This Guide Yourself
package is designed for those in the Learning and Skills Sector who
wish to take some time to gain an in-depth understanding of
leadership and management for sustainable development. It is
divided into four sections which can be read as a whole or
separately.
Although it is aimed at leaders at all levels within the FE
system it might be of particular use to senior executives and
managers.
Download the
interactive PDF version of Guide Yourself Through Leadership and
Management
Context
Introduction
For the purposes of this package leadership is seen as the
process of influencing the thinking and behaviour of others and is
essential in building the competence and confidence of everyone in
an organisation to deliver sustainable development. Management is
seen as implementing and embedding processes and practices to
achieve an organisation’s vision and mission.
Effective leadership and management of sustainable development
are necessary at all levels. Gaining internal commitment at the
senior level is crucial to embedding sustainable development within
an organisation. This section is aimed at leaders and managers of
organisations within the FE system, as well as others who have an
interest and a role in helping embed sustainable development into
the organisation, for example head of curriculum, sustainable
development champion, buildings manager.
Leaders exist at all levels within education and in every sector
and they have a vital role to play. From chief executives/
principals through to teachers and lecturers, all have a crucial
role to play in supporting the transition to sustainable
development and global citizenship by:
- guiding organisations’ strategic planning
- ensuring the delivery of high quality teaching and
learning
- managing estates and major capital programmes
- leading the organisations’ interactions with external
partners and stakeholders.
Leaders can raise the status of sustainable development within
their organisations or remit, as they are able to create a climate
where sustainable development can flourish. They also have a
symbolic role in influencing the views of others about sustainable
development and global citizenship. Thus it is extremely important
that leaders have the skills to take decisions that are compatible
with this agenda.
In achieving whole organisational approaches to embedding
sustainable development, it is vital that an effective management
structure is established from the outset, and most importantly, one
that has true commitment from the senior level.
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Making the case for Sustainable
Development
Policies
The importance of leadership and management to the sustainable
development agenda is recognised in the DfES FE White
Paper Raising Skills, Improving Chances (2006). It is also
highlighted in the LSC Strategy for Sustainable Development , which
identifies a number of key priorities for the sector including:
- Implementing a whole organisation approach
- Raising awareness of sustainable development through capacity
building
- Identifying and training sustainable development champions
- Supporting and connecting with local economic strategies
(Covered in more detail in the Community and Business sections of
the SORTED website)
- Implementing effective environmental management systems or
adopting sound sustainability policies (Covered in more detail in
the Buildings and Estates sections of the SORTED website)
The strategy also highlights a range of guiding principles which
include:
- Promoting good governance
- Using accurate systems of finance and trusted systems of
leadership, governance and management
Moreover, Success for All announced the establishment of a new
leadership college, The Centre for Excellence in Leadership (now
part of the Learning and Skills Improvement Agency) (click here to go to the CEL
website). Its objectives are to:
- Identify and develop future leaders early in their careers
- Develop succession planning
- Develop effective continuing development programmes for
leadership
- Increase the diversity of leaders and managers
CEL, with London South Back University and Forum for the Future,
have recently undertaken a piece of joint research: (September
2007) Leadership for
sustainability: Making sustainable development a reality for
leaders (It is recommended that you read the full report).
It involved interviews with FE providers to test current
leadership in the context of sustainable development with the
overall aims to:
- build understanding of catalysts and blocks to leadership for
sustainability in the learning and skills sector
- test the inseparability of good leadership from leadership for
sustainability.
- inform CEL’s Sustainable
Development strategy for supporting the development of
leadership for sustainability
Benefits
The commitment of staff at all levels is vital if sustainability
is to become part of the language and culture of an organisation.
Effective leadership is crucial in creating opportunities for
action and innovation at other levels.
Leadership is the process of influencing the thoughts and
behaviour of others. It is about getting people to move in the
right direction, gaining their commitment and motivating them to
achieve their goals. Leaders need to achieve the task in hand and
at the same time to maintain effective relationships with
individuals and groups of individuals.
Effective management and capacity building through staff
development is particularly important if organisations are to build
ownership of the sustainability agenda at every level. Incentive
schemes linked to improved environmental performance are a useful
way of encouraging pivotal jobholders to embrace sustainability. A
few organisations now include an environmental component in their
systems of performance evaluation.
At a broader level learning providers have a responsibility to
demonstrate ethical leadership within the business and wider
community, particularly since they are regarded as centres of
knowledge and good practice. They should therefore through their
teaching and their organisational practice, provide role models for
wider society and be sources of best practice. Guide Yourself Through Community and
Business has further information on this.
Important elements of effective leadership are:
- Distributed leadership
- Taking account of the organisational climate and culture
- Employing a wide range of influencing strategies
- Building organisational capability
- Cultural sensitivity
- Commitment to equality and fairness
This is according to the recently published CEL study.
Effective leaders in the learning and skills sector demonstrated
many of the key change management skills necessary for
sustainability.
Barriers
Some of the key issues providers face in achieving change, and
therefore what this guidance strives to overcome, include:
- rethinking mission and vision
- assessing the implications for teaching and learning
- reviewing the curriculum in the context of sustainable
development
- re-orientating practitioners who will need to see themselves as
learners and work with uncertainty and open outcomes
- realising that there is no blueprint for organisational and
curriculum reform successful change depends on an inclusive and
communicative process
For many leaders in the sector, there are some specific skills
and knowledge on sustainable development that need to be improved
due to the fact that this is a comparatively new agenda:
- Systems thinking to understand interconnectedness and manage
complexity
- Futures thinking to create a compelling vision of a sustainable
provider of the future
- Demonstrating broad organisational awareness by astutely
perceiving political, economic, social trends
- Creating and capitalising on learning opportunities for
sustainability
- Incorporating sustainability into core strategies and into
everyday business
- Performance accountability in the absence of exemplars on which
to benchmark
- Exhibiting self-belief and confidence to develop learning
opportunities in absence of regulatory
‘permission’
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