Sustainability Workshop: Overcome challenges, obstacles, resistance and barriers

Bob Willard

Objection Handling Workshop for Sustainability Professionals
A unique opportunity for business professionals to come together and share challenges, successes and best practices with regard to moving sustainability forward in an organization.

Course Leader: Bob Willard

DATE: Thursday, February 16, 2012
TIME: 4:00 – 8:00 EST
LOCATION: Bennett Jones, 1st Canadian Place, 100 King St. W. (King & Bay), 34th Floor, Toronto

Breakout session facilitators:

Antony Marcil (Past President, FSC)
Nelson Switzer (President, asherleaf consulting)
Jim Harris (Author/Change Agent)
Wesley Gee (Sustainability, Stantec)
Pamela Divinsky (Director, Junxion Strategy)
James Gray-Donald (AVP, Sustainability Leader, Sears Canada)
John Coyne (Vice President, Legal & External Affairs, Unilever Canada Inc.)
Brett Wills (Senior Sustainability Coach, High Performance Solutions)

Lead Media Partner
Aman Singh (Editorial Director, CSRwire) will be our twitter chat facilitator at #TSSSchat
Sign up for our LIVE WEBCAST

Register Now

Who should take this course?

sustainability advocates within companies
external sustainability consultants
leaders wanting to be more effective at motivating colleagues and employees
anyone wanting to drive change in an organization

What will you learn?

Are you able to drive your sustainability ideas forward in your organization or are you encountering resistance? Are you achieving the best possible outcome at your meetings? Do you ever wonder if you could have achieved a better result and why your ideas weren’t resonating with your colleagues? Suppose you find yourself on an elevator with a senior executive and courageously decide that this is your opportunity to convince him/her to integrate sustainability into his/her core business strategies. How would you open the conversation? When he/she throws objections at you, how will you respond? What’s your value proposition?

During this workshop Dr. Willard will share proven strategies and techniques on how to overcome apathy, indifference, fear and cynicism when trying to move a sustainability initiative forward in an organization. The skills will be equally relevant and timely for both internal change agents and external sustainability consultants.

Over the course of the workshop, attendees will learn:

A clear understanding of your 3 biggest objections and why they occur
How to handle those objections with confidence and grace
Your own “elevator speech” sales call for senior executives
Techniques to turn skepticism into excited curiosity

Course details

Course Agenda

4:00 – 4:30 Registration and sandwiches
4:30 – 4:40 Introductions and announcements
4:40 – 6:40 Bob Willard (presentation and group work)
6:40 – 7:00 Break (sandwiches/snacks)
7:00 – 7:30 Bob Willard workshop continues
7:30 – 8:00 Q and A and final thoughts

Course Fee

$35 per attendee until January 19th (Early Bird pricing)
$45 Regular pricing starting January 20th
$25 Student pricing (with valid student ID)
$60 at the door
Free live webcast for those unable to attend in person

Location

Bennett Jones, 1st Canadian Place, 100 King St. W. (King & Bay) 34th Floor, Toronto, ON

If you’ve ever felt frustrated by the seeming apathy and indifference when it comes to sustainability, then don’t miss this opportunity to learn strategies and techniques from two leading experts on handling objections and overcoming cynicism.

Bob Willard is a leading expert on quantifying and selling the business value of corporate sustainability strategies. Willard applies his business and leadership experience from his 34-year career at IBM Canada to engage the business community in proactively avoiding risks and capturing opportunities associated with environmental and social issues.

Willard has authored three books: The Sustainability Advantage, The Next Sustainability Wave, and The Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook. In addition, his two DVDs, two spreadsheets, numerous webinars, and extensive Master Slide Set provide capacity-building resources for champions of sustainability. They provide quantified business justification for embracing sustainability strategies and proven guidance on how to transform organizations to sustainable enterprises. Willard holds a BSc from McGill University, and an MEd and PhD from the University of Toronto.

He serves on the advisory boards of The Natural Step Canada, Learning for a Sustainable Future, and Durham Sustain Ability. Willard is a member of the Education Alliance for a Sustainable Ontario, the Durham Region Roundtable on Climate Change, and the International Society of Sustainability Professionals.