Aim:
To develop a sense of purpose around your sustainability contribution, through reflection of which sustainability competences can contribute to address future sustainability challenges in the workplace.
Objectives:
This game aims to develop reflection (part of emotional intelligence area of the SMP). Through the card game, participants will be enabled to develop reflection around the sustainability competences developed during a period (this can be applied to a module, but also adapted for a tutoring session after a whole academic year). Furthermore, by playing a game in group, students will strengthen competencies such as creativity, resilience, self-awareness, and cooperation as part of the Sustainability Mindset Principles.
Sustainability Mindset Principal Themes addressed:
ECO LITERACY -
My Contribution
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Reflection
Self-awareness
SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE
Purpose
Enterprise Educator Framework addressed:
Developing an Enterprising and Entrepreneurial Mindset
Activity:
- Assign Groups (5 minutes): Divide participants into 4-5 groups of 4-5 people (4 to 5 groups, one per table).
- Hand out 1 / 2 Random Card to each player (note the deck contains 30 cards), which will form the basis for their reflection about what constitute optimum qualities in a sustainability leader.
- Group work (15 minutes): Each team has 15 minutes to craft a 2-minute "Sustainable Leadership Interview Pitch" highlighting their collective sustainability leadership credentials and potential value to an employer.
- Presentations (10 minutes). Groups present, in turn, their initial pitch to employers, within a maximum of 2 minutes.
- Wild Cards Interview Questions (10 minutes). After the pitch, use the wildcard (scenario) assigned to your team (check below list); these correspond to potential interview questions from the employer. (If time allow, share the answer to this question).
- Final Reflection (10 minutes) - Shared class debrief on the learning, particularly on how they would respond to the interview questions. Each group is invited to share their reflection on the sustainable competences they consider more meaningful for the future career.
Corresponding wild card scenarios to promote competency reflection include:
- Anticipatory Competence: As a recent graduate, how would you apply your understanding of emerging trends to help our company anticipate future sustainability challenges in our industry?"
- Normative Competence: During your studies, you likely encountered various perspectives on business ethics. How would you approach a situation where you need to balance profitability with environmental and social responsibilities?
- Strategic Competence: Our company wants to launch a sustainability initiative aimed at younger consumers. How would you develop a strategy to engage your peers in this initiative?"
- Collaboration Competence: Describe a group project from your studies where you had to collaborate with classmates who had different views on sustainability. How did you manage this, and what did you learn?"
- Critical Thinking Competence: In your course, you came across different sustainability theories/concepts. Which one would you employ to explain the business case for sustainability?
- Self-awareness Competence: Reflect on your university experience. How has your understanding of your role in promoting sustainability evolved, and what areas do you feel you still need to develop?"
- Integrated Problem-solving Competence: In an internship or class project, did you encounter a complex sustainability issue? How did you approach it, considering environmental, social, and economic factors?
Skill Development:
• Strategic competence - Devising collective actions for sustainability impact
• Integrated problem-solving competence - Applying a holistic sustainability lens
UNESCO Sustainability competencies covered using this tool.
Cognitive/ Thinking competency
- Anticipatory competency: the ability to understand and evaluate multiple futures – possible, probable, and desirable – and to create one’s own visions for the future, to apply the precautionary principle, to assess the consequences of actions, and to deal with risks and changes.
- Critical thinking competency: the ability to question norms, practices, and opinions; reflect on own one’s values, perceptions and actions; and take a position in the sustainability discourse.
Behavioural/ Ways of Doing competency
• Strategic competency: the ability to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability at the local level and further afield.
- Collaboration competency: the ability to learn from others; understand and respect the needs, perspectives, and actions of others (empathy); understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership), deal with conflicts in a group; and facilitate collaborative and participatory problem-solving.
• Integrated problem-solving competency: the overarching ability to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems and develop viable, inclusive, and equitable solution that promote sustainable development – integrating the above-mentioned competencies.
Socio-emotional/ Ways of Being competency
- Self-awareness competency: the ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society, continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions, and deal with one’s feelings and desires.
- Normative competency: the ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions and to negotiate sustainability values, principles, goals and targets, in a context of conflicts of interests and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions.
Resources:
Powerpoint slides with all required resource such as cards and scenarios, please email the first author for a copy of the slides.
References:
Rimanoczy, I. (2021), The Sustainability Mindset: A Guide to Developing a Mindset for a Better World, Routledge, New York, NY.
Rieckmann, M. (2017). Education for sustainable development goals: Learning objectives. UNESCO publishing.