Free Webinar: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sustainability Change Agents

What makes a highly effective sustainability change agent? 

In this webinar, we share some of the essential sustainability change management skills that CSR and ESG practitioners today need to master (and an insight into the curriculum for Reconsidered’s Sustainability Change Agent Accelerator).

Habit 1: Build a business case.

We start by articulating a compelling business case for why things need to change. 

Reference: The Comprehensive Business Case for Sustainability — Harvard Business Review.

Habit 2: Build an emotional case.

But a compelling business case is not enough; we also need to build an emotional case for our impact efforts — one that speaks to not just minds but also hearts. 

Reference: Human-Centered Design Toolkit — IDEO.org.

Habit 3: Play with power.

Many people think power is a dirty word. But actually, it’s a natural part of human existence. If we learn to play with power, it can be a powerful unlock — but misunderstood or feared, it can be our biggest stumbling block.

Reference: Leading Change; The Benefits of Soft Power — Harvard Business Review;

Habit 4: Hold space.

The easiest way to strangle an impact effort is to keep it siloed within one person or team. Building coalitions is vital — and so is the ability to make participants feel trust, commitment and shared responsibility.

Reference: Making Change Sustainable.

Habit 5: Sell our ideas.

Who should a corporate sustainability practitioner have more in common with — a scientist or a salesman? Trick question: both. We need to be able to sell our impact effort as much as we’re able to explain its intricacies.

Reference: The Science of What Makes People Care — Stanford Social Innovation Review. 

Habit 6: Build our resilience.

Behind the CVs of your corporate responsibility heroes are loads of ideas that never got funding and pilots that failed to launch. Setbacks are inevitable in this space, making grit, tenacity and resilience essential skills.

Reference: Grit: The power of passion and perseverance — TED Talk 

Habit 7: Celebrate wins.

All impact efforts benefit from a moment to reflect on progress and toast to successes. Who doesn’t love to get recognized for their work?

Reference: Leading Change.

How to Dig Deeper:

• Join our Sustainability Change Agent Accelerator — an "MBA-Meets-Mastermind" designed to help corporate responsibility practitioners become more powerful agents of change. Over eight weeks we’ll delve into each habit one-by-one, and at the end of the program you’ll come away with a practical action plan for taking forward a specific change effort, as well as a community of fellow impact practitioners who are in the same boat as you.

• Download Making Change Sustainable — Reconsidered’s free playbook exploring how insights from the world of behavioral science can supercharge the way companies embed social responsibility into their business.

• Sign up for the Reconsidered Newsletter for a bi-weekly briefing of everything you need to know to stay fresh in your corporate responsibility work, as well as get notified when new resources like this go live!