Sustainability Leadership

Wickedness: “facts are uncertain, values in conflict, stakes are high, decisions are urgent, and an extended peer community is required for the resolution of the relevant issues” (Gough et al., 1998)

Examples of Wicked Problems:

  • Climate change
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Social inequity
  • Food access

Leadership Competencies for Sustainability

Effective Communication

Stakeholder Engagement

A stakeholder is any individual, group, or organization with a vested interest in your project. In engaging stakeholders, consider your timing, the language you use to appeal to interests, cultural competency, and who is not at the table

  • What are some strategies you could try for identifying and engaging key stakeholders in your summer organizations, projects, or programs? What are some of your considerations?

Coalition Building

A coalition is a temporary alliance or partnering of groups in order to achieve a common purpose or to engage in joint activity

  • What coalitions might you, your organization, project, or program want to build in order to achieve a common purpose? Who should be involved?

Facilitation

To facilitate is to make a process or action easier. As a facilitator, one brings a group together to help unify around, and move forward on, common objectives. Facilitators design agendas, create space for all voices, and guide discussion while generally remaining neutral.

  • In what settings, and for what purpose, might you facilitate this summer?

Public Speaking

Public speaking is presenting, formally or informally, to a group of people in order to educate and/or influence.

  • What public speaking opportunities might be available to you this summer for you to practice this skill and advance your work?

Story Telling

When stakeholders have diverse interests and values, it is important to appeal to the heart. Storytelling is a tool for this.

  • Telling ones own story is a good place to start. What story connects you to your leadership track?

Systems Thinking
Wicked problems cannot be solved by addressing one piece of the system in isolation. Thus, it is important that we are constantly working to see and understand the system, and the many interactions.

  • In your program, organization, or project for this summer, map out one system (parts, interactions, purpose). Where do you sit within the system? Where do you anticipate finding leverage points for you to intervene in the system for positive impact or change?

Self Assessment/Reflection

Since wicked problems do not have one right answer and values are often in conflict, leading for sustainability is a highly iterative process. In other words, sustainability leaders engage in multiple small experiments all of the time. This necessitates reflection, self-assessment,and humility. Further, since stakes are high and the facts are dismal, it is important that leaders realize that the first person they lead is themselves and that self care is an important component of this work. Lastly, reflection helps leaders realize their potential.

  • What systems might you create for yourself in order to inspire multiple experiments, reflection, and support your own sustainability throughout this summer?

Content in this document is inspired by research done with colleague, Michael Shriberg (2013).