Organisational Change towards Sustainability: From Ambition to Impact through mindsets and communities of practice

In this chapter it is argued that building a sustainability mindset amongst organisational members is a key mechanism to enable business models to transition to a transformative sustainable mode of operating in the world. The organisational sustainability literature calls for a mindset paradigm shift at organisational level yet says little about the learning processes that may underpin or enable such a mindset shift. A recursive model of learning is proposed that explains the building of a sustainability mindset and unpacks the behavioural competences. The emphasis on technological innovation has marginalised the individual and their agency in generating change around sustainable practice, yet the lack of competence or know-how is often identified as a key barrier to moving organisation-centric sustainability objectives forward. Building a sustainability mindset unpacks how systems thinking and collaborative behaviour manifest in situ and can enable sustainable transitions through practice, bridging individual and organisational level actions.