Leadership in Sustainable Development

There is nothing more pressing or more urgent. Our world is in trouble with environmental crisis, social crisis, energy crisis, and economic crisis. Therefore, we need leaders at every level of our societies and organizations to answer the ultimate call to action: to save the planet, its people, and their profits. This is the calling of the leader in sustainable development. After all, business cannot survive in a world and society that fails.

Project Management

Common methodology, or a common language, can be developed through project management, program management, and portfolio management. According to Martin, “one of the key elements of making a matrix [organization] work effectively is to deploy an enterprise-wide project management methodology that promotes cross functional collaboration and proactive accountability”. Project Management is a consistent and repeatable methodology to complete projects on time, on budget and within scope to meet or exceed the expectations of your key stakeholders.

Collaboration and Team Building

The workplace of the future might look more like a matrix then the top down hierarchy. In The New Matrix Management, Martin (2005) compares the old vertical management, and the old matrix management to the new matrix management: “the new matrix management is the management of an organization in more than one dimension . . . . [and] in order to manage effectively into more dimensions, we must learn a different approach to managing”. This new matrix management is one that focuses on collaborative leadership and developing teams.

Change Management

The literature review that focuses on organizational change strongly indicates that the environment of organizations constantly changes and organizations have to change accordingly to survive. Practices in organizational change can help organizations develop an adaptive corporate culture.