ISSP Consultants Cohort: Build A Thriving Sustainability Practice

• Do you want to take your consulting practice to the next level?

• Do you want to become a sustainability consultant?

Improve your practice: Pick up tools — Hear from experts — Learn from one another.

• Pick up practical tools and techniques you can sell to and use with clients
• Get feedback on your business model/strategy and marketing materials
• Learn about different fields of sustainability consulting, along with best practices, from successful sustainability consultants
• Deepen your consulting/organizational change skills
• Develop a support network

12 months of monthly 90-minute webinars, plus coaching/support: $900.  (This equates to only $75 per month so if you get one consulting engagement during the year, it should pay for this class.)

2011 Fridays:  July 8, August 12, September 16*, October 14, November 11,  December 9. 

2012 Fridays: January  13, February 10, March 9,  April 13, May 11, June 8.

*= Not second Friday of the month

Space is limited to 16. Webinars are the second Friday of each month, noon-1:30PM Pacific .

We will be accessing resources that are available only to members. You can pay for or renew your membership any time up until the start date and you will be sent the connection information once your membership fee is paid.  JOIN HERE

Instructor/Facilitator: Darcy Hitchcock  

The International Society of Sustainability Professionals is launching a Consultants Cohort, a 12-month series of webinars and engagement. It’s a combination of content and coaching; hear from experts, learn from each other. If you are (or want to be) a sustainability consultant, don’t miss this opportunity to work with a cohort to increase your business success and build a support network with other ISSP members. The series will include:

90 minute monthly webinars, with content (tools, techniques, guest speakers) and time to interact with your cohort (problem solve, get feedback, etc.)

A forum for you to discuss issues/ideas/readings, opportunities and deepen your relationships with the cohort during the month.

Maximum class size is 16. Each quarter you will be assigned to a different team of people within the cohort so by the end of the 12 months, you should know the others quite well. You may uncover shared business opportunities.

The master class will be facilitated by Darcy Hitchcock—author of the award-winning book, The Business Guide to Sustainability and co-founder of ISSP. The class will include instruction on generic consulting skills as well as practical sustainability tools you can use with clients. Roughly 2/3 of the class will be planned but 1/3 of the class will be customized to the needs and interests of the cohort.

The syllabus below is still under development but it shows how we will be covering a combination of consulting skills, sustainability tools and coaching/support. Guest speakers are tentative.

Guest speakers include:

Alan AtKisson (Stockholm, Sweden) Alan AtKisson has been working at the forefront of sustainability for over twenty years; and he has helped to initiate, guide, train, or strategically develop sustainability initiatives in many different countries.  As a consultant, he has worked with clients in many different sectors as well, from small businesses to global corporations, from large cities to small islands, from UN and World Bank funded programs in Africa to US military bases. He is the author of two books, Believing Cassandra: An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist's World (Chelsea Green, 1999); and, most recently, The ISIS Agreement:  How Sustainability Can Improve Organizational Performance and Transform the World (Earthscan, 2008).  He is a contributing author to several other books as well, including The Natural Advantage of Nations (Earthscan, 2006) and The Future of Sustainability (Springer, 2006).  His articles and essays have been widely published in magazines, academic journals, and websites.

Bruce Hazen (Portland, OR), entrepreneurial career coach. Bruce is a career strategy and management coach who brings diverse stories from a range of non-profit and corporate roles as well as consulting experiences; his own and those of over 350 individuals and dozens of organizations who have been his clients since 1995. He helps clients clearly understand the entrepreneurial as well as the organizational versions of “being a consultant” and lays out the process of both choosing as well as implementing the choice that fits you best. He has a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, with an emphasis in organizational behavior and psychology and holds an MS in Clinical Psychology. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Big Three: Answer the 3 Most Important Questions to Manage Your Career for a Lifetime of Successand has recently coauthored the chapter on Career Coaching for the Sage Handbook of Coaching (2010).

Kathy Maixner (Portland, OR), Selling Smart and Institute of Management Consultants. Kathy is a nationally-recognized consultant who specializes in improving sales performance and communication effectiveness.  With a strong background in consultative sales, Kathy established Selling Smart in 2001 and has since helped hundreds of companies to achieve their loftiest sales goals.  One Portland client credits Selling Smart with helping it acquire a $7 million account that was bid on by multiple competitors.  Kathy is a Master at client development and is soon to launch her groundbreaking  Dialogue-Based Selling System. As former President of the Institute of Management Consultants in Oregon and Southwest Washington, Kathy has devoted many years to helping her clients grow their entrepreneurial endeavors, both in Portland, Oregon and Dallas, Texas.  She is a sought-after sales strategist who holds a Master’s Degree in Communication Studies from the University of North Texas – and who writes quarterly for the Portland Business Journal.

Joshua Skov, (Eugene, OR) co-founder and principal of Good Company (Eugene, OR), has worked in sustainability and climate change consulting since 2001.  Skov has conducted carbon footprint analyses for more than forty companies, cities, higher education institutions, and innovative technologies.  He is a member and the current chair of the City of Eugene Sustainability Commission.

Jennifer Woofter, (Herndon, VA) Strategic Sustainability Consulting. Jennifer is the founder and president of Strategic Sustainability Consulting. She draws upon a decade of expertise in the fields of corporate social responsibility, ethical investing, and organizational accountability systems to help clients make the leap between good intentions and long-term sustainable performance. She specializes in sustainability assessments and planning, and is currently working with a number of Walmart suppliers to improve their energy, waste, and water impacts. She has a Masters Degree in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability from the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden.