#lLT23UK - Moving L&D from passive observer of the green agenda to active contributor

#T5S1 Sustainability is such an important part of the global agenda and I am really interested to see how this session approaches it. We have Brittany Sage Brown from Kraft Heniz alongside Tess Robinson and Rob Hubbard from LAS leading us through this session.

Before we get into the detail of this session I want to recognise how well Tess, Brittany and Rob set up this session. Interactive, challenging, with space for conversation in the room and bringing to life the approaches they are advocating for; conversations and stories *tips hat to the panel*

Rob says we are going to hear about how storytelling and conversations can create a bottom up approach to culture change.

There is a lot for L&D to do and we have a role to play. Tess says she's not a climate scientist or a sustainability expert and she has some credentials. As the sustainability lead for LAS she is involved in that work and LAS is a BCorp certified company. Tess was also part of the UK group that attended the Commission of the Status of Women in New York. An impressive set of accolades.

In this session we also have the second reference (for me) to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) and here is a picture of the 17 goals as shown on a slide by Tess.

We move to Menti next and are asked how climate change makes us feel (naturally I enjoy this question). There is a range of emotions and one that I noticed was absent was confident.

In 2022 the ONS carried out a survey about how worried people were about climate change and these findings were reinforced by a survey from Kite about how motivated workers are on climate change (hr magazine). Thirdly, Tess shares a consumer survey from Wrap . So we have a view from the a UK national survey, a worker and a consumer perspective all saying how important this is to them and wider society.

This leave me thinking about so what does this mean for L&D and more particularly for us in this room. The emotions that were listed on the word cloud from the Menti poll and the feeling that are outlined in the surveys cited, suggest that this is a tough topic to be wrestled with. It links to a conversation that happened later in the session (see two paragraphs down) about why people may not talk about it.

Tess references the almost existential threat of climate change and sustainability that may put people off from exploring or talking about it. Interestingly, Rob then references this for the room to say that there are hundreds of people at the conference and only approximately 20 people in the room for this session. This makes me think hard about where we as L&D or OD or HR people think or feel about sustainability and climate and how, like emotions are not discussed.

Asked why people don't talk about it, we hear from the audience that it may be:

Polarising, complicated, someone else's problem to fix, what's my role, it is just a fact of life (and can't be changed), the phrasing or framing are not clear or accessible enough, woke-ism, can be divisive and critical of ourselves and other, I can't make an impact on my own.

We link back now to Rob's opening where we hear about the power of small conversations and stories and more specifically how they can be used in a way to help people be heard, questions answered and more importantly, not to change people's minds or to win. The room then becomes a buzz of conversation of people telling stories of how organisations are addressing the challenge of climate change through learning. I am curious to hear what stories we get...

A theme of the importance of human centred design was recurring in the examples. That included asking the user, making the examples relatable and being overt and clear about intent.

Tess closed her part of the session with a powerful story about a hummingbird doing all they can. Here is a link to the video

We handed over to Brittany from Kraft Heinz next who is sharing their approach 'Sustainability Masters'. The mandate Brittany had was a grass roots programme that at the point of her joining in 2020, it wasn't where the company wanted it to be. In particular, the focus here was on sustainability and innovation in procurement.

Brittany outlines a multi discipline approach to the programme with aspects around the core (how we procure good and services) and then wider partnership actions (leveraging supplier partnerships and external networks) around the outside.

There is the recognition from Brittany that this is massive area and within Kraft Heinz there is a set of procurement competencies or behaviours included within this are 'sustainable procurement' and 'innovation'. The levels (assessed in a 18- degree way) from self assessment and manager assessment were low(er) than hoped and what was helpful (for Brittany) is to know where you are starting from.

What could be getting in the way? Three areas were identified, legislation and regulation, stakeholder expectations and supply chain risks and resilience. In the context that the focus of the work here was with procurement people, of which, these areas (sustainability, innovation, regulation, etc) this posed a problem as what was needed, was a new type of procurement professional.

Learning was positioned as a key enabler for making the upskilling of procurement capabilities. There was a mix of options that people within Kraft Heinz could access and use to develop the skills of a new sustainable procurement professional.

Similar to the opening keynote from the #LT23UK Brittany highlights the importance of networks and experience. As part of one of the formal programmes included in the mix mentioned above, was bringing all the key players (suppliers, harvesters, senior leaders, local residents) to look at what sustainability looks and feels like in a particular location.

There is also a formal programme that feels like a typical L&D solution (cohort driven, application process, mixed learning methods, workplace project and graduation). Brittany also outlines how they seem to be using evidence based learning approaches (e.g. spaced repetition) to make it impactful. It is interesting to hear where this is and it is at the start of the process so we don't really know yet what the impact or outcomes have been achieved.