Participatory Intervention

Engagement Method

Introduction and Purpose

Participatory Intervention is carried out with employees rather than on or for them (Endrejat and Kauffeld, 2018). It seeks to involve employees in decision-making directly. The strategy seeks to empower staff at the socio-structural and psychological level, allowing them to make decisions in their daily workplace activities. Involving the redistribution of power, financial resources, human capital (skills, education and training), and autonomy to staff to make business decisions (Battilana et al., 2022). This strategy builds self-confidence within the workforce, reveals creativity, innovation, and leadership talent, and fosters a culture of collective responsibility for the organisation's direction. Participants must experience free will to make decisions, have the competency to deliver on the decisions made, and this delivery should be fulfilled in a social context.

Participatory Intervention has been widely applied in workplace settings to engage employees directly with biodiversity and environmental improvement. Typical activities include volunteering for habitat restoration projects, planting native or pollinator-friendly species, forming green teams to lead biodiversity initiatives, and developing living infrastructure such as green roofs or nature-based outdoor areas. Many organisations also incorporate participatory learning elements within Participatory Intervention, such as biodiversity awareness sessions, ecological monitoring, and co-design workshops. These activities not only strengthen employees’ understanding of ecological systems but also build a shared sense of responsibility for biodiversity, wellbeing, and the long-term resilience of the organisation.

Examples include:

Toyota gives all employees 15 minutes every day to brainstorm how to improve waste reduction: and improve the natural environment.

Interface Inc (a carpet time manufacturer) uses Participatory Intervention as part of its Climate Take Back mission.

Key Features

Timeframe:

Creation and implementation of a Participatory Intervention project can range from one month to one year, depending on the organisation’s size, the number of employees to be engaged, and the behaviours selected.

Materials Required:

Resources needed to implement the chosen actions or behaviours, such as gardening tools, plant seeds or bird feeders, ensuring that any data or images collected during activities are handled ethically and with consent.
Budget for any infrastructure or logistical costs associated with generating, selecting, and implementing activities or behaviours, including training, room hire or transport.
Permissions required for planned activities or behaviours, secured through the appropriate organisational or site-based channels.
Newsletters and promotional materials to communicate the initiative, ensuring transparency and accuracy in how staff participation and outcomes are represented.
Monitoring and feedback mechanisms to assess progress, designed in line with ethical good practice and GDPR standards to protect privacy, maintain confidentiality and ensure voluntary participation in data collection.
Participant information sheets and informed consent forms, to be used when collecting data involving human participation. These should outline the purpose of the activity, how data will be used, and participants’ rights, including the option to withdraw at any time.

Skills Required:

Project management and leadership to plan, coordinate and implement the Participatory Intervention strategy effectively across different stages and teams.
‍Research to collect, analyse, and synthesise data from multiple sources, including employee behaviour, organisational values, existing policies and potential barriers to participation. ‍
Interpersonal and communication to articulate objectives clearly, facilitate collaboration and dialogue, and maintain staff engagement throughout the process. ‍
Marketing to promote the Participatory Intervention strategy within and beyond the organisation through diverse and accessible communication channels. ‍
Training to design and deliver learning sessions that build employee skills and confidence in carrying out the agreed biodiversity activities or behaviours. ‍
Evaluation and assessment to develop and apply monitoring and feedback tools that measure progress, assess impact, and inform future improvements. ‍
Financial and budgeting to conduct cost–benefit analyses, allocate resources efficiently and ensure the financial sustainability of the strategy.

Potential Impact:

Strengthened protection and restoration of biodiversity through direct employee participation in meaningful environmental actions.
Increased awareness, understanding, and commitment to pro-biodiversity values and behaviours across the workforce.
Development of new skills, creativity, and innovation among employees, generating ideas that benefit both the organisation and biodiversity outcomes.
Improved staff morale, wellbeing, and job satisfaction through shared purpose and collaboration on sustainability goals.
Enhanced organisational capacity to deliver on biodiversity commitments and integrate ecological considerations into everyday operations.
Opportunities for wider community engagement and outreach, extending the organisation’s positive environmental influence beyond the workplace.

