What is participatory staff engagement?
People's behaviors and attitudes play a crucial role in adopting environmentally sustainable solutions in health and care organisations, while these solutions also influence work practices. As awareness of green transition grows, engaging health professionals and managers becomes vital to promote innovative ideas and mainstream existing solutions. Participation empowers individuals to take active roles, helping to transform larger systems toward sustainability and address climate change. Participatory methods engage staff in decision-making, problem-solving and organisational development for the green transition.
People's behaviour and attitudes can promote or hinder the adoption and implementation of environmentally sustainable solutions and technologies in health and care organisations. At the same time, environmentally sustainable solutions and technologies affect work and organisational practices in these organisations.
Along with the rising awareness of and dedication to green transition in health and care services, engaging people – notably health and care professionals and managers – in it becomes crucial. Participatory staff engagement raises awareness of status, challenges and opportunities of environmental sustainability in health and care systems and contributes to finding people's innovative ideas and solutions for green transition in health and care organisations.
People's engagement also makes it smoother to mainstream various already existing practical solutions that advance green transition. Participation can encourage people to take more active roles, and these roles can serve as mechanisms for transforming even larger health and care systems towards greater environmental sustainability, thus addressing climate change. There is thus an urgent need to develop and utilise innovative methods to effectively engage health and care staff and health and care providers in a participatory knowledge-building process towards green transition in health and care systems.
Participatory staff engagement methods refer to the ongoing use and integration of collaborative practices to engage staff in decision-making, problem-solving and organisational development in the context of green transition. The methods and facilitation focus on helping to create a work environment where staff – members of the Community of Practice who focus on the green transition – feel valued, empowered and motivated to contribute to generating, developing and refining ideas for green transition in the workplace.
Combining interpretative and analytical approaches
Participatory staff engagement benefits from combining an interpretative, process-oriented and exploratory approach and an analytical, project-oriented problem-solving approach. Interpretation values continuous processes, exploration and discovery, while analysis focuses on solving well-defined problems. Combined, these two perspectives provide a powerful balance between exploration and adaptation, and structure and finding solutions.
Interpretative innovation, proximity and distance
The green transition in health and care services relies on innovation, collaboration and social interaction. Interpretative innovation is a continuous, open-ended process driven by shared ideas, facilitated by Communities of Practice (CoPs). These groups foster dialogue, brainstorming and creative initiatives to promote environmentally sustainable practices. Proximity and distance are key concepts for innovation. Proximity builds trust and knowledge sharing, while distance introduces diverse perspectives and encourages new ideas. Social proximity is vital for exchanging tacit knowledge embedded in practices and intuition. CoPs enable staff to understand and adapt practices for green transition. Open discussions within CoPs promote collaborative ideation, leading to new practices and processes that enhance environmental protection and deepen the collective understanding of the green transition's importance.
What is a Community of Practice in green transition related work?
A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of staff members who share a commitment to sustainability and engage in collective learning and collaboration. Originally introduced by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger in 1991, CoPs play a crucial role in the green transition of health and care services by fostering innovation, knowledge-sharing and skills development. CoPs function through three key principles: Domain, Community and Practice. The Domain refers to the shared purpose and focus of members. The Community emphasises relationships and interactions. Lastly, Practice encompasses structured forums, shared resources and platforms for co-creation. With management support, CoPs serve as transformational agents. Through participatory staff engagement, members refine strategies for adopting sustainable practices, such as waste reduction, renewable energy use and green infrastructure development.
Divergent and convergent thinking in staff engagement
Co-creating solutions for the green transition involves both divergent and convergent thinking—first generating a wide range of ideas and then refining them into practical, cost-effective solutions. A staff engagement process typically unfolds in four phases: understanding the problem, synthesising findings, co-creating solutions and implementing them. Throughout this process, participatory methods help ensure employees feel valued and empowered to contribute. Participatory staff engagement methods fall into three categories: paradigm-preserving, paradigm-stretching and paradigm-breaking approaches. Paradigm-preserving methods refine ideas within existing frameworks. Paradigm-stretching methods expand perspectives and encourage creative thinking. Paradigm-breaking methods challenge conventional approaches, fostering intuitive, human-centred innovation. Together, these strategies help organisations to rethink and implement green transition related practices effectively.