Sustainability Leadership Model
4 Domains of Sustainability Leadership:
Research shows that regardless of geography, organization type, education level, gender, or project domain, roughly 60% – 70% of required leadership competency is the same. In other words, while there are clearly vast differences in the skills, attributes, and experiences that change leaders need in order to succeed, there is also a definitive base of Change Leadership competencies that ALL sustainability leaders need to master. These baseline skills are codified in Sustainability Accelerator’s: Sustainability Leadership Model, which consists of four domains. Each domain encompasses leadership at a different level. Read below to learn more.
Self: Resilient Change Agent
First and foremost, successful sustainability leaders must be strong, resilient, centered leaders. Success increases significantly when change leaders demonstrate integrity and grit, know how to build strong relationships of trust across many stakeholder groups, actively include and involve people of many backgrounds, have developed strong communication and influencing skills, and understand change management.
1 on 1: Performance Enabler
When a leader understand how to manage themselves well, they are then able to work one-on-one with team members to improve performance. Top sustainability leaders are expert coaches, they create cultures of accountability, they actively engage in collaboration at all levels, and they are brilliant at inspiring and motivating everyone around them to exceed expectations. Furthermore, they understand the power of sustaining momentum once individuals are engaged and can move groups from “flavor of the month” mentalities to long-term sustainable performance.
Team: Agile Guide
True stainability leaders know how to build and guide self-motivated five-star teams. As agile guides, the best sustainability leaders have a deep understanding of how to deeply engage stakeholder communities, they co-create clear theories of change which are tied to outputs, outcomes, and impact metrics. They understand how to create team rules and roles that enable strong relationships and allow for healthy conflict and learning. They empower their people and ensure decision making is both effective and efficient. Finally, they know how to inspire innovation and equip their teams with agile problem-solving skills.
Stakeholders: Systems Strategist
Strong sustainability leaders are also intuitive systems thinkers and can navigate various stakeholder needs to build strategies that ensure lasting positive impact. They leverage sociology and technology to engage their community, and they actively track local and global trends to anticipate the future and set strategic plans. They engage and empower their teams by facilitating solution identification and prioritization sessions, and then create detailed execution plans. Ultimately, the best sustainability leaders are masters at creating a powerful “stakeholder experience” (SX) that delights and delivers, day after day, month after month, and year after year.
