A major challenge to leaders and their teams is the ability to maintain ongoing efforts to successfully pursue an organization’s desired direction while achieving quality results and outcomes. Successfully meeting this challenge is an example of sustainability, i.e., continually engaging in and committing to the actions required to successfully pursue a long term vision or goal.

A hypothetical example of a successful sustainability effort is an executive team concerned about the lack of bench strength that collectively commits to create a strategic leadership development culture that values continuous learning and leadership growth.

In this case the executive team actively sponsors an upgrade of its talent acquisition and talent management processes including, committing to treating developing leaders, i.e., their direct reports, as organizational assets to be developed, shared and allocated in accordance with personal development goals and interests and organizational needs.

In this example of sustainability direct reports are not unilaterally controlled by their respective current managers, instead their development is strategically, collectively and proactively managed by the executive team. Sustainability here is represented by executive team members who are continually willing to release their direct reports for growth opportunities and to leverage their strengths, while addressing their development needs and expanding their capabilities.

This commitment to create a leadership development culture is strategic in that there’s no end date - it’s an ongoing organizational goal. Additionally, if successful, its pursuit will offer a significant long term benefit to the organization, i.e., a much improved bench strength from which to draw senior leaders in the future. The executive team is demonstrating sustainability through its ongoing ownership, actions and pursuit of this long term strategy.

A failed sustainability effort would occur if an executive team member, or members, resisted releasing direct reports to, instead, ensure the success of the executive’s organizational unit, i.e., if the executive put his/her personal wants ahead of the collective commitment by members of the executive team.

Key challenges to organizational sustainability include:

• The Degree of Difficulty to achieve the goal is greater than initially thought.

• Trust that the goal can still be achieved wanes.

• Collaborative Support to achieve the goal unravels.

• The Willingness to Share Resources among team members is strained.

Key requirements for successful organizational sustainability include:

• A Compelling Organizational Direction actively pursued by its leaders.

• An Ongoing Commitment to own and pursue the compelling direction .

• Ongoing Flexibility to revise plans and actions based on what works.

• The Courage to change processes and culture to support the achievement of the new organizational direction.

• Ongoing Engagement to be intellectual curious and proactively participate.

Sustainability can be the difference between long term success and failure. It can also be the difference between pursuing a worthwhile strategic vision or goal versus settling for an easier to achieve short term objective that doesn’t serve the long term interests of the organization.

It’s more difficult to sustain focus and commitment to an enduring long term vision or goal. However, leaders and teams that embrace the challenges and opportunities resulting from sustainability will realize huge returns for their efforts.

The Corbett Group provides Team Alignment Coaching and Consulting to help leaders and their teams:

• Identify and Engage to achieve a compelling vision or goal.

• Commit to and Own a compelling vision including its goals, plans and actions.

• Gain Commitment and ownership from their direct reports to achieve the leadership team’s vision, goals, plans and actions.

• Identify and execute the behaviors and actions needed to sustain the commitments and efforts needed for ongoing success.

Bob Corbett