While doing in-depth research on the key competencies in sustainability, I often thought: Puh, that is difficult to understand. It amazes me how academia is communicating concepts that aim at saving the world. Of course, it is a scientific way of framing research information, but I often wonder what shall I do now. What are the steps I need to take to make change happen? How do I transform my knowledge into action? Do you feel the same sometimes, wondering what shall you do about the world’s challenges? I got the facts, but who am I to make a difference? 

Understanding scientific facts is its own competency. Different competencies enable us to influence our attitudes, guide our behaviour and make better decisions. Therefore, I want to introduce you to the 6 key competencies in sustainability.

For a better world, we need to update and evolve our skills – without a doubt – and competencies are not only there to understand them but to live them.

What can we do to become part of the solution? Learning competencies that benefit our decision-making capability and develop eco- and social-conscious thought patterns. You can learn anything, so why not learn how to become the needed change we need to see in our world?

Expanding our abilities is another step in the right direction. Mastering and learning sustainability competencies help us tackle challenges and re-learn how we can live in tune with the planet. Sounds amazing, right? 

Wait a second, what are sustainability competencies?

Competencies describe the ability to do something successfully and efficiently. Moreover, competencies support us in carrying out a skill we have, such as cooking, reading or programming. Various competencies help us perform tasks more naturally.

Notably, to become sustainability literate, developing our abilities is an efficient way of moving forward. Instead of becoming victims of the world’s challenges, we become empowered to take action. The key competencies in sustainability are more than simple facts. In fact, competencies are the ability to put knowledge into action. So, sustainability competencies provide us with the right tools to solve problems better. And that’s what we need to make a meaningful impact in the real world.

Core sustainability competencies that are needed link us to the resources we need to accomplish our tasks. With the help of the core competencies in sustainability, we can address sustainability problems, challenges and opportunities.

Mastering different abilities make our lives easier and help us to achieve our goals. Another relevant point is that we become more confident and can build resilience, which we will need in the coming decades. That is what we need in a sustainable transition: Empowered citizens who make better decisions based on core sustainability competencies.

6 key competencies in sustainability you need to learn about

According to the Arizona State University research group, there are six critical key competencies in sustainability we need to obtain to become part of solving environmental and societal challenges:

As you can see, more than half of the key sustainability competencies link to our ability to think, an ability we all have access to – abundantly. Now, I want to show you in detail what those competencies entail.

Systems Thinking: Everyone has a role to play

Systems Thinking is not primarily about thinking differently, but acknowledging and understanding that there is more than just one part making our world go round. Our world depends on well-functioning systems – in the natural and the societal world. To design systems to become sustainable, we need to learn from the best teacher: nature. 

Systems thinking enables us to understand the role of every part of a system. It sharpens our analytical skills and lets us see how interconnected our world is. Moreover, it helps to understand what parts of a system need to change to achieve better outcomes. 

Difference between linear and systems thinking

I wrote a trilogy of articles about systems thinking: Systems thinking as a concept, the mindset of systems thinking and how to apply systems thinking in a relatable exercise.

Here are the link shortcuts to all three articles I recommend you read:

5 Helpful Steps To Understand The Concept Of Systems Better

Why Systems Thinking Is So Useful To Achieve Sustainability

How To Easily Apply Systems Thinking In Your Life

Futures Thinking: Imagining the world the way you want it to be

The future is uncertain. We do not know what will happen, but global crises push us to take action to reverse possible catastrophes in the future. That gives us the potential to influence the future – with decisions we can make now. 

Futures thinking helps us to create a world we want to live in. On the positive side, we have everything we need to build our desirable futures – our imagination and creativity. Sustainability is about downscaling and finding solutions to live more in tune with the natural world. It is not about finding solutions to continue exploitative and destructive industries and lifestyles. Instead, we need to build futures that solve the global challenges at their root and not simply treat their symptoms.

Futures thinking can support us in developing solutions that aim at preventing, mitigating and adapting to the outcomes of the world’s crises. When we prepare for a realistic future, we feel we are in control. You might have heard of the term anticipatory which describes a feeling of excitement about something we know will happen. We can adapt to the unexpected and deal with challenges better. 

The different, interconnected challenges of the 21st century

Related: 

The 10 Most Pressing Sustainability Challenges Of The 21st Century

There are many futureS ahead. It simply depends on the actions we take now. In other words, what you do now matters. Your active engagement matters to be part of creating a future worth living in.

