About Custom Programmes

Our customised programmes build on CPSL’s 25 years’ experience of designing and delivering executive education for leading organisations. We work with multinational companies, development banks, industry associations and governmental agencies to empower senior executives to create a shared vision and take leadership on sustainability.

Core to our approach is a belief that long-term organisational success will require decision-makers in mainstream roles to understand the changing context. Our custom programmes target board members, Chief Executives, and individuals at the heart of the organisation, to equip them with the confidence and knowledge to incorporate sustainability into their activities.

We provide a safe, independent yet challenging and stimulating forum for senior leaders, promoting peer-to-peer engagement to create a strategy that reconciles organisational resilience with profit and growth.

Our customised programmes do this by building capacity in individuals to:  

• Understand the changing social, environmental and economic context in which they operate, and the implications of global pressures and trends to existing value chains, industries and markets;
  
  
• Set organisational strategy and take actions to reconcile profitability and economic growth with constrained resources;
  
  
• Shape their organisational culture, engage employees and identify how to influence key stakeholder groups inside and outside the organisation;
  
  
• Identify commercially-relevant responses to the changing context and establish paradigms for responsible innovation; and
  
  
• Feel inspired to act on sustainability. 

Creating vision, setting strategy

Our programmes are fully customisable. Typically, they range from tailoring our flagship open programmes such as The Prince of Wales's Business & Sustainability Programme or the Climate Innovation Programme for specific organisations, to creating completely bespoke seminars that meet specific learning needs.

Programmes vary from targeted, half-day board-level briefings to week-long seminars, and to nine-month Master's-style programmes.

Our design team is experienced in board education and training, C-suite executive education and senior leaders’ strategic development.

We customise our programmes through four interconnected steps:

Delegates successfully completing the courses are invited to join our alumni network, the Cambridge Sustainability Network, and attend regular networking events.

Learn how our programmes have helped other organisations.

Building resilience, creating long-term competitiveness

CPSL enables organisations to reconcile profitability with sustainability. Recently, we have helped BP to "think into the future”, Tata Sons to become more climate-resilient, empowered Lloyds Banking Group to develop skills for the future, and informed WSP’s organisational strategy.

Our customised programmes have helped clients:

• Develop strategy. We designed and delivered a programme for 18 Chief Executives from a major international conglomerate to help them build organisational resilience and growth in a low-carbon economy.
  
  
• Embed sustainability. We have run a series of six-day seminars for senior leaders at a development bank to find ways to integrate sustainability in their practices and support sustainability among clients. Over 400 executives have joined this programme since it began in 2008.
  
  
• Change organisational culture. We are working with an international extractives company to nurture a culture of inclusivity and to promote engagement with external stakeholders around its mines. In its third year, this programme has assembled a critical mass of individuals who are supporting a wide-scale change in the way the company operates.
  
  
• Inform investment. We are working with one of South Africa’s largest banks to embed sustainability into core strategy in a way that supports a thriving society. We are supporting the responsible innovation endeavours of our client in the creation of new products and services. This includes novel lending criteria that will ultimately equip the bank with skills and inspiration to seize sustainable growth opportunities.
  
  
• Equip future generations to be sustainable leaders. We are working with a major engineering company to build capacity and understanding in its next generation of leaders. Through face-to-face workshops, facilitated learning and assessments, we empower individuals to have a voice and overcome barriers to change.
  
  
• Enhance engagement with stakeholders. We ran a series of three-day workshops to equip senior partners at an international professional services firm with the confidence to engage with their clients on sustainability.
  
  
• Enable operational performance. Since 2011, we have worked with a major property group to find ways to integrate sustainability into their specific roles. So far, we have customised training programmes for the Board, the sustainability champions and, more recently, its fund managers.

What is a customised programme?

CPSL’s custom programmes enable individual organisations to inform strategy and identify how to deliver it. Unlike our open programmes that convene individuals from organisations, CPSL’s customised programmes are designed for organisational change. These bespoke offerings contain specific content that is relevant to our client’s market, convene suitable contributors and provide delegates with challenge to create a shared vision.

