Sustainability Leadership in the Built Environment: My Journey with UKGBC
As I reflect on my journey with UKGBC, as both a participant for the Future Leaders Cohort and the Change Accelerator Programme, and as a contributor to their systems change work, the work that comes up is “gratitude”. I think it is the reciprocity in giving and receiving that engraves the word in my heart. A thankfulness for the amazing people I have met, the wonderful experiences and the opportunity to demonstrate that in participation and community.
Finding Clarity in Times of Uncertainty with Future Leaders
I was invited to join Future Leaders at a time of turmoil and uncertainty in my personal and professional life. Sense-making had lost the ability to make sense, and my thoughts around work, especially in the built environment sector, revolved around frustration and discontent. A feeling akin to heading into a dark tunnel without a map. We all seemed to know the right thing to do, but the right things were just not being allowed to flourish. It seemed like a lonely place.
I felt like a solitary tree at the edge of the sea, gazing into a sea of complexity and then on the first session of Future Leaders, I look up and found the other trees all sitting along the edge of the island. All sharing similar experiences of frustration and discontent. We had forgotten that we were not alone on this secluded island; and so a great exploration of the consciousness and awareness needed to make change was set alight. As facilitators go, we had the most gentle collection of souls; Bethan, Beth, Holly, and Shruti guided us through five months of sense-making.
When a system falls far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence have the capacity to shift the entire system”.
iLya Prigogine
My key takeaway from that course was a quote from Ilya Prigogine. “When a system falls far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence have the capacity to shift the entire system”. We had found meaning in coming together. A small island of coherent sustainability leaders, starting the work of deconstructing patterns of thinking that kept us wedded to a system that was defeating itself. Joanna Macy, in her work, describes working through our grief to create change; “Build the new within the shell of the old”. Don’t pour your energy into defeating what is already defeated”.
Questions like “How can our neighbourhood become a home to thriving people, in a thriving place, whilst respecting the wellbeing of all people and the health of the whole planet?” were explored and in some senses continue to be exploredWe were grateful to have a two-day residential at Wootton Park as a space to connect with ourselves, one another, and nature. We rediscovered the joy in the work we were doing. Advocating for sustainability was what drove us. To me, sustainability in the built environment means building infrastructure to facilitate community while staying connected to nature.
Stepping into Action with Change Accelerator
A year later I was invited to the Change Accelerator programme. I’m not sure I fully considered what I needed from the programme; I had found a space to connect and share ideas so I signed up. It was a shorter programme for more experienced managers with a focus on self-empowerment, leadership, and confidence. If Future Leaders was about communication and advocacy, Change Accelerator was about action. Over three months we worked on purpose, storytelling, and unpacking systems change. It was a call to movement. “How could we use our organisations and influence within them to steer radical change while juggling the demands of life?”
Again, a major part of the course was a retreat to reconnect with nature, myself and others at 42 Acres. There must have been some serious camaraderie on this course – at one point I even found myself jumping into a freezing lake. Nothing better to shock your system back into action. Again, the facilitators, Beth, Russ and Elfrida, were such an amazing team that we were allowed to relax into the work. The inner work on ourselves is as important as the work we do externally. “The quality of our being, is reflected in our doing”. As we worked on ourselves, we stepped into our authentic selves and our voices told more conscious stories.
Two Transformative Leadership Journeys
It isn’t easy to compare the courses to each other, the cohorts were unique and each individual was selected to fit well within the course. In Future Leaders, we were bound by our struggle to be heard, to be seen within the organisation, and to step into a position of responsibility. In Change Accelerator, we were bound by the overwhelming responsibility to meet the needs of the organisation and our personal lives. In the former, we wanted to jump into the spotlight, while in latter, we wanted to hide in the background. In both, we created spaces of openness, trust and vulnerability which built community.
For me, these were two important steps on my leadership journey. Two levels of the system that needed to be attained. The personal and the organisation. It sets the foundation for the last level – Industry/Sector. It has given me to confidence to feel my way forward. To remain present in my regenerative work. To let passion and purpose serve as a compass in the storm. I leave you my friends with this last quote from Theodore Adorno. “The need to let suffering speak is a condition for all truth.”
The need to let suffering speak is a condition for all truth.”
Theodore Adorno
Find out more about the upcoming Leadership Programmes:
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