learning, leadership and sustainable development dr jake reynolds university of cambridge programme...
TRANSCRIPT
Learning, Leadership and Sustainable Development
Dr Jake Reynolds
University of Cambridge Programme for Industry
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 2
Corporate arena
General acceptance that business can play a key role in delivering SD
Increasing acceptance by business of the many cases to be made
Lots of talk, reports, principles, intentions
Level of progress debatable…
Story so far…
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 3
How we imagine change
Strategy(organisational direction)
Practice
(organisational impact)
Performance(organisational success)
Model A
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 4
What really happens
Strategy(organisational direction)
Model BPerformance(organisational success)
Practice
(organisational impact)
Cu
lture
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 5
Culture change
SD is a ‘high magnitude’ challenge
Cultural changes are necessary, not desirable
Grow! Try harder!
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 6
Helpful shifts
ProblemComplianceSource of riskCostDistractionSpecialist/technicalComplicatedQuick fixPassing fadClever PRIll-defined, fluffyDucking and weaving
What SD means now What it could mean in the future
Problem OpportunityCost SavingSource of risk Source of valueSpecialist/technical MainstreamComplicated Common senseFragmented IntegratedReactive PredictiveQuick fix Long-term investmentPassing fad Core businessClever PR License to operateVague/ill-defined Clear values and principlesTactics Trust
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 7
Models of change
Power-centred (shouting at plants): autocratic – culture of instruction, supervision,
dependency
People-centred approaches: dialogue, engagement, guidance, tools – who owns it?
Emergent change: continuous, evolutionary, self-organising
“You cannot direct an organisation, only disturb it such that it reorganises.”
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 8
Implications
Give more attention to growing the conditions in which change occurs
Engage with the head, heart and hands
Sense of purpose
The ‘heart’
Supportive environment
The ‘hands’
Freedom to learn
The ‘head’THINK ACT
BE
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 9
Leadership
What does it mean to be an SD leader?
1. Challenge cultural obstacles (by creating disturbance)
2. Construct new patterns of behaviour (by creating psychological safety)
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 10
Leadership
Task 1: Create disturbance
Be as radical as the campaigners, but in the organisation’s interests
Alert employees to threats
Expose poor performance
Get charismatic figures to challenge the status quo
Surface assumptions
Awaken people to the issues, risks, possibilities
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 11
Leadership
Task 2: Create psychological safety
Build SD into the vision and values
Illuminate SD locally within teams and functions
Empower staff to come up with solutions
Create ‘practice fields ‘
Act as role model, not ‘expert’
Align systems and policies
‘Scaffold’ learning
ESSD, 10-12 May 2004, The Hague Slide 12
www.sdchronos.org
