How are companies embracing the concept of sustainable leadership?

A new type of business leadership has been emerging in recent years. In response to growing pressure from customers, investors and other stakeholders, companies are embracing the concept of sustainable leadership.

This concept takes into account performance in relation to what has become known as the “triple bottom line” of profits, people, and planet.

Skillnet Ireland, the business support agency dedicated to workforce development, has been responding to this trend through the provision of a wide range of management development programmes.

“One of the areas where we are seeing great demand for at the moment is leadership development,” says Skillnet Ireland communications and policy director Tracey Donnery. “Every year, Skillnet networks across Ireland offer more than 150 dedicated programmes with a specific focus on management and leadership development. Over 21,000 managers and leaders undertook these programmes during 2021 alone.”

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How are companies embracing the concept of sustainable leadership?

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To help inform the development of those programmes, the Irish Centre for Business Excellence (ICBE) carried out a research project on sustainable leadership in collaboration with the Kemmy Business School in Limerick during 2021 and 2022.

“One thousand people took part in the research,” says Donnery. “It also involved a number of focus groups with 72 business leaders participating, many of them from some of the largest companies in Ireland. In addition, 55 in-depth interviews were carried out with business leaders from all sectors across the country, 50 per cent of them working in global leadership roles in the multinational sector.”

Entitled Sustainable Leadership for a Post-Digital Age, the research report examines how business leadership has changed in recent years. “It looks at the impact of changes like Brexit, the Covid pandemic, hybrid working, ever increasing digitalisation and other market forces,” Donnery adds. “It investigates the challenges of being a leader in today’s world and the impact they have on learning and development. And it looks at how organisations need to define how they can support current leaders and develop future leaders.”

The research also looked at the new model of sustainable leadership. “Sustainable leaders inspire and support actions which lead to a better world. They have a broader outlook that encompasses all their impacts as a leader. They understand that they are not just delivering results for the business, they have to deliver on ESG and the wellbeing of their employees as well.”

It is also a different style of leadership. “The hierarchical style of old won’t work in the future, or today. Managers need to look at what kind of leaders they are and how they bring the best out in others. Sustainable leaders need to develop the skills to lead with and through others, to adopt a shared leadership style. They also need to be able to guide others; coaching is even more critical in today’s world. And they need highly developed cognitive and relational skills – things like compassion and empathy. These are often called human power skills.”

These human power skills will be required to deal with a rapidly changing business environment. “Things are moving so quickly,” Donnery notes. “The impact of hybrid working on organisations is still not clear. Businesses need innovation and learning and development to continue and this will require a new approach.”

Developing that new style of leader is easier said than done, of course. “Some say leadership can’t be taught,” she observes. “But management development is very important. One of the key findings of the research is that some of the best learning is through experience – and that includes experience of both success and failure.”

She explains that many business owners and executives are already highly educated and can be extremely busy. “They may not have the time for standard management development programmes, and they may not be appropriate for them in any case,” Donnery says.

“Mentoring, coaching and peer to peer learning can be better. Designing experiential learning that suits them is very important. It can be less formal and helps to build skills and capability. Skillnet networks tend to be very good at developing programmes like that. Being part of strategic networks and alliances is also very important.”

Sustainable leaders need to develop strong interdisciplinary skills, Donnery points out.

“In matrix organisations every area of the business needs each other. Leaders need powerful communication skills, as well as strong technology and data literacy and an understanding of the different parts of the business and how they work together.

“Along with programmes specifically focused on management and leadership development, Skillnet networks also offer programmes in areas like project management, lean methodologies, innovation, digital marketing, climate action and so on which help to develop the interdisciplinary skills required of today’s sustainable leader.”