Case Study

Instructions

To implement Participatory Intervention within an organisation, use the following steps as a guide:

Detection Phase:

Conduct interviews, focus groups or observational walkabouts, to understand how employees currently behave in relation to biodiversity and to surface perceived barriers and enablers. Follow ethical good practice by securing informed consent, protecting confidentiality, ensuring voluntary participation, and explaining the purpose and use of findings, including the right to withdraw.
Review existing organisational structures and practices, including biodiversity features such as green roofs, gardens or planting schemes, current policies and routines, and any available evidence on environmental outcomes.
Identify and invite employees to participate in the intervention with clear information about roles, time commitments and expected benefits. Facilitate brainstorming sessions that encourage staff to propose workable ideas for strengthening pro- biodiversity behaviour.
Compile and prioritise a list of potential actions emerging from these discussions, checking feasibility, ethical considerations, responsibilities, required resources, timelines and possible unintended consequences.

Decision Phase

Review all data gathered during the detection phase to identify key themes and areas for prioritisation. Creating an initial shortlist of potential focus areas can help structure subsequent discussions and ensure attention to the most relevant issues.
Facilitate a collaborative discussion with employees to explore proposed behaviours or actions in relation to organisational priorities, available resources, and any potential facilitators or barriers to implementation.
As a group, select a set of specific, realistic and achievable actions or behaviours to be implemented, such as developing a green space, revising procurement practices or promoting car-pooling. Structured decision-making tools such as ranking exercises, SWOT analysis, decision trees or voting can help guide the process.
Work together with participating employees, relevant managers and where appropriate sustainability or biodiversity leads, to agree how progress will be monitored and how actions may be refined over time in response to learning and feedback.
Develop a detailed action plan that clearly sets out the chosen actions, assigned responsibilities, required resources, feedback processes and criteria for evaluating progress and outcomes.

Implementation Phase

Secure necessary resources and ensure that logistics and infrastructure are in place to deliver the selected actions or behaviours identified during the Decision Phase.
Define roles and responsibilities collaboratively with employees, ensuring they have clear ownership and accountability for the actions they undertake.
Implement the planned biodiversity activities or behaviours in line with agreed timelines and organisational processes.
Monitor progress continuously, maintaining open communication channels and providing support through established organisational structures.
Gather feedback from employees through discussions, surveys or reflection sessions, following ethical good practice by ensuring participation is voluntary, respecting confidentiality, and being transparent about how feedback will be used to refine and improve activities.

Rationale:

Participatory Intervention is grounded in the principle that meaningful employee participation strengthens commitment to organisational goals and drives collective action for biodiversity. By involving staff directly in planning and implementing biodiversity initiatives, Participatory Intervention fosters a sense of responsibility, empowerment and connection to the natural environment. It also builds shared understanding and ownership, turning sustainability into an active and visible part of workplace culture.

Benefits:

Increases employee engagement, responsibility and ownership of biodiversity initiatives.
Enhances awareness and knowledge of biodiversity across the workforce.
Stimulates behavioural change throughout the organisation.
Encourages creativity and innovation when generating and implementing pro-biodiversity actions.
Aligns employees’ values with those of the organisation, strengthening workplace loyalty and cohesion.
Fosters an organisational culture of biodiversity and sustainability by building shared norms and peer influence.
Creates biodiversity champions who promote and strengthen the organisation’s reputation both internally and externally.
Low-cost, effective, and adaptable to a wide range of organisational contexts.

Links to Resources

AIHR offer a freely available online resource about how to facilitate employee engagement with Participatory Intervention.

The Environmental Defence Fund offers helpful advice on engaging employees for environmental action.

Resources