Building a Sustainability Strategy Online Course

This interactive webinar course on sustainability is composed of four modules. It is 1.5 hours per week for 4 weeks (October 4, October 11, October 18 and October 25). The course starts at 1:00 pm EST and ends at 2:30 pm EST.

Course Description

An organization's sustainability strategy can have a significant impact upon its reputation with customers, employees and within the supply chain. False starts and poorly integrated efforts are costly, hurt the creditability of the initiative, the implementation team and the company.

This workshop will provide you with experienced advice, proven frameworks, best practices and tools to simplify the sustainability process. You will also have the opportunity to work on your own sustainability planning process and receive coaching during the workshop. Our sustainability workshops are also a great place to build sustainability networks and communities of practice.

Learning Objectives
Using examples, case studies, best practices, hands-on activities and participation through the on-line Community of Practice and "Peer to Peer" dialogue, you will:

• List the steps in developing a sustainability strategy and begin to customize them for your organization.
• Develop a business case for sustainability including drivers, opportunities, risks, issues and challenges.
• Develop a process for a definition, vision and goals for sustainability for your organization.
• Create a plan to assess the impact of sustainability on our organization's economic, environmental and social performance.
• Identify methods for determining sustainability metrics.
• Discuss methods for prioritizing and implementation of sustainability initiatives.
• Understand best practices for integrating sustainability into corporate governance, operations and the culture of the organization.
• Establish a draft plan for tracking progress toward targets; and reporting achievements and progress towards sustainability goals.

Module 1 (October 4, 2011): Understanding Sustainability

Guest Speaker: Kelly Hawke Baxter, Executive Director, The Natural Step (to be confirmed)

In this module participants will:

Understand current definitions of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and related concepts and choose a definition for their company.

Compare and contrast different frameworks for sustainability such as The Natural Step, Triple Bottom Line, ISO 26000 & Corporate Social Responsibility and general practices and protocols such as ISO 14001, Global Reporting Initiative. Choose a framework for their company.
Examine the importance of current worldviews, and the essential nature of systems, futures and critical thinking in sustainability program design and implementation. Discuss the 10 steps and organizational structure for sustainability plan development and implementation.

Module 2 (October 11, 2011): Making the Business Case & Creating a Shared Vision

Guest Speaker: Dave Turnbull, Director, Sustainability & Project Development, Landmark Builders

In this module participants will:

Examine the drivers for sustainability.
Outline and share the business case for their company.
Compare different methods for gaining consensus on a shared vision for sustainability. Develop and share their plan for gaining consensus on a shared vision.

Module 3 (October 18, 2011): Conducting the Gap Assessment & Establishing Sustainability Metrics

Guest Speaker: Kevin Brady, Founder and Senior Associate, Five Winds Strategic Consulting

In this module participants will:

Examine methods for assessing their company's current sustainability position (such as assessment checklists, force field analysis, 5 forces, weighted matrix, process mapping etc).
Understand techniques for developing strategic directions and priorities for sustainability initiatives.
Learn methods for creating metrics for sustainability measures, setting targets and reporting sustainability.

Module 4 (October 25, 2011): Planning Sustainability Strategy Implementation

Guest Speaker: Nadine Gudz, Director Sustainability, Interface Flor

In this module participants will:

Learn tips for choosing the timing and priorities for successful strategy implementation
Compare and contrast different methods for rolling out the strategy.
Examine and modify templates for expressing the plan.
Generate a customized template for plan roll out with essential best practice elements.

Trainer and Subject Matter Expert Workshop Facilitators & Subject Matter Experts

Kathryn A. Cooper, B.Sc., MBA, M.Ed. (Sustainability & Environment) - President, Sustainability Learning Centre. Kathryn Cooper is a committed sustainability practitioner and educator moving companies toward "green" profitability and sustainable competitive advantage by unlocking human creativity and technical innovation. Over the last two years she has had the privilege to work with companies like Dupont, Zerofootprint, WWF Canada, and Partners in Project Green on sustainability issues, best practices and renewable energy.

Kathryn is a graduate of York University with a Master of Education specializing on Sustainability and the Environment. She holds an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Guelph.

In her spare time Kathryn is a member of the Environmental Advisory Committee for the Town of Erin, the Climate Change Action Group of Erin and an elected School Board Trustee at the Upper Grand District School Board.

Special Guest Speakers: Nadine Gudz, Director, Sustainability, Interface Flor, Dave Turnbull, Product Development Manager, Landmark Group of Builders, Kevin Brady, Founder & Senior Associate, Five Winds Strategic Consulting, Kelly Hawke Baxter, Executive Director, The Natural Step

This course will be of value to:

Sustainability Coordinators
Sustainability Team Leaders and Members
Sustainability Coaches and Champions
Anyone planning to lead the development of a sustainability strategy within business, government or the not-for-profit sector.
Bring your entire "green team" and use this workshop as a kick-off or refresher to your sustainability initiative.
Course Price: Early Registration Date $ 325
Course Price: Regular $ 425

Sustainability Learning Centre - Continuing Education Units (contact hours) Certificates of Participation in "Sustainability Education" will be awarded upon participation in the Community of Practice with 6 contact hours for this course.

To register click here (see course code SC 101).

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Melili

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1 comments:

  1. I noted that the link you provided also includes a course on "The Environment and Your Business."

    ReplyDelete