Part of: Leading Change
Stage 3 of 3
3
Event Dates:29 May - 18 Jun, 2025 • 00:00
Online

Leading Sustainability

Leading Sustainability is a UKGBC short-course supporting busy built environment professionals to lead on sustainability within their organisations and our industry.
Course
Online
Past course

Overview

The world is on track for a catastrophic 2.7C of global heating by the end of the century. We have just passed 1.5C for the first time. How clear are you on what this means for you as a leader, for how your business is positioned, and for the system-level shifts needed in the built environment?

Capturing insights and knowledge from UKGBC’s sustainability leadership programmes, Leading Sustainability is a four-week short-course that conveys the key concepts and take-aways required to deepen your understanding, expand thinking, and drive behaviour change at individual, organisational, and system level. It is designed to empower participants to lead progress, whatever their job title.

This course is perfect for busy leaders who want to get started in their role as a leader for sustainability, or for those already more well-versed leaders in need of a boost of inspiration and to refine their skills alongside a cohort of passionate peers.

The course is run annually by UKGBC for a mixed cohort from different organisations. Or it can be run in a tailored format for a cohort all from one organisation, at any time.

Outcomes

Understand what sustainability leadership is and the behaviours required, with access to key insights and cross-cutting learnings from across UKGBC’s wider leadership programmes.
Enquire into your personal leadership style through guided self-reflection and peer discussion.
Explore the change needed within your organisation and beyond (supply chains, clients, etc) to facilitate sustainability, and your role in driving and managing this.
Understand key elements of systems-thinking and its role in enabling sustainable change
Build confidence and gain inspiration from insightful speakers and group discussion.
Gain greater awareness and understanding of the climate and ecological emergency, and the action that needs to be taken within the built environment

Format & Content

Leading Sustainability content is delivered virtually over four weeks via three methods to suit all learning styles, enable peer discussion, activate thinking, and inspire you as you manage your busy jobs:

1. Sustainability Leadership Companion


An easily accessible written guide addressing the case for action, leaders’ purpose and key attributes, innovation, storytelling, systems change, and more. It delves into what’s needed at organisational level, giving practical examples and cases at project and personal leadership level. It is designed to:

1
Make key sustainability leadership insights more accessible
2
Explain what sustainability leadership is, and what is needed for a better future.
3
Unpack the complexity of systems thinking in the built environment
4
Help individuals explore the key behaviours needed for effective sustainability leadership.

Participants will also be directed to various resources from UKGBC’s learning library and granted access to our Sustainability Essentials email course in order to upskill on key sustainability topics within the built environment in their own time.

2. Leading Sustainability WhatsApp course

Over four weeks, this digital course explores core sustainability leadership concepts through compact and manageable learning insights, each summarised with practical actions and next-step suggestions. Learnings are deployed through WhatsApp messages, with a 1-2 hour per week time commitment for reading and reflection, and UKGBC facilitators helping guide participants to share thoughts and experiences. It is designed to:

1) Provide light touch nuggets of learning for busy leaders
2) Inspire and re-energise, reassure and equip those that use it with activities to explore their own positioning to the topics covered.
3) Act as an aide memoire – things to think about, triggers for acting differently, practical tips

The course covers key content including analysis of key leadership behaviours, an exploration of personal and organisational purpose, storytelling, resilience, and organisational- and system-level change.

3. Online and face-to-face* group discussion and facilitated learning

The course offers three online* workshops with opportunities for delegates to meet each other and the course facilitators. The conversations bring together learnings and reflections from the course to:

1
Encourage reflection on personal leadership and promote peer-to-peer learning.
2
Enable participants to discuss challenges to sustainability leadership in a non-competitive space.
3
Explore course content in deeper detail in a facilitated learning environment.

* Workshops can be run face-to-face if preferred, when run in bespoke format for one organisation

When & Where

  • Our 2025 Leading Sustainability course was run May-June and is now complete. The course runs for 4 weeks fully online.
  • Please express an interest in taking part in Leading Sustainability 2026 by emailing leaders@ukgbc.org.
  • If you would like to enquire about running Leading Sustainability in a tailored fashion within your organisation, please contact leaders@ukgbc.org.

Who Should Take Part

Every one of us has the potential to act as a leader within our spheres of influence, regardless of position or job title. This course will support you think through your own agency and help build your confidence in leading for sustainability. It is open to sustainability and non-sustainability professionals, with some self-directed sustainability literacy and knowledge included. Leading Sustainability may particularly benefit those in their mid-level career stages, but will benefit anyone who is: 

1
Navigating uncertainty and managing sustainable change within their organisation
2
Implementing corporate or organisational vision around sustainability on the ground.
3
Responsible for motivating and supporting teams to deliver on sustainability.
4
Motivated by success and looking to connect personal values with professional action.
5
Time restricted

Enquire & Costs

Our 2025 Leading Sustainability course has now elapsed.

If you would like to register your interest in taking part in the future, or would like to enquire about the cost of running Leading Sustainability in a tailored / bespoke fashion within your organisation please contact leaders@ukgbc.org.

Event details

Organisation

UKGBC

Organisation contact

leaders@ukgbc.org

Open to

All are welcome.

Get involved

Learn more and sign up to join here.

Related

Past course

UKGBC Leadership Lite

Lead transformational change within your organisation with our on-the-go sustainability leadership course designed for busy built environment professionals at all career stages.
Stage 3 of 3
3
30 Oct, 2023
Course
Online
Leading Change