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For years, the standard advice for creating organizational effectiveness on green issues was, "Get top-level buy-in." And that makes sense: When those in the C-suite believe something is important, it increases the chances that it will get attention.

But it turns out buy-in isn't everything. Indeed: I've talked to top executives in countless companies that say, in effect, "I'm in. Our challenge is getting the rest of the company to care about these issues as much as I do."

This is no small challenge. Getting organizations -- and the people inside them -- to change can be the biggest obstacle to achieving environmental and sustainability goals. This is true for even the most committed companies with the most knowledgeable, visionary, and passionate CEOs. Getting the rank and file to keep environmental issues top of mind amid the other challenges of the day can be a formidable challenge.

Some companies are succeeding, albeit incrementally, as evidenced in a new study by our friends at the National Environmental Education Foundation. It shows that when companies get it right, the results can have a tangible bottom line benefit. The study takes an in-depth look at examples where companies used environmental and sustainability programs to save money, improve efficiency, build stronger customer relations -- or all three. We heard one of the examples described in the report at our recent Chicago State of Green Business Forum: eBay, whose dedicated Green Team encouraged the company to build San Jose, California's largest commercial solar installation, reducing CO2 emissions by over one million pounds a year and saving $100,000 to date.

Such success notwithstanding, "Most employers have only just begun interacting with employees around sustainability, and … their efforts leave much room for improvement," as Pattie Prairie writes in another article featured this week. She describes three underlying attributes of successful programs (one of which is getting top-level buy-in). And she buttresses her advice -- and supports the NEEF report -- with a finding from a recent Gallup study, which concluded that companies that effectively engage employees outperform others by wide margins, demonstrating 2.6 times higher earnings-to-share growth rates.

If that doesn't get top-level buy-in, I'm not sure what will.