Lately, I've witnessed a surge interest from the corporate world in the topic of employee engagement around sustainability.

But, after countless hours working with and training highly talented sustainability advocates from some of the world's most forward thinking companies -- such as Intel, Walt Disney, Dow, Bristol Meyers, Ford Motor Company, 3M, Timberland, and Time Warner to name a few -- I've discovered that the challenge of getting employees engaged requires far more than just strong will power and talent.

It requires insight -- strategic, psychologically sophisticated insight based upon a deep understanding of what truly drives humans to change the way they behave, day to day.

Along these lines, the following five strategies represent the cream of the crop -- best practices I've learned from some very successful sustainability champions, and also from the trenches of my own consulting practice. I look forward to hearing success stories about you've used these strategies to create breakthrough results for your own sustainable business vision.

1. Start with Small Wins

Don't try to "boil the ocean" as they say. Start small. Pick a specific behavior to focus on first -- like recycling, energy use, or water usage -- and create a targeted campaign to shift that particular behavior. Then, once you've had some initial success, find a way to harness that momentum towards other critical sustainability projects and targeted behaviors. A series of small measurable wins will add up to serious psychological momentum, over time, and do a lot more to shift towards a culture towards sustainability-mindedness than any feel good slogans and lofty rhetoric.

For example, one major manufacturing company was having a hard time figuring out how to get their employees on board with new, highly ambitious sustainability program.

Their first approach was to issue an email announcement to all employees, nationwide, with a long list of expected behaviors to be implemented henceforth, and consequences for lack of participation. They also posted signs and placards around the workplace to reinforce the message. As you might've guessed, it went over like a lead balloon. Nothing changed. Employees were simply too stuck in old habits.

As a next approach, they decided to simplify things, focusing on one clear outcome first: reducing waste due to disposable coffee cup usage. They designed a fun, engaging campaign asking employees to bring their own reusable coffee mug, and even designed incentives to make this more compelling. This campaign became a huge success, and was a huge momentum builder for later change efforts.

2. Have Empathy for Non-Believers

Rumors of the death of empathy have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, based upon my experiences and research, I've come to believe that empathy -- the ability to see, feel, and understand the world from the perspective of others -- is the No. 1 key to designing campaigns that inspire behavior change. Unfortunately, for those who lead sustainability efforts inside large mainstream corporations, demonstrating empathy in a consistent and authentic way can be very challenging. Why? Because, let's face it: Sustainability enthusiasts are wired differently than others!