of ensuring adoption with the policy are worried that PMs will be resistant due to concerns that it’s too complicated or expensive to implement. In addition, staff have been resistant to training in the past when they feel it’s not a good use of their time.

Is Training the Answer? In the case of staff resistance to implementing the policy, no. You can’t train motivation but you can remove barriers (like reducing the paperwork burden) and add incentives (like individual and departmental recognition). Both of these were done. In addition, staff tapped green advocates at each department to organize a brief “training” for PMs. The content of this training covered the basic policy requirements  and showed how these were relevant to the specific types of projects the PMs managed. These concise trainings highlighted case studies from the relevant department to provide concrete examples to assuage fears about the complexity or limitations the policy might impose on projects. Even better, these sessions provided an opportunity to determine which kind of additional technical trainings would be needed to support project managers moving forward. PMs reported  they appreciated the concise initial training and were much more eager to get additional technical training once they understood the opportunities.

The Scene: A K-12 school with a highly interactive natural ventilation strategy that made buttons on the wall glow: green, when windows could be open for ventilation, or red, when they should be shut while the building was in heating mode. In this case, I don’t know that the building managers were aware of the problem. On green building tours I like to sneak away and talk to occupants to see how a building is really performing for them. None of the teachers I spoke to had any idea what those glowing lights were for and they complained of stuffy spaces.

Is Training the Answer? In this case, yes! The teachers were motivated to make their classrooms more comfortable and had everything they needed to fix their problem—except the know-how. In fact, when the building opened all teachers did receive training. The problem was that in three years the teachers no longer had that information, either due to being new or not understanding or remembering it from the first training. A short module as part of new staff training (or, better yet, as part of an in-service training day for all staff!) would be a great way to help teachers be more comfortable and get the desired energy performance. A quick reference sheet for each classroom, and better signage on the lights would be great training follow-ups.

You don’t need a training on adult learning theory to know that adults will be learn better with information that they need to know (to do their jobs or to be comfortable) presented in a straightforward, practical way that involves some engagement or interaction. Before throwing a training at a problem, however,  make sure that the issue isn’t with equipment, policy barriers, lack of motivation, or another issue. Your time and resources might be better spent by providing better equipment, processes,  incentives, individual coaching or something else. We have had experience where training has had  the opposite of the desired effect, because it simply wasn't the right solution to the problem. Participants left the training frustrated, as they were still left with the same problem, and had (in their minds) less time to manage it.  On the other hand, if lack of know-how is the problem, training is absolutely the right way to go.

Kelly Kirkland is O’Brien & Company’s Education Coordinator. She has developed and delivered dozens of courses on a variety of green building topics. She recently completed a three-day course on training assessment, development, delivery and evaluation and holds a Training Certificate from the American Society for Training and Development.