Why Storytelling is the "X" Factor in Harnessing Your Sustainability Efforts WEBINAR (TNS-USA)

Submitted by Chas Martin on January 11, 2011 - 4:39pm.

Start: Nov 17 2011 - 11:00am

End: Nov 17 2011 - 12:00pm

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

Behind every successful endeavor, there is a well-planned process. And like every other initiative your organization will undertake, from supply chain processes to marketing efforts, good sustainability practices require good planning, a powerful message and skills to create motivated teams to effect change.

Sustainability champions, we've listened to you. Join us for our 2011 webinar series - interact with six amazing and motivational leaders in the industry. You will learn from their successes (and failures) on topics like powerful messaging tactics, community transformation catalysts and ways to build group commitment and energy.

Change We Can’t Live Without
Bob Doppelt
Executive Director, The Resource Innovation Group
February 17, 2011
Global climate disruption threatens to undermine the conditions that allowed civilization to thrive on Earth. Little else matters if this problem is not resolved. In this presentation Bob will share information from his most recent book The Power of Sustainable Thinking: How To Create A Positive Future For The Climate, The Planet, Your Organization and Your Life (Earthscan Publishing, 2008) and explain how change leaders can motivate others to alter the way they think and behave in ways that produce sustainable outcomes and address global climate disruption.

Going for the Gut: Sustainability Framing and Messaging Strategies
Anna Fahey
Communications Strategist, Sightline Institute
March 17, 2011
Sustainability policy solutions aren’t always easy to understand or to talk about—advocates often get bogged down in the details, the data, or the politics, sometimes at the risk of losing momentum, interest, and engagement. But, by articulating the core values that inform our policy work and affirming our communities’ shared aspirations, our words take on weight, transcending issues, partisanship, geography, and social background. This webinar gives sustainability advocates memorable and effective messaging tools to make the case for policy solutions and community action.

Enlisting Others: Bringing About Participation in Sustainable Community Planning
Sarah James
Co-Director, The Institute for Ecomunicipality Education & Assistance
May 26, 2011
Without broad community and municipal participation, sustainable development initiatives can become the project of a few dedicated individuals that have value in themselves, but do not bring about widespread community and municipal change toward community sustainability. This webinar will introduce particular approaches to designing a participation strategy that can involve citizens from all walks of life as well as the diversity of perspectives in community sustainability planning. It will also introduce an overall approach to sustainable community planning that has been shown to bring about successful systematic and institutionalized change.

Respecting the Principles of Sustainability
John Ikerd
Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri
July 21, 2011
Today’s challenges of sustainability are consequences of persistent conflicts with the laws of nature - including human nature. If we ignore the basic laws of nature, sooner or later we will suffer negative consequences. This webinar will explore the basic ecological, social and economic principals of sustainability, and link these principles with the Natural Step Framework and process.

Hidden Assets in Plain Sight for Sustainability
Bob Pavlik
Executive Director, High Wind Foundation and Director, Institute for the Transformation of Learning, Marquette University
September 15, 2011
The Sustainability Movement is growing because citizens are making strong connections among their internal and external assets. The session opens with an invitation to consider your internal and external assets for your various roles to promote sustainable living. Participants are then introduced to strategies for making connections among their assets that lead beyond effects and consequences to results of significance.

Why Storytelling is the “X” Factor in Harnessing Your Sustainability Efforts
Jeff Leinaweaver
Natural Step Associate and Founder of Global Zen
November 17, 2011
In the worlds of corporate social responsibility and strategic sustainability, more and more attention is being focused on the importance of storytelling as a key component on one’s toolkit for change. Storytelling has turned into game play, and whoever tells the best story wins. Yet, despite the spin and corporate wordsmithing, the art of storytelling remains an elusive and critical factor in your success, and the conduit for global social innovation and change. In this webinar, you’ll learn how storytelling shows up as a systems dynamic that shapes social worlds, and how the principles and methodologies of The Natural Step can aid the cultivation of your own “X” factor.

Please note: This offering is a series of six webinars to take place in 2011. After each webinar, the remainder of the series will be available for purchase at a reduced rate.

Additional participants from an already registered organization may register for $15 each. Please contact april.knudsen@thenaturalstep.org for details.