ATU-hosted workshop delivered to Mayo stakeholders on radical transformational leadership
REPRESENTATIVES from a range of public and private organisations in Mayo attended a workshop on Radical Transformational Leadership in Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Mayo, designed and delivered by Dr. Monica Sharma, international expert and practitioner on leadership development for sustainable and equitable change, and Bridget Horkan, radical transformational leadership practitioner coach.
The event highlighted the convening role of a regionally dispersed multi-campus technological university and importance of local stakeholders working together to create results-oriented partnerships and projects.
The workshop, titled 'Fostering community-based radical collaborators in our commitment to meet the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) locally and globally', was developed under the ATU Centre for Sustainability’s Radical Sustainability Lab project, in collaboration with the ATU Mayo Department of Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences.
In attendance were representatives from Mayo County Council, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Business in the Community, An Táisce, Mayo Sligo Leitrim Education Training Board (MSLETB), Moy Valley Resources, community group leaders, ATU students and staff, and others involved in biodiversity projects and climate action.
The 1.5 day workshop was a learning in action programme designed to awaken potential and ethical leadership in managers, with the aim of transforming lives, work and society.
Dr. Deirdre Garvey, Head of the ATU Department of Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences, explains: “The overall purpose of Dr. Monica Sharma’s workshop was to work with our local stakeholders to co-design projects aligned to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, using the Conscious Full-Spectrum Response (CFSR) designed by Dr. Sharma.”
CFSR is a foundational development model that has achieved results worldwide for achieving SDGs. It is a transdisciplinary model and template for strategic action and is robust enough to hold the frameworks of different disciplines, various schools of thought.
It intertwines three threads of a paradigm shift: (a) source our wisdom/inner potential and universal values for action; (b) shift cultural norms, systems, and structures that maintain the status quo and to become principled game changers; and (c) solve problems and generate specific equitable and sustainable results.
The workshop is based on Dr. Sharma’s 35 plus years’ experience in applying the Conscious Full-Spectrum Response model, which has generated equitable and sustainable results related to several Sustainable Development Goals worldwide.
Dr. Garvey added: “Participants applied the tools and templates and identified break-through projects with synergistic opportunities to work together in Mayo and beyond for stepping up to our commitment to responding to SDGs. A follow-up session has been organised with participants, to continue this work and progress these projects with specific outcomes.”
The ATU Radical Sustainability Lab Project assists stakeholders and ATU staff across all disciplines to design and implement meaningful solutions for SDG-related challenges and encourages active citizenship in the organisation and externally. For further information about the ATU Centre for Sustainability, see https://www.gmit.ie/about/sustainability.