Natural Change
SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP
PROGRAMME

Sustainability leadership is more about who you are, than what you know.

Natural Change is not your regular leadership programme.

Natural Change shifts the focus of sustainability leadership from seeing nature as a set of resource problems which need technical solutions, toward developing strong personal relationships with the rest of nature. This impacts our sense of identity – which fundamentally shapes the ways we live and lead.

The programme takes place almost entirely outdoors … because that’s where we most easily experience ourselves as a part of nature. It builds on this personal experience with powerful insights about the psychology of our relationships with each other and the rest of nature. These are then applied to leading organisational and social change.

Read more about the Natural Change approach …

Outcomes

Through the Natural Change programme you will:

• gain powerful insights into personal and social psychology that can be applied to leading change for sustainability;
• sharpen your sense of purpose and commitment to bringing about transformational change;
• deepen your love of nature to make leading for sustainability liberating and inspiring;
• build a personal framework for leading change – based on your own experience and appropriate to your own unique context;
• explore the relationships between ourselves, the cultures in which we live and the environment upon which we all depend;
• find ways to communicate more clearly and effectively about sustainability issues;
• learn how to create psychologically savvy change strategies based on ecological principles;
• discover how to better engage stakeholders using psychological concepts and techniques;
• find ways to sustain yourself in challenging times and to transform overwhelm into action;
• explore ways to cope with personal and collective ‘eco-trauma’,and ‘eco-anxiety’;
• become part of a unique professional peer community to give and receive support and find new opportunities and initiatives;
• develop strategies for dealing with conflict around ecological issues;
• investigate how to research and evaluate change initiatives using cutting-edge methods;
• tap into your creativity to help a more vibrant, beautiful and sustainable world emerge.

Who it’s for

Natural Change is for you if you want to respond to our urgent ecological situation by leading transformational change in your team, organisation, community or sector.

It is likely you will be feeling a bit disillusioned with the business-as-usual and ‘same-old’ approaches to leadership and change. You will probably be fascinated by the idea of breaking-through the cultural conditioning that causes us to think and behave as if we are not part of nature.

Natural Change maximises the positive effects of extended time in wild places to engage your full range of human capacities. It creates a powerful mix of logic, emotion, instinct and imagination. It provides an unrivalled opportunity to reflect profoundly and explore how you and your organisation will respond to the defining challenges of our age.

Natural Change is suitable for leaders that are either newly concerned or have a long-standing commitment to sustainability.

It is recommended that you bring around five years of professional leadership experience to the programme. However, each application is considered individually, so please do ask if you’re not sure.

Format

The programme blends two, one-week wilderness residentials with four hours of online coaching, and a one-day urban workshop, over a six-month period.

There is also an assignment to be completed between the two residentials. This is based on desk-research and the preparation of a short presentation (max 10 minutes), which will be made to the group at the second residential.

Duration: 13 days over six months.
Contact time: 108 hours.
Ratio: ten clients to 2 facilitators.

Further coaching and consultancy is available for those who would like continued support after the course.

Who runs Natural Change?

The programme is led by facilitators based in Aotearoa New Zealand, Britain, Europe and Scandinavia. Each facilitator has completed a comprehensive two-year training programme, in addition to holding National Governing Body outdoor leadership qualifications for their specific region and operational environment.

More …

Location

The residential workshops can be held at a variety of wild venues in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Europe and Scandinavia. The urban workshop is held in an appropriate urban centre.

Costs

Subject to specification.

Includes: 90 hours (APPROX) of residential contact time on a maximum 2:10 basis; 12 nights accommodation; residential catering; group outdoor equipment and; personal safety equipment. Four hours online contact time on a 1:1 basis; access to an extensive library of resources; reading guide and; access to a private online forum.

Excludes: Travel to/from residential venue; personal travel and possessions insurance; personal outdoor clothing.