[ Training future leaders ]
A foothold in the business world
Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility are concepts major companies are actively considering. However, there is still a lack of competent staff in this area. An innovative training programme targeting excellent university students in Germany is geared to change this. Companies are responding with enthusiasm.
[ By Sarah Schmitz ]
This year, a new breed of person has joined the traditional ASA participants at the preparatory seminar in Werftpfuhl near Berlin. They are the “Young Leaders for Sustainability” (YLS). Their course is based on a new concept that InWEnt designed in cooperation with the Collective Leadership Institute (CLI), a non-governmental outfit. CLI is well-networked in Germany’s business community. Its goal is to encourage companies to operate in a sustainable manner.
The YLS participants are close to graduation. They are a young educated elite, about to embark on their careers. Their CVs feature international internships and work experience, often in the private sector. The YLS programme goes on for six months. Participants first work as interns in a company in Germany for three months, and afterwards spend another three months abroad, working on a project related to their first internship. Typically, they are assigned to an office of the same company or one that cooperates closely with it.
Frederik Tipp will begin studying for his Masters degree in environmental science and development studies at the University of Sussex in October. The 24-year old already had worked in Britain and Vietnam when he was chosen for the first YLS batch early this year as one of eleven successful applicants.
He is now spending three months with EDE Consulting, and will then go to El Salvador to study the value added of producing coffee sustainably in operational and economic terms. He is looking forward to considerable autonomy instead of doing what he calls “typical intern work”.
During the programme, the Young Leaders focus on issues such as intercultural communication, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. “CSR” has become a prominent acronym, and managers consider the issue essential for competing with other companies.
CSR provides an opportunity for a company to improve its public image. Corporations that do not publish sustainable-development reports simply do not look good.
Benefits for all involved
In Germany, only few universities offer courses on sustainability issues. Therefore, practical programmes such as YLS are well-received. Christian Pohl is responsible for CSR at Ernst & Young Deutschland. “There still aren’t enough people with qualifications in the field,” he says. Ernst & Young’s CSR team is always on the look-out for additional staff, even after doubling in size this year. “The YLS programme makes sense,” the manager states, “it helps to entrench the issue of sustainability more deeply in the business world“.
Indeed, feedback from the companies has been positive. Pohl himself has taken on two YLS students, who are now working in the Ernst & Young office in Mumbai (Bombay), studying how reliably Indian sub-contractors manage supply-chains for European clients. Along with Ernst & Young, employers like Tchibo Holding, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and other would like to take on students in the YLS second cycle. The number of participants is thus expected to double.
The programme is worthwhile for the young people involved too. Anita Augustin is a 27-year old sociology graduate. She considers her time with YLS a real opportunity. “I regard the programme as a stepping stone towards gaining a foothold in the professional world.”
The concept makes sense. Nevertheless, some people worry that the ASA programme, which first started in 1960, might move too far away from its traditional aims towards business considerations. Andrea Dorneich disagrees. The manager of the YLS programme points out that “at ASA, we very carefully consider who to cooperate with”. She also emphasises, however, that there is no point in only selecting companies which already have a solid CSR reputation.
Dorneich sees YLS as a means to promote CSR in the business world. She is delighted that the 2009 course has received UN accreditation as an “official project” in the UN’s Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Dorneich hopes that this award will inspire more companies to become involved in next year’s YLS programme.
Sarah Schmitz
is a member of InWEnt’s public relations team.
»» sarah.schmitz@inwent.org
Related Articles
D+C, 2008/09, InWEnt Forum, Page 346-347
