Sustainable Business Initiative - Executive Education

Rethink knowledge. Impact your world

Sustainability Strategy, Leadership & Management

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‘The Meadows’ - one of Edinburgh’s most popular recreational spaces. The park is a stone throw away from the Business School and is often

used by students and staff during their lunch break.

Businesses are besieged by many, and sometimes conflicting demands and pressures across different stakeholder groups – e.g. investors, employees, customers, regulators, the media, and the society at large. Under such complex demands and pressures, managers and organisations are often drawn into different directions and have to manage competing priorities. Survival and success, therefore, require distinctive business capabilities to navigate through these complexities. These capabilities are the foundation of The S.M.A.R.T Company© Programme framework for delivering Leadership for Sustainability.

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The University of which we are a key part, is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom. Granted its Royal Charter in 1583, the University of Edinburgh has been the seed-bed for some of the country’s most distinguished thinkers.

Although these are essential characteristics in fiercely competitive, global, and dynamic business environments, they are often in short supply in organisations.

Research has found that businesses need to be SMART and have the capability to be:

Sustainable Balance the interests of people, planet, and profit

Meaningful Create purposeful value across stakeholder groups

Adaptable Adjust to, cope with, and or initiate positive industry and societal changes

Responsible Do the right thing irrespective of circumstance

Trustworthy Generate significant goodwill and social capital over time by being true to strategic purpose

Overview

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Design & Objectives

The S.M.A.R.T Company© Programme

This programme aims to assist in the development of SMART businesses by helping organisations integrate these SMART capabilities into their existing business models to fuel competitiveness, growth, and longevity. Each programme is normally delivered over 4 days.

Our programmes are designed to provide opportunities for group engagement, experiential learning through site-visits, post-programme mentoring/coaching, implmentation and review.

Group engagement is encouraged and the programmes are designed to stimulate group discussion. The post programme implementation, mentoring, and review, will reinforce learning and help to translate knowledge into practice.

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Themes Modules Objectives

Sustainability People, Planet and Profit: Mitigating Risks and Maximising Opportunities

To foster sustainability orientation and system thinking, and provide participants with the necessary tools and techniques to incorporate these best practices into their organisational culture.

Meaningfulness Position, Purpose and Place: Re-evaluating strategic mission, and vision

To cultivate meaningful entrepreneurship within the enterprise and provide participants with the tools and techniques to enable them to develop their strategic purpose and plans true to their mission and vision.

Adaptability Change, Management and Leadership: Value-based Change Management and Strategic Organisational Development

To foster positive change in organisations and equip participants with strategic tools and techniques to lead positive change and integrate positive values in their organisations’ operations, partners and customer relations.

Responsibility Corporate Citizenship, Accountability, and Performance: Building and Promoting Responsible Business Cultures

To explore the role of business in society and how this relates to company’s accountability and performance. It will offer tools and techniques to create and implement responsible business best practices across cultures and borders.

Trustworthiness Building Reputation and Trust-based Systems in Organisations

To explore the link between trust and organisational longevity within business. It will offer tools and techniques to build trust-based systems as a core business competency.

3 Programme Outline

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At the end of the programme, participants should be able to:

è Understand global sustainability trends

è Implement sustainability orientation and system thinking in their organisations

è Identify, prioritise, and engage with critical stakeholder groups

è Develop operational plans in line with the company’s strategic purpose, mission and vision

è Lead positive change in their organisations and in society

è Enhance personal effectiveness

è Create and implement responsible business best practices across cultures and borders

è Design and develop effective communication strategies for specific stakeholder groups

è Apply different stakeholder engagement tools and techniques

è Build trust across different stakeholder groups for organisational development, growth and longevity

Outcomes & Benefits

The University of Edinburgh Business School enjoys a long tradition of teaching and research. The School offers undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education programmes in business and management and provides a platform for research, discussion and debate on a wide range of business issues. The School has a world-class faculty of over 85 members. The 2012/13 student population was close to 1,500 (with more than 400 students pursuing postgraduate studies).

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Our programmes are designed for:

è Organisations seeking to cultivate social value and contribution as key drivers towards industry leadership and sustainability.

è Organisations that want to plan their sustainable and responsible business agenda, in anticipation of/to meet the requirements of stakeholders, e.g. customers and clients.

è Leaders and Managers who want to understand sustainability and ensure their organisations are positioned to tackle the challenges of sustainability.

è Leaders and Managers who want to understand and harness the opportunities provided by the challenges of sustainability.

Target Audience

Sustainable Business Initiative (SBI)The University of Edinburgh 29 Buccleuch PlaceEdinburgh, EH8 9JSUnited Kingdom

Our programmes can be customised for organisations, and can be delivered in Edinburgh and other locations. Please contact us to discuss your requirements

sbi@ed.ac.uk tel: +44 (0)131 6511572

For more information...