Sustainable Leadership: The History & Implications of an

Emerging Consciousness

ATTD 6200: Leadership Development in Applied Technology & Training

Laura Pasquini

The Take Away

• Definitions of Sustainable Leadership• Theory into Practice• Challenges for Sustainability• Implications for Leadership Development• Leading the Sustainable Trail

Sustainability.Leadership.

[How do YOU define these terms?]

Sustainability is the capacity to endure... For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term

maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions.

Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and

support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”…. According to Ken "SKC" Ogbonnia, "effective leadership is the ability to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within the internal and

external environment for the attainment of organizational or societal goals.”

c/o Wikipedia.com

Leadership & Sustainability

• Sustainability challenges are increasingly interconnected across traditional disciplines & geographies

• Social & organizational challenges are going to share and be shaped by this revolution

• All leaders, no matter what sphere they are operating in, must attend to sustainability challenges

Hargreaves & Fink

Sustainability does not simply mean whether something can last. It addresses how particular initiatives can be developed without compromising the development of others in the surrounding environment, now and in the future.

Hargreaves & Fink, 2000

Sustainable leadership matters, spreads and lasts. It is a shared responsibility, that

does not unduly deplete human or financial resources, and that cares for and avoids

exerting negative damage on the surrounding educational and community

environment.

Hargreaves & Fink, 2000

The Spencer Study

• Spencer Foundation-funded study of educational change over three decades in eight high schools in the US and Canada– over 200 teachers & administrators who worked there in

the 1970-90s– This study has shown that one of the key forces

influencing change or continuity in the long term is leadership, leadership sustainability and leadership succession.

– Most processes and practices of school leadership, our study shows, create temporary, localized flurries of change but little lasting or widespread improvement.

Hargreaves & Goodson, 2004

1. Sustainable leadership creates and preserves sustaining learning.

2. Sustainable leadership secures success over time.

3. Sustainable leadership sustains the leadership of others.

4. Sustainable leadership addresses issues of social justice.

5. Sustainable leadership develops rather than depletes human & material resources.

6. Sustainable leadership develops environmental diversity and capacity.

7. Sustainable leadership undertakes activist engagement with the environment.

Hargreaves Seven Principles of Sustainability

1. Depth2. Length3. Breadth4. Justice5. Diversity6. Resourcefulness7. Conservation

Sustainability is the capacity of a system to engage in the

complexities of continuous improvement consistent with

deep values of human purpose.

Fullen, 2004

Fullen’s Eight Elements of Sustainability

1. Public service with a moral purpose2. Commitment to changing context at all levels3. Lateral capacity building through networks4. Intelligent accountability & vertical relationships5. Deep learning6. Dual commitment to short-term & long-term results

7. Cyclical energizing8. The long lever of leadership

We live in an interconnected world.

• Mentors• Challenges• Listens• Educates• Shares• Engages

YouTube Video: PLN Functions

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs)

Three Skills of A Sustainable Leader1. Seeing Systems2. Collaborating Across Boundaries3. Creating: Beyond Reactive Problem Solving

The Necessary Revolution, Peter Senge

The Sustainable Trail

• Systems thinking• Collaboration• Building adaptive systems• Acting as meaning makers• Finding connections to sustain• Leadership as a lifestyle, not a position• Working towards systematic change, rather

than individual challenge

Questions?

Thank you.

References

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco CA.: Jossey-Bass.

Hargreaves, A. and Goodson, I., (2004). Change Over Time? A Report of Educational Change Over 30 years in Eight U.S. and Canadian Schools. (Final report to the Spencer Foundation), Chicago.

Hargreaves, A. and Fink. D. (2006). Sustainable Leadership

References

Sandeen, A. (2001). Chapter 7: Organizing Student Affairs Divisions. The Professional Student Affairs Administrator: Educator, Leader, and Manager

Senge, et al. (2009). The Necessary Revolution