SHIFT – Sustainability Leadership

What to expect on this program

This program acknowledges the need for a fundamental change in how organisations approach toward sustainability and builds the specific leadership skillsets required to facilitate adoption, and ultimately, a SHIFT in the way we lead our organisations.

We partner with you to customise the SHIFT program around your most pressing challenges to create experiential learning that maximises immediate and long-term positive impact. SHIFT project customization in Module 2 allows participants to expand their sustainability mindset and apply specific skills to the identified “wicked problem”, connect and work with an in-house mentor, and continue with post program collaboration.
Participants make an immediate impact on their organisation by developing systems thinking, practiced through facilitated leadership development modules and a hands-on sustainability project.

The program is delivered in three modules, spread across three months:

Module 1: Expand Sustainability Mindset

• Understand yourself, understand others, and make the most of the relationships that affect effective collaboration
• Explore inner sense of purpose, vision and motivation connected to company vision and sustainability
• Develop an awareness of diversity and varying viewpoints across different interest groups to enhance the ability to form strong partnerships and engagement

Module 2: Create SHIFT

• Application of systems thinking and design thinking methodologies in a group project to practice seeing the bigger picture, analyse details, and measure impact and unleashing the empowering potential of innovation
• Expanding on the ‘how might we’ statement with divergent and convergent methods
• Zoom out to formulate a vision that inspires all stakeholders and creatively ideate
• Zoom in to create and evaluate plausible and possible solutions

Module 3: Embed Sustainable Solutions

• Present SHIFT concept to key stakeholders
• Facilitate meaningful dialogue, collaborate and act upon sustainable business opportunities
• Empower and influence others to explore and get involved in new solutions
• Develop long-term orientation and action plan to meet the triple bottom line and embed sustainability in organisational strategy and culture

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, participants will have acquired the critical competencies needed to:

• Develop strategies and practical skills to deliver significant positive impacts on social, environmental and financial performance.
• Integrate sustainability into organisational strategy and culture.
• Inspire and empower others to take ownership of critical decisions that support innovation and meaningful partnerships.
• Embrace diversity and a social change dynamic for creative problem solving.
• Act and collaborate on identified opportunities to impact the triple bottom line.
• Use their newly developed creative problem-solving skills to support the organisational capacity to innovate.
• Drive high performance toward innovative and sustainable outcomes.
• Lead constructive partnerships for transformative change.

How participants learn

This program can be delivered face to face or virtually and uses a variety of teaching and learning modes.

Module 1: Expand Sustainability Mindset

In-depth personal profiling
Group coaching

Module 2: Create SHIFT

Group work on the SHIFT assignment
Systems thinking facilitation & coaching

Module 3: Embed Sustainable Solutions

SHIFT presentation
Follow-up coaching

Participants will benefit from

• Interactive content on an easy-to-use digital platform
• An initial self-assessment to identify their personal learning goals
• Social learning and peer support from other participants
• Personal coach facilitation throughout
• A curated collection of informative and inspiring digital resources
• An action plan so they can immediately apply their skills and insights for fast impact