Customised programmes provide a safe space for organisations to set strategy, inform decisions, and build organisational resilience.

What is unique about CPSL’s customised programmes?

Building on the University of Cambridge's learning model, we empower individuals to take ownership of sustainability, making it relevant to their role in order to support organisational performance. This means that our programmes are fundamentally different from both prescriptive guides to corporate social responsibility ('CSR') and most advice from external consultancies.

By equipping individuals with the relevant information and inspiring them to act, we find that it is easier to assemble a critical mass of informed and motivated stakeholders pulling in the same direction.

How can customised programmes benefit my organisation?

CPSL helps organisations to understand sustainability challenges where scientific excellence meets operational performance. Typically, our clients face some internal log-jam to creating a new strategy, rolling out the existing one or having the capacity and confidence to implement.

Our programmes aim to overcome these impediments by creating a shared vision and the impetus for people to act. We do this by enabling clients to:

• Access the latest scientific thinking. We draw on the expertise within the University of Cambridge and beyond to source relevant contributors and research that is shaping your operating context.
  
  
• Build capacity in decision-makers. Typically, we work with senior individuals to help them agree strategic goals and identify how they can deliver. 
  
  
• Critically examine the current system. Our programmes enable individuals to understand how our lives are shaped by key institutions and trends; how they can likewise shape these systems; and the ways in which financial markets can support sustainable outcomes. 
  
  
• Provide insight into leading practices. For each organisational engagement, we identify suitably inspirational and relevant examples of what organisations and individuals can do to make sustainability a business opportunity.
  
  
• Inform strategy. Through facilitation, expert input, and the right kinds of challenge, our programmes empower delegates to create a pathway of action that will support organisational growth and resilience. 
  
  
• Take leadership. Our programmes regularly include sessions on influence, engagement and communication to facilitate a process of individual recognition that sustainability is relevant to both their business role and their organisation’s strategy.
  
  

What are the additional benefits to alumni of a customised programme?

On successful completion of a custom programme, delegates receive a certificate of completion and are invited to join the Cambridge Sustainability Network. This enables interested delegates to continue their learning journey with CPSL by accessing the latest information on our programmes and initiatives, such as our business platforms, which help set the standard for progressive business commentary and action on key sustainability issues such as climate change, natural capital and finance.

Who usually attends these programmes?

The audience changes depending on the programme’s objectives. We deliver for executive teams (especially where the aim is to inform strategy), sustainability champions (where the aim is to implement a strategy), and senior managers (where companies want to develop leaders of the future).

How many participants join a custom programme?

Typically, programmes are delivered to audiences of 24–40 people, but can they be tailored to cater for smaller or larger delegations depending on clients’ needs.

Is this a standard training programme?

CPSL does not offer standard executive training courses of any kind. Each of our customised programmes is designed to meet your organisation’s specific needs. We use a four-step process to understand your culture, identify the shape of your industry, and inform the design of your programme.

Throughout the design phase, we will work closely with each client to ensure that the programme builds on existing work (no-one wants to reinvent the wheel!) and that the results exceed your expectations.

Are custom programmes applicable for all organisations?

CPSL runs programmes for public bodies (including government agencies), multilaterals, civil society organisations, and large businesses.

Our customisation process means we can deliver for companies in different sectors and we have recently engaged with companies in key sectors including oil and gas, extractives, diversified industries, automotives, finance and insurance, technology, construction and the built environment, and professional services.

Can CPSL deliver a programme outside the UK?

CPSL has a track record of delivering sustainability leadership and strategy programmes around the world.

Our programmes are customised to fit into existing board meetings, delivered at your offices or run at facilities that are local to you. Recently, we have delivered programmes in Chile, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Who delivers these programmes?

Customised programmes are delivered by CPSL’s core team, Faculty, and hand-picked expert contributors. For each engagement, we carefully select Faculty from our international network (including our Senior Associates) and identify suitable subject experts.

Where can I find out more?

For further details about our programmes, please contact customised@cpsl.cam.ac.uk.