Sustainability

This course is an introduction to understanding, communicating and developing strategies for sustainability. It is designed to introduce professionals to the knowledge, tools, step-by-step processes and resources to lead sustainability initiatives in their organisations and communities.

Course Overview

We live in very challenging and uncertain times. There are also more opportunities and drivers than ever before to create a sustainable future.

Increasingly individuals and organisations are wanting to be creative in how they plan and make decisions in these rapidly changing circumstances. Many tools for strategic planning and policy assume relatively stable and predictable conditions into the future, and are no longer useful.

If you want to be creative and effective, but need to deal with an increasing number of environmental, social and economic issues and stakeholders in your policy, projects or planning, then this course is for you.

Professionals and future leaders have a real need for tools and approaches that are proven and credible, can deal with complexity, take a holistic perspective, and are effective and creative. They also need to be able to communicate about sustainability across disciplines and sectors.

This workshop will introduce you to key sustainability concepts and a strategic framework used across the world for nearly 25 years to help communities, business, government and NGOs think, plan and act together towards sustainability. This approach is science-based, takes a holistic systems perspective, and enables smart, effective decision-making in dynamic circumstances. It helps make sense of the complexity, allows experienced practitioners to effectively deal quickly and effectively with many issues and stakeholders in an integrated way. It is simple to communicate, and engaging for all audiences.

This course is designed as a primer for anyone needing to understand, communicate, plan and deliver results in the field of sustainability. It includes step-by-step guides to visioning, analysing issues, prioritising actions and building support for implementation.

Whether you are tackling issues now, or see sustainability as part of your future, this is the introduction you need to take steps in the right direction.

Who Should Attend

Professionals of any background, but who want or need to take into consideration a broad range of environmental, social, economic and community issues.

In particular, the following individuals should consider taking this course:

• State government staff working on policy, planning, development or resource management issues with sustainability implications.
• Local government staff and councillors tasked with leading sustainability initiatives for their communities.
• Consultants looking to improve their ability to support and facilitate sustainability efforts with clients.
• Community leaders looking to learn and apply a sustainability planning process to engage other leaders in exploring and realising long-term success in their communities.

Course Content

This course will focus on:

• Basic science and understanding of social and ecological systems
• Defining sustainability and identifying root causes of 'un-sustainability'
• A strategic planning framework, with particular application for sustainability
• Four key steps to plan towards sustainability
• Key questions to prioritise sustainability actions, policies and projects
• Success factors for being a sustainability change-agent

It will also cover:

• Current status of key sustainability indicators at local, national and global scales
• Key sustainability drivers and opportunities for organisations and communities
• Powerful metaphors, analogies and stories for communicating sustainability
• Linking sustainability with other organisational change and learning initiatives
• Case studies from government, business and NGOs
• Tools for different aspects of sustainability planning and action
• Relevance to and of the 'global financial crisis'
• An action-learning approach; using participant's own situations as case-in-point

Course Outcomes

This workshop will provide the foundations for participants to:

• Have a science-based understanding of sustainability
• Analyse projects or proposals using sustainability principles
• Develop a sustainability vision, and prioritised action plan to achieve it
• Communicate sustainability concepts and drivers to get buy and support
• Process and organise complex sustainability issues and information
• Integrate sustainability into other organisational or community initiatives

It will also provide the opportunity for participants to:

• Join a learning network for ongoing support
• Participate in further practitioner training

Presenter Bios

Andrew Outhwaite – Andrew’s (B.Sc., MSLS) passions are helping groups make better decisions, and catalysing action towards sustainability. During the past four years he worked in Europe on leadership development and sustainability for emerging leaders within large organisations, training sustainability practitioners in creative and holistic approaches to their work, strategy for community enterprises and social entrepreneurs to scale up. He has a solid track record with corporate, government and third-sector audiences, and has trained in group facilitation, coaching and leadership development and multi-stakeholder processes. Andrew's current primary role is with local government leading sustainability initiatives in Western Australia's mid-west. http://www.wearearising.org

Tracy Lydiatt - Tracy (B. Sc, MSLS) is a Sustainable Development Project Leader in the Sustainable Development Design Discipline at Hatch. She provides expertise in business development, strategic planning, facilitation and education, implementation of Hatch’s SD Design suite of tools, GRI reporting, and sustainable development policy, benchmarking and research. Tracy has 4 years experience within the mining industry. She has recently completed a Masters degree in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability where her thesis work reviewed the application of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (also referred to as The Natural Step framework) to projects, specifically in the mining industry.

Online Registration Fees

* Join IPAA WA today and register for this course at the discounted rate!