Values Thinking: Motivation is key to success

Without motivation, no action. Truly, action is what we need the most – on a small as well as large scale. Every single one of us lives by a specific set of values, consciously or unconsciously. We build our present and future on our values. There is a standard in our life we do not want to miss, so we need to reevaluate and rethink the way we operate to make it sustainable. Overall, the issue is that UNsustainability is the norm. That clearly has to change.

The competency of value thinking helps us to focus on essential activities to solve a problem. It helps us to identify if something is desirable or not. Here, it can often cause a clash between different interests. We need to learn how we can adapt our values to benefit the greater good. Our targets need to align our individual and collective needs, locally and globally. 

I hope we are approaching times when destruction and exploitation are a thing of the past. In this case, we need to replace values like manipulation, force, overindulgence and greed with values such as love, community, righteousness and morality. 

Strategic thinking: Changes require planning

Designing our future does not have to be a burden, it should be rather seen as an opportunity for every single one of us to look forward to. The competency of strategic thinking supports us put our ideas into actionable strategies. Transformation is a huge undertaking, but that’s what needs to happen. 

We can’t cluelessly go ahead without a strategy. Therefore, we need to account for unintended consequences or unforeseen chains of events.

Systemic change is inevitable as our current systems fire a dire future. It is our responsibility to decide if we want to take part in shaping a future for the benefit of all of us or if we continue with inaction, letting others decide over our future. Obviously, I prefer the first option because the last centuries have clearly shown that the majority of leaders in the world are not capable of leading.

Do you have what it takes to be a leader?

Interpersonal skills: We are all in this together

You are not alone in this. We are in this together if we want to see change happening. Collaboration is at the forefront of achieving sustainable development. Rightly so, but we need to relearn how to collaborate and listen with the intention to actively listen. Individualistic culture and behaviour are underestimated obstacles, obstacles that are easy to reshape. 

Interpersonal competencies are needed to enable and facilitate change. One person has a great idea, but in combination with other people’s qualities and skills, the idea can be realised much more quicker. Important skills are management, communication, negotiation, understanding and importantly empathic listening and engagement.

Our different skillsets and knowledge will help us in finding solutions that work

Related:

From A Carbon Tunnel Vision To A Holistic Collaboration Approach

One anecdote I want to add here is that we can have great ideas, but we do not understand the context properly. Due to my academic background, I’m involved in conversations about implementing ideas in the agricultural space. I came across many trailblazing ideas to make agriculture more sustainable. The issue: Those amazing ideas come from people who have never worked on a farm. People, who have never worked with a farmer before.

How would you feel when someone comes around the corner and tells you how to do your job, without understanding in detail what you do and what your struggles are?

If we do not understand the reality and struggles of the people who are affected by our decisions and solutions, we cannot expect them to implement them happily. Collaboration is absolutely key, but on eye level. Here we need interpersonal skills, in particular, understanding that we should work together and not make other people’s lives harder. 

Integrated Problem-Solving: A one-size-fits-all solution does not exist

Our complex world needs different problem-solving frameworks. A one-size-fits-all approach is the wrong way to go. Complex sustainability problems need to be addressed with viable solutions options. There are many ways to achieve the right thing. Some solutions work better in some contexts than in others. 

Here, I see flexibility as a great strength. The more diversity we bring back into the world, the more creative we become and the more solutions we can develop together. Impactful options derive from the combination of all the competencies above. Sustainable systems are characterised by developing continuously, like natural systems. 

Let us work on your struggles…

Now that you learned about some of the core competencies in sustainability, I want to draw your attention to an important matter: personal abilities matter more than technological breakthroughs. 

If you ever wondered how you can make a difference, you should know that it simply starts with you. Considering the magnitude of the crises we are facing, it is not surprising that we feel insignificant and not empowered to make an impact. It is easier to believe that we cannot influence the world with our decisions, but that’s nonsense. We simply do not put ourselves into positions to make change happen.

The real threat is that we are already making an impact – with inaction. Inaction is an underestimated issue because we do not take matters into our own hands to become part of the solutions. A solution that benefits us and the planet.

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For too long, decisions have been made by people who only had their own interests in mind. Nowadays, we have access to so many resources we can use to make a difference. A better world for all of us is based on your competencies; as you know now, you can learn them.

It is already in the word sustainABILITY. You can learn any ability. 

Which of the 6 key competencies in sustainability are you struggling with? Let us know in the comments! We can work together to let your struggles become part of the past – because you do not need them in the future.