Sustainable leadership is a mindset that cares not just about the economic wealth of the stakeholders but also concerned about the social and environmental wealth of the society. It is a futuristic and “I care” outlook that enables the leaders to go beyond their comfort zone, see beyond their silos, and stretch themselves to connect the dots to see and identify the opportunities to take green initiatives in Banking.
Sustainable leaders embrace the VUCA world and develop skills to achieve two things, firstly financial growth, and secondly they focus on developing sustainable products and sustainable ways to carry out banking operations.
To practice sustainable leadership, bank leaders need to sharpen the following skills
- Ability to understand the challenges and opportunities emerging from the global need for sustainability.
- Have the vision to create a future that is different but inclusive, and balanced and enhances the synergies among the environmental, social, and governance parameters
- Ability to recognize the likely effects of these changes on core banking services and the peripheral environment.
- Agility to disrupt traditional business practices, and attitudes to address all upcoming challenges.
And most importantly to “lead the team from the front” and do “whatever it takes” to keep them prepared and motivated for any challenge
Along with the above-mentioned skills, Sustainable leaders need to have the following 4 qualities
- Business Inclusiveness: The leaders need to have the quality to foster trust in all the stakeholders and always build an inclusive environment by creating a “Value-based experience” for them.
- Human Connect: Leaders who recognize and acknowledge their own limits are more empathetic and understanding in their behavior. They do not just have a network of people but they are connected to the people as they admire and acknowledge their talents, intuition, and creativity. Thus they are more participative and collaborative in their leadership approach.
- Technology and Innovation: For Sustainability, it is required leaders to understand the role of technology and innovation in their business to address the challenges. The aware leaders also ensure that companies apply technologies responsibly with the objective to enhance the quality of people’s lives and the well-being of their environment.
- Insightful Growth: Sustainable leaders are lifetime learners also. They always invest in their intellectual and emotional growth to acquire and evaluate new sources of information to guide their transformation. They ought to consider analytical approaches for all crucial decisions which require, challenging established conventions and practices and system thinking approach to devising solutions to complex problems
- Meaningful Purpose: Sustainable leaders link a meaningful purpose to their organizational vision and inspire and enroll people to achieve that as a common mission.
Conclusion: The above-mentioned skills and leadership qualities create a Sustainable leadership framework. In her research into Indian banks, Annadurai, states that green bench technology includes ATM systems, solar-powered net banking facilities, paperless customer banking, renewable energy companies, and even windmill construction. But still, India’s banks have fallen behind the green banking plan. No financial institutions in India have implemented the equator principles. It is time for India to take some big moves in order ultimately to adhere to these recommendations that use environmentally sustainable measures to fund initiatives. Sustainability is a large and ever-shifting issue, much too complex to be managed by a single leader, organization, or Country. It requires a collaborative effort and sustainable leadership can play a vital role in this endeavor by taking responsibility and ownership of spreading awareness about the need to adopt green initiatives.
