Leadership for sustainable change
A sustainable world needs leaders.
We are currently living in an unsustainable way. Natural resources are overused and planetary boundaries exceeded. Climate change is threatening the well-being of ecosystems and human societies.
‘Leadership for sustainable change’ is a course about sustainable world and how to get there. First, the course provides you with the background material that you need to understand sustainability. Things like natural resources, environmental cycles, and the changing climate system. Then we’ll move on to discussing the different principles of sustainability, including scientific and practical applications, such as the circular economy.
The second part of the course concentrates on transformation theories and leadership practices. These leadership practices shouldn’t be thought of as some personal heroic achievement, but rather understood relationally. In other words, leadership is an influence process through which social order and change emerges. Here we ground the theoretical content with real-world case studies and provide much needed context to understand the sustainability challenges that we explore.
The final part of the course revolves around the learning, thinking, and philosophy of sustainability. Here, you’ll also get to reflect upon the transformative nature of the learning process as a whole, while exploring the different theories and tools of learning and practicing sustainability. After going through the course content, there is a group project to complete. Using a real-world case study, the ‘Make-a-Change’ project puts into practice what you have learned throughout the course. You can also think of the project as a relational leadership exercise, how can you as a member of a group help and inspire others to work to their full potential?
Course learning goals:
- what are the great challenges of sustainability and how are they related;
- how to lead change in complex systems, such as utilising the circular economy;
- what skills, knowledge and attitudes does a professional change-maker need;
- how to make and collaborate on a concrete sustainability project plan.
Course level: Masters
Pre-requisities: Climate.now, Sustainable.now, Circular.now or similar knowledge
Scope: 5 ECTS
Available languages: ENG
Authors: University of Helsinki and Tampere University.
Where to study: University of Helsinki (course codes ATM373 and ATM383), University of Jyväskylä (course code CEMS2610), Tampere University (course codes HAL.YPAT.341 or KAT.VAST.328 or LFC.360), Hanken School of Economics (course code 22089-E) and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (course code 5F00FF27-3002).
Link to study material: https://digicampus.fi/course/view.php?id=3519