In many years of working with organisational
change, I have felt at times that I have been complicit in a conspiracy to fit individuals
into systems that were innately dysfunctional, whilst ignoring the need to make
deeper cultural and structural changes that would really make a
difference.
My observations and discussions with
participants of organisational change programs have led me to conclude that
despite the huge amount of money and time spent, programs frequently fall short
of delivering the intended change outcomes.
Typically, there is a buzz for a short time. People know what needs changing. The ‘Values
Statements’ are framed and duly dispensed at prominent locations around the
buildings walls and the expensive consultation reports are filed. And like an elastic band that has been
momentarily stretched, things go back to business
as usual with no real commitment or clear articulation of how the changes might be made and
sustained. I suspect that many organisations
can underestimate the complexity involved in making deep level change; as well
as the need to stay the course until the
change has taken root.
The
drive for business to prepare to operate in a low carbon economy and become
more sustainable has upped the ante of organisational change to achieve tangible
outcomes. Yet with a predisposition towards political and economic short-termism
and the failure to recognise the combined impacts of complex global changes, this
is no small challenge for businesses to address.
Business
can no longer afford to focus only on economic gains or they risk perpetuating
a system that has reached its functional limits. How much and to what degree organisations take
on a culture of sustainability along with the practical skills needed to
deliver their products in a sustainable way will set the scene for a feasible and
equitable future for all.
There
are viable pathways for organisations to continue to make a profit, and address its social and environmental
impacts. One such pathway is to educate
for sustainability (EfS) which provides practical insights and
information that creates understanding, surfaces outdated world views and
engenders behaviour change. Where
necessary it can be backed up with educate
about sustainability (EaS) which provides factual science-based information
about prevailing and predicted environmental, social and economic conditions. The uptake of professional development in EfS can
support a new kind of success in business.
Education
for Sustainability (EfS) has already made a mark in the industry sector with
some 1000+ vocational educators from around Australia in 2012 and 2013 trained
to embed sustainability principles and practices into formal curricula. As well, numerous private providers and
community organisations have taken up the mantle.
As the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
2005 – 2014 draws to a close it reminds us that “all sectors of the workforce
can contribute to local, regional and national sustainability,” and that
business plays a key role. EfS hold the potential to change in the world of
work, and have a flow on effect of making sustainable change that contributes
to the environmental, social and economic wellbeing of all.
This may be the Trojan horse that infiltrates a
world view that will crumble a linear, hierarchical and fundamentalist way of
being that no longer serves us. Then wins
for all will ensue.
