SHIFT – Sustainability Leadership

Who this program is for

Business leaders – particularly CEOs and c-level executives – have a responsibility to make the right strategic decisions to navigate their customers, and the wider community’s, complex expectations for a sustainable future.

To do this, they need a finely tuned set of skills and leadership capabilities to drive individual and organisational performance and productivity in such a way that proactively embraces sustainability as a business opportunity rather than a matter of compliance.

This program is for c-level executives who want to be sustainable leaders – people capable of transformational and innovative strategic thinking and experts at collaborating and negotiating between diverse and competing stakeholder groups to realise profound change for the organisation, society and the planet.

What to expect on this program

The SHIFT Sustainbility Leadership program acknowledges the need for a fundamental change in how organisations approach sustainability and builds the specific leadership skillsets required to facilitate a shift in the way we lead our organisations.

Participants make an immediate impact on their organisation by developing their systems thinking, practised 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 themselves, understand others, and make the most of the relationships that influence effective collaboration.
• Explore their 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
• Expansion on the ‘How might we?’ statement with divergent and convergent methods
• Zoom out to formulate a vision that inspires all stakeholders to think and create
• 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

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. Customisation in Module 2 allows participants to expand their sustainability mindset and apply specific skills to a “wicked problem”, connect and work with an in-house mentor, and continue with post-program collaboration.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the program, participants will have acquired the skills to:

• Develop strategies 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 enhanced creative problem-solving skills to support the organisational capacity to innovate
• Drive performance toward innovative and sustainable outcomes
• Lead constructive partnerships for transformative change

How participants learn

The SHIFT Sustainability Leadership 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