SORTED Guide to Sustainability in Further Education – Part 2 - Leadership and Governance – 2.1 Leadership and governance – Management Phases Action plan

Management Phases

Leadership and Vision

Planning

Action

Monitoring

Management Phase - Leadership and Vison

Who nees to be involved?

Senior management team and governors or board members

Key questions you should be asking yourself 

• How sustainable are we?
• Do we need to carry out a baseline review?
• What do our key stakeholders think e.g. staff, learners, employers, governors?
• Are governors and managers aware of the strategic and tactical implications of a more sustainable approach?

Key activities

• Formulate the (business) case for sustainability
• Raise awareness and begin the process of cultural change throughout your organisation through meetings and workshops.

Expected outcomes

• Internal business case for sustainable development
• Revised vision and mission statement
• Communication plan for the revised vision and mission
• Stakeholder consultation report.

Management Phase - Planning

Who needs to be involved

Senior management, champions (if appropriate), key internal and external stakeholders.

Key questions you should be asking yourself

• Where are we now?
• What is our current level of performance against the vision and mission and operating principles?
• What are our legal requirements in relation to sustainable development?
• Do we comply?
• How do we integrate sustainable development into our management procedures?
• What short-term actions do we need to take?

Key activities

• Prepare and scope a baseline review.
• Communicate the baseline findings to internal and external stakeholders, and elicit feedback.
• Assess compliance with legal requirements and assign roles and responsibilities to manage and improve these.
• Develop capacity building training programmes.
• Report actions, impacts and outcomes to internal and external stakeholders.
• Feedback into strategic and tactical action plans.

Expected outcomes

• Baseline review report.
• Implementation and management plan.
• Stakeholder feedback report.
• Compliance and improvement report.
• Training and development plan.
• Actions, impact and outcome report.
• Identification of strategic priorities and actions.
• Board level consultation and sign-off.

Management Phase - Action

Who needs to be involved

Senior and middle management, board members, sustainable development champions and/or implementation team.

Key questions you should be asking yourself

• What organisation change is necessary and desirable?
• What management processes do we need to change?
• How will we communicate the sustainability message and changes identified?
• Are the links between words and action strong enough?

Key activities

• Agreeing and implementing a sustainable development action plan, with timescales and milestones.
• Assigning roles and responsibilities for specific actions in line with skills and competence.
• Implementing sustainable development awareness and training programmes as required.
• Consulting and communicating on the agreed actions.
• Reviewing and refining corporate governance and sustainable development reporting arrangements.
• Identifying opportunities to influence external agencies e.g. community bodies, employers, trade organisations and suppliers in sustainability terms.
• Fostering linkages at senior and middle management level between those responsible for different areas of action e.g. estates and curriculum.
• Engaging with the community.
• Reporting on SD activity at management meetings and to governors or board members.

Expected outcomes

• Record of sustainable development activities undertaken and their impact on performance.
• Sustainable development organisational chart showing roles, responsibilities, reporting and communication lines.
• Revised corporate governance of sustainable development reporting procedures.
• New partnerships and collaborative activities with community and businesses on sustainable development issues.
• Organisational websites, prospectus and other communication devices make explicit reference to sustainability actions and impacts.
• Sustainable Development should inform all CPD programmes, and training should be incorporated into induction for new staff so the knowledge base is maintained.

Management Phase - Monitoring

Who needs to be involved

Board members, senior management, sustainable development implementation team and/or champions. Possibly self-assessment and/or independent audit team.

Key questions you should be asking yourself

• Are we doing what we say we do?
• Does our performance reflect significant sustainability actions, impacts and outcomes identified from the baseline review?
• Are our tactical and strategic approaches improving our performance?
• Who are we reporting to and what are we reporting?
• How credible and transparent is our reporting?
• Should we include impartial assurance as part of the reporting process (e.g. OFSTED reports)?

Key activities

• Collecting and evaluating objective evidence and stakeholder perception surveys or questionnaires with regards to sustainable development profile and 'performance'.
• Assessing new opportunities for sustainable development performance improvement.
• Selecting and training internal self-assessment team on relevant sustainable development issues.
• Producing and communicating sustainable development progress report.
• Regularly review and improve knowledge transfer and communication systems to ensure that key initiatives are widely replicated both within individual providers and between organisations.

Expected outcomes

• Progress report against sustainable development strategies, tactical plans, objectives and targets.
• Recommendations for improvement in terms of sustainable development.
• Integration of key elements of sustainable development progress into organisational self-assessment report.
• The review process should result in clearly communicated findings, which should form the basis for the next round of strategic and tactical planning.