The role of OD in building sustainable organisations
June 18, 2010
Although sustainability encompasses more than climate change, Peter's presentation did revolve around it because extreme climate is the most crucial sustainability issue that humanity will face in the 21st Century.
His presentation outlined how OD practitioners can use the SFP&D program to address the following:
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Why is there a gap between what our eyes and science are telling us and taking action on climate change?
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What will drive people with very different climate change beliefs to collectively take action for a sustainable future?
Peter's presentation showed how organisations and communities can, by applying the SFP&D program, acquire the capability to efficiently and effectively plan and prepare for extremely damaging climate change.
He pointed out that by being involved in the SFP&D program people from all walks of life can collectively take action now to adapt to and mitigate the worsening effects of climate change.
The process for building sustainability that Peter discussed creates the conditions for people to work together with shared responsibility and high levels of creativity and energy to strengthen the resilience of their organisation or community.
Peter showed that by partaking in the SFP&D program people not only produce adaptive and mitigation plans; they also understand how to design organisational structures that lead to a sustainable future.
Peter stated that if OD/HR managers or community leaders design and implement bureaucratic command and control structures or committees to implement their adaptive plans then the whole change effort is doomed to fail.
And this scenario is not an option when there is a growing sense of urgency for organisations and communities to understand how to effectively plan and prepare to adapt to extreme climate change now, and not some time later when we have more certainty because by then it will be too late.