Leadership for Sustainability

" I absolutely love it. Out of all of the different sustainability podcasts I listen to I’d recommend it to anyone working in sustainability." Libby Kerman, Sustainability Manager, Lincolnshire Housing Partnership. Want to get more colleagues supporting sustainability – and not just paying lip service to the idea but getting actively involved in making change happen? Most sustainability leaders focus on trying to build more persuasive arguments, instead of building more effective relationships. And that’s a problem. Even though they may not talk about it, four out of five people are concerned about the climate and nature crises, and do want to take action – if only they felt able to. But stronger arguments don’t make people feel more able to act. More effective relationships do. When you connect with colleagues over what really matters to them, you grow your network of active allies and work together better – and that’s exactly what you need to make change happen. In the Leadership for Sustainability podcast, we help you develop active allies and work together better so that you can make change happen: 🌍 Experience from 20+ years of leading on sustainability ourselves and advising others. 👥 Insights from psychology that shape our approach to sustainability leadership. 🗺️ Models and approaches we have developed and adapted, that you can apply in your work. Listen every month for rich insights and practical advice from our experienced team and our special guests – along with recorded highlights from our events for sustainability leaders.

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Make change happen: turn colleagues into allies

How do you actually make change happen? What’s the right balance between collaboration and competition? How important is it to convince people about the importance of sustainability?Last year we (Osbert, Morag and Rich, co-founders of Realise Earth) headed for the hills of Westmoreland to camp, walk and talk – to see if we could pool our varied experiences of sustainability leadership to identify, and overcome, the fundamental challenge facing sustainability leaders. (We do our strategy and innovation out in nature.)That challenge, we agreed, is that action on sustainability comes up against other priorities, and this leads to conflict, which blocks progress.In this episode we lift the curtain on our conversations, to explain how and why, we not only came to this conclusion, but also came to realise the critical issue is that change needs collaboration, not conflict.We discuss why, to make change happen, you need to move beyond conflicting priorities and turn your colleagues and stakeholders into active allies working with you towards shared goals.Looking back at our very different careers in sustainability, we identify the common threads that underpin successful change, and talk through the practical five step approach we developed to help sustainability leaders make change happen:Map the systemDiscover what really mattersIdentify common groundInvite them to joinWork together for changeWe also discuss the core skills sustainability leaders need to work in this way, and share our experience of working with these ‘Inner Development Goals’ in corporate environments.Listen for rich insights and practical advice that you can apply right away to make change happen.You'll find all the links mentioned in this episode in the companion guide here:https://realise.earth/make-change-happen-a-how-to-guide/ 👉 Get the Leadership for Sustainability newsletterDon't miss new episodes or your invitation to our Leadership for Sustainability roundtables – including, only for email subscribers, our team's rich insights and carefully curated resources. Subscribe now… Mentioned in this episode:Upcoming eventsLeadership for Susainability Online Meet Up 22 May 2025 Leadership for Sustainability Netwalks, Edinburgh, various dates Your Wild Nature 3 Day Women’s Retreat, Scotland, 30 May – 02 Jun 2025.Events for sustainability leaders

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