Sydney Institute Leadership Forum 2010
Creating Sustainable Leadership
Gayle C. Avery
Director, Institute for Sustainable Leadership
Avery Bergsteiner Consulting P/L
Email: gayleavery@gmail.com
© gayle avery, 2010
AGENDA
 Introduction & background
 Strategy 2009-2012
 Sustainable Leadership Pyramid – 23 elements
 Sustainable Leadership @ NSW TAFE
 Sustainable Leadership @ Sydney Institute
Sydney Institute Strategic Plan 2009-2012
5 strategic priorities
Priority 1: create a customer focused organisation,
increase customer satisfaction.
Priority 2: be innovative.
Priority 3: engage your staff, raise performance.
Priority 4: be systemic – get systems and processes in
place.
Priority 5: create a thriving & sustainable organisation.
SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP CRITERIA
23 criteria form a self-reinforcing system whereby
theory & research, and practice align
theory & research
(gurus & academics)
practice
(companies)
Sustainable leadership
Macro-level strategies for ensuring a thriving
and sustainable enterprise for future
generations
More than
 being green & social
 financial success
 surviving & longevity
Adding value to a range of stakeholders
Early reference (2005): 19 criteria, now 23
LEADERSHIP FOR
SUSTAINABLE FUTURES
ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN A COMPETITIVE WORLD
GAYLE C. AVERY
6
GRID ELEMENTS
Honeybees (sustainable)
Locusts (business-as-usual)
1. Developing people
2. Labor relations
3. Retaining staff
4. Succession planning
5. Valuing staff
6. CEO and top team
7. Ethical behaviour
8. Long term perspective
9. Organisational change
10. Financial markets
11. Environmental resp.
12. Social responsibility
13. Stakeholders
14. Vision’s role
15. Decision making
16. Self-management
17. Team orientation
18. Organisat’l culture
19. Knowledge sharing
20. Trust
21. Innovation
22. Staff engagement
23. Quality
develop everyone continuously
seeks cooperation
values long tenure at all levels
promotes from within where possible
concerned about employees’ welfare
CEO is top team member or speaker
doing the right thing an explicit value
long-term overrides short-term
evolving and considered process
seeks maximum independence
protects the environment
values people and the community
everyone matters
shared vision is strategic tool
consensual and devolved
staff are mostly self-managing
teams are extensive and empowered
an enabling, widely-shared culture
spread throughout the organisation
relationships and good-will based
strong, systemic, strategic, at all levels
emotionally committed
is embedded in the culture
develops people selectively
acts antagonistically
accepts high staff turnover
appoints from outside where possible
people are an interchangeable cost
CEO is decision maker, hero
ambivalent, negotiable, assessable risk
short-term profits and growth prevail
fast adjustment, volatile, ad hoc
follows the markets, often slavishly
is prepared to exploit the environment
exploits people and the community
only the shareholders matter
here-and-now focused
primarily manager-centered
managers manage
teams are limited & manager-centered
weak, except for short-term focus
limited to a few “gatekeepers”
Control and monitoring in lieu of trust
limited, selective, buys in expertise
financial rewards govern motivation
7
is a matter of control
World class company:
 Kärcher, based in Germany
 fits all sustainable leadership criteria
 keeps on hitting records eg in 2008:
1.4 billion euros turnover
 sold 6.38 million units
 about 7000 employees

 see graphs at:
http://www.karcher.com/int/about_kaercher/F
acts_and_Figures.htm.
CREATING SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
 how can I make sense of this list?
 which are the most important practices?
 which practices do I implement first?
Answer: Use the Sustainable Leadership Pyramid
The sustainable
leadership
pyramid
SUSTAINABILITY
brand & reputation
customer satisfaction
financial performance
long-term shareholder value
long-term stakeholder return
PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES
23.
innovation
22. staff
engagement
21. quality
KEY PERFORMANCE DRIVERS
20. devolved/
consensual
decisionmaking
19. selfmanagement
18. team
orientation
17. enabling
culture
16. knowledge
retention and
sharing
15. trust
HIGHER-LEVEL PRACTICES
1. strong,
shared vision
2. stakeholder
approach
3. social
responsibility
4. environ’l
responsibility
5. independence
from financial
markets
6. considered
organisational
change
7. long-term
perspective
8. ethical
behaviour
9. top-team
leadership
10. valuing
people
11. internal
succession
planning
12. long-term
retention
of staff
13. amicable
labour
relations
14. developing
people
continuously
FOUNDATION PRACTICES
© Harry Bergsteiner 2007
Where did Toyota go wrong?
Use the pyramid to identify:
 What might have gone wrong at Toyota?
 Where would you start to fix it?
GROUP ACTIVITY: TAFE NSW
 Table 1 analyses TAFE NSW’s strategic intentions in
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terms of 19 sustainable leadership criteria.
Use a copy of the Sustainable Leadership Pyramid.
As you experience TAFE’s influence, does the
assessment in Table 1 ring pretty true on all variables?
If not which ones need attention?
Identify any gap(s) between aspiration and “reality”.
Consider: what can/should the organisation do about
those gaps?
30 minutes working time.
Prepare answers for plenary discussion.
WHAT ABOUT SYDNEY INSTITUTE?
1. How does your organisation fare on the 23
elements of sustainable leadership?
2. Which KPIs would you use to assess Sydney
Institute’s performance on these elements?
3. How might you act differently under this
model?
EXAMPLES OF KPIs
 examples of key performance indicators (KPIs)
for the sustainable leadership elements.
22. Staff engagement
 Engagement is the ‘motivational component’ of
visionary leadership
 3 behavioural components to engagement:
SAY: speak positively about the business
 STAY: intend to stay with the business
 STRIVE: engaged staff work harder

 ‘Voice’ survey measures assess KPIs
8. Ethical behaviour
 integrity – what does this mean at Sydney
Institute?
 code of conduct?
 is being ethical part of the performance
management system or employee contract?
 treatment of Intellectual Property?
7. Long term perspective
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long term planning – how long?
long term investments?
long term Director and top team retention
long term approach to innovation
long term approach to finances….
4. Environmental responsibility
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ISO 14001 etc accreditation
incorporating into curricula
build into all processes, facilities etc.
minimise waste
recycling systems
measuring reductions in energy use and waste
producing environmental reports
2. Stakeholder approach
 define relevant stakeholders
 how are relationships with each group
measured?
 how is progress on these relationships reported
and improved?
1. Vision (& values)
 is there a stated vision?
 is the vision shared and embedded in the
culture?
 how many employees know the vision?
 how many use it to guide their behaviour?
SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP @ SYDNEY INSTITUTE
 Your workbook contains:
a copy of the pyramid
 a fresh page for each of the 23 elements

 Tables will be assigned 1-2 elements to discuss
and report back on re:
current situation
 desired situation
 actions required
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 Time: 15 minutes.
 Plenary discussion: 35 minutes.
Where have we been?
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Strategic priorities for 2012
Think systemically
Sustainable Leadership Pyramid
Sustainable leadership at NSW TAFE
Sustainable leadership at Sydney Institute
 Forthcoming book:
Avery, GC & Bergsteiner, H. (2010) Honeybees and
Locusts: The Business Case for Sustainable
Leadership. Allen & Unwin.