Leadership for sustainability: the art of engaging

Effective water resource management requires not only co-ordination between different public sector entities, but also productive co-operation between public sector, private sector and civil society actors, and collaboration across borders.

The absence of living wages in some Asian countries is not a local phenomenon, but the result of a wide range of global factors that cannot be influenced by factories in Bangladesh alone. Shifting the system so that it empowers textile workers to receive wages that are sufficient to feed their families requires an approach that cannot afford to leave out any of the actors throughout the entire value chain: workers, factory owners, buyers, retailers, consumers, governments, and NGOs.

Such cross-sector initiatives and complex co-operation projects have become key elements for global and local change toward more sustainable development. The proof of these sustainability endeavours is in the achievement of tangible (and measurable) results that often require the commitment and collaboration of various actors.

Leadership in a collaborative context suggests concepts that take into account the diversity of internal and external stakeholders and foster the ability to create acceptable solutions for all. Collective action for sustainability must be guided by a leadership paradigm that is inspirational, fosters commitment by various actors and acknowledges the role of collective contributions to decision-making. Leading, here, can be seen as a co-creative process that often begins with a small group of people and aims at profound collective change.

Learning to engage

Overcoming the challenges that lie ahead requires building teams within organisations or across several institutions. Different organisational cultures need to be integrated into joint initiatives and foster collaboration between actors that are often not even used to communicating with each other.

But even the best solutions are futile if not enough people take them up. Considering the need for collective intelligence, and the fact that change comes about fastest in a web of relationships between people who are committed to making a difference, leadership for sustainability requires us to develop our capacity to engage. People who have been part of creating solutions will be active drivers in implementation.

'Only dedicated circles can give birth to something new'

This saying by a circle of African wise women captures an important lesson in sustainability leadership: engagement often starts small, not big, and it requires a team of committed people.

The term "container" refers to such a committed team of actors and describes its function and relational quality. A good container exists if all actors in the team are dedicated to the change envisaged, emotionally engaged with future possibilities and if they are committed to jointly initiating and implementing the intended change. Ideally, this group of people already represents, to some extent at least, the diversity of actors so that it can embody the range of interests in the change initiative. It is composed of people who are willing to respect each other and who are committed to the goal. It creates a holding space for the planned change, an emotional home for the joint initiative and an initial pattern of the envisaged dialogue and co-operation. The more this group is able to provide coherent collective leadership, the more likely the endeavours will be set on a route to success. An initiating team that have the qualities of a good container help bring about change by establishing ever broader containers for change.

Creating a context for commitment

People engage when they resonate with the content and goal of a sustainability endeavour. But the context of most change initiatives for sustainability is much more complex: there can be contradicting agendas of stakeholders, conflicting interests or actors who are overwhelmed by other commitments. The willingness to engage in a collaborative effort is enhanced by an initiating team, if they take care of the following factors:

Keeping the relevance of the endeavour in focus, for all the involved actors

Staying clear, transparent and reliable regarding the collaborative and dialogue process

Focusing on results that can be perceived as jointly achieved

Creating opportunities for joint emotional goals

Engaging means gradually building larger and larger containers for change. This is what makes leadership for sustainability successful. Collaboration becomes more effective when people feel engaged, acknowledged and taken seriously. When they perceive the existence of a good container as diverse group of actors who move an issue forward, they become inclined to engage, too.

Building commitment, fostering engagement, creating tangible results and enhancing collective responsibility for change will continue to become our daily business. Effective water resource management in the Congo basin and ensuring living wages in Bangladesh are both extremely complex issues. Both can be done, if people are dedicated to gradually building circles of engagement.

Petra Kuenkel is founder and director of the Collective Leadership Institute

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