Development in Climate Change Leadership
Developing climate change leadership (CCL) in organisations has become of critical importance in closing the gap between the impact and intent of current corporate sustainability. However, whilst the qualities of effective climate change leadership remain relatively under-researched, it is challenging to know which capabilities and competencies to prioritise in terms of development. Our programs focus on the current research in this area and outlines the foundational and complementary skills necessary for individuals, teams and organisations in their quest to develop the necessary leadership structures and capabilities for a thriving and responsible corporation in the context of a healthy and regenerative planetary environment. Developing effective CCLs can be achieved at both the individual and programmatic levels, and the balance between inner development (mindsets, values and worldviews) and external development (purpose, structure and governance) is critical in pursuit of a business sector that actively promotes and aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Developing capability in climate change leadership can be achieved through a number of forums. We follow the Lominger 70:20:10 rule where 70% of developmental experiences are found in challenging role assignments, 20% of new learning comes from coaching and mentoring relationships and 10% comes from formal training.
Climate Change Leadership Development
Our Climate Change Leadership development programs are structured around four concepts:
- Foundations, which includes models of environmental, ecological and evolutionary leadership;
- Transitions, which looks at transformational and ethical models that are being repurposed for the age of sustainability;
- Progressions, which explores innovative models that are being developed for the current age including systems, adaptation and maturity-based models of leadership; and
- Actions, which includes models of sustainable goal setting and climate leadership coaching and development.
Individual CCL coaching is available face to face or virtually. Contact us for more details
Team Coaching : We are also pioneering Team coaching for climate change leadership. Team leadership is invariably distributed, shared and collaborative in nature in order to fully utilise the strengths, talents and capabilities of its members, (MacKie, 2019). There is significant empirical support for this approach with studies reporting that shared leadership is a meaningful predictor of team effectiveness and that collective approaches explain addition variance over other leadership approaches, (Barnett & Weidenfeller, 2016). Distributed models of leadership are the antidote to individual exceptionalism and ensure that egalitarianism prevails over more autocratic styles. The consequent plurality of voices safeguards against the promotion of self-enhancing agendas and the distribution of responsibility ensures that those whose informal role includes sustainability, will always have a platform and influence at the leadership team,(MacKie, 2019).
Conferences
Climate Leadership Conference May 2024
Climate Leadership Conference 2022
Climate Leadership Conference US
Economist Climate Change Conference Oct 12-16th 2020
International Environmental Psychology Conference 2021
Higher Education
Principles of responsible management education have been defined in the UN Global Compact
Business Schools for Climate Leadership https://sites.google.com/view/bs4cl/home
Business Schools offering relevant course include;
- Lancaster University MA Leadership for Sustainability
- Malmo University MSc. Leadership for Sustainability
- University of Cambridge M.Sc. Sustainability Leadership
- Portland State MBA Leadership, Innovation & Sustainability
- Texas A&M MSc One Planet Leadership
- See Shriberg & MacDonald (2013) for complete list.
British Academy – Principles for a Purposeful Business
Director & Board Programs
AICD Climate Change Governance
World Economic Forum Principles of Climate Governance
Coaching and Mentoring
Green Human Resource Management (HRM)
HRM has a significant role to play in the support and development of Climate Change Leaders within organisations, (Renwick et al, 2013). Reasons for organisations to adopt green HRM practices include;
- Gaining competitive advantage through corporate social responsibility (CSR)
- Attract and retain the best talent
- Stimulate growth and innovation
- Maximal use of resources and waste reduction
- Ensuring a healthy work environment
Developing as a Climate Change Leader
There is currently no definitive career path for climate change leaders with organisations. However some of the key components for developing as an effective climate change leader include;
- Exposure to interconnectedness of business and society
- Systemic awareness and thinking
- Inclusive and expansive stakeholder mindset
- Acquisition of sustainable leadership models
- Ethical and responsible decision making
- Ecological worldview
- Biocentrism
- Radical collaboration within and across sectors
Key Research
PWC Project Ulysses – Developing Responsible Global Leaders (Pless et al. 2011).
Key elements included ;
- Responsible mindset CSR awareness
- Ethical Literacy – clarification of virtues & vales
- Cultural intelligence – awareness and empathy
- Global mindset – managing complexity
- Community development – stakeholder engagement
Leadership for Sustainability (Burns et al, 2015)
Strategies include;
- Interconnected self-awareness
- Continuous, challenging and contextualized reflection
- Exploring Ecological perspectives
- Experiential learning in communities
- Individual & team coaching