1.17 Sustainability Co-Design: Recruit Your Diverse Empowered Team For The Sustainability Leadership Journey

Through this activity, you'll be able to recruit a panel that will provide you with input throughout the journey to become Sustainability Leaders.

This will allow you to incorporate varied perspectives from the destination in regards to sustainability, helping you shape the direction of how sustainability is considered in it.

This will allow you to incorporate varied perspectives from the destination in regards to sustainability, helping you shape the direction of how sustainability is considered in it.


Through this activity, you'll be able to recruit a panel that will provide you with input throughout the journey to become Sustainability Leaders. This will allow you to incorporate varied perspectives from the destination in regards to sustainability, helping you shape the direction of how sustainability is considered in it.

It will require an extensive amount of time before it is completed due to the importance of the concepts discussed, which is why it can be completed individually or with the whole team that is following the Sustainability Leadership Programme. We would like you to keep this activity top of your mind and try to finalise it by the end of the programme.

If you are ready and want to get hands-on with the activity, you can download the template below or click on the image above. 👀

1. Identifying The Needed Perspectives

For this first part of the exercise, we recommend that you gather with your organisation's colleagues who are also participating in the Sustainability Leadership Programme, although this can also be done individually, and ideate on the perspectives that you deem will be key to developing your destination's future sustainability strategy.

By means of allowing you to create the most integrated strategy possible, you should look into which stakeholders from the destination could bring the most value to the development of the strategy, but also think "outside of the box" and consider if there are any perspectives from outside the destination, such as national or international, that could be helpful to include.

2. Defining Inclusivity & Diversity

Diversity and Inclusivity have many different definitions depending on the situational and geographical context in which they are discussed. Thus, with this activity, we want to help you uncover what these terms mean within your DMO and how each member of the team understand them.

In addition, this activity will allow you to ideate on how your future strategy can ensure that everyone is represented by means of ensuring that it is diverse and inclusive, guaranteeing that the most parties possible are satisfied with it. This will be key to ensure that the DMO can lead the destination's sustainable development.

3. Recruiting a Diverse Empowered Team

The third part of the activity focuses on helping you gather a Diverse Empowered Team. Based on the insights that you have collected in the previous two sub-exercises, you should now identify three individuals from your destination that could join your Diverse Empowered Team by means of ensuring that the sustainable journey that your DMO will lead is inclusive and diverse.

Once you decide who you'd like to have on your team, make sure to contact them and make them aware of the commitment they would be agreeing to by joining the team. If they accept, fill in their information cards with key data of how they can improve the Diverse Empowered Team.

4. Expanding The Diverse Empowered Team

Based on the three individuals that you have chosen in Exercise 3, ask these three members to reach out to another three individuals (one each) that they believe could provide another relevant perspective to the team. This will help expand your Diverse Empowered Team.

Once these other three individuals have agreed to participate, ask them to provide you with feedback on your own recruits to evaluate their relevance for the sustainability journey. This process will ensure the quality of the team, as it is considered an iteration mechanism.

5. Finalising The Sustainability Leadership Cohort

Explanation (Finalise the Sustainability Leadership Cohort - your very own diverse and empowered team that will lead sustainable development in your destination.)

Lastly, in the last part of the activity, you'll first have to map out your Diverse Empowered Team. By putting everyone down on a paper and laying out what each person brings into the process, you'll be able to realise if any of the key perspectives that you had identified at the beginning are missing, or maybe new needs have appeared and it will allow you to find more members to cover for these.

The second part of the activity will allow you to gather a holistic perspective on the different expectations that each member of the team has on the sustainability journey. This will help you to identify key points of action that the strategy should focus on by means of leading the sustainable development of the destination.

This will allow you to incorporate varied perspectives from the destination in regards to sustainability, helping you shape the direction of how sustainability is considered in it.


Through this activity, you'll be able to recruit a panel that will provide you with input throughout the journey to become Sustainability Leaders. This will allow you to incorporate varied perspectives from the destination in regards to sustainability, helping you shape the direction of how sustainability is considered in it.

It will require an extensive amount of time before it is completed due to the importance of the concepts discussed, which is why it can be completed individually or with the whole team that is following the Sustainability Leadership Programme. We would like you to keep this activity top of your mind and try to finalise it by the end of the programme.

If you are ready and want to get hands-on with the activity, you can download the template below or click on the image above. 👀

1. Identifying The Needed Perspectives

For this first part of the exercise, we recommend that you gather with your organisation's colleagues who are also participating in the Sustainability Leadership Programme, although this can also be done individually, and ideate on the perspectives that you deem will be key to developing your destination's future sustainability strategy.

By means of allowing you to create the most integrated strategy possible, you should look into which stakeholders from the destination could bring the most value to the development of the strategy, but also think "outside of the box" and consider if there are any perspectives from outside the destination, such as national or international, that could be helpful to include.

2. Defining Inclusivity & Diversity

Diversity and Inclusivity have many different definitions depending on the situational and geographical context in which they are discussed. Thus, with this activity, we want to help you uncover what these terms mean within your DMO and how each member of the team understand them.

In addition, this activity will allow you to ideate on how your future strategy can ensure that everyone is represented by means of ensuring that it is diverse and inclusive, guaranteeing that the most parties possible are satisfied with it. This will be key to ensure that the DMO can lead the destination's sustainable development.

3. Recruiting a Diverse Empowered Team

The third part of the activity focuses on helping you gather a Diverse Empowered Team. Based on the insights that you have collected in the previous two sub-exercises, you should now identify three individuals from your destination that could join your Diverse Empowered Team by means of ensuring that the sustainable journey that your DMO will lead is inclusive and diverse.

Once you decide who you'd like to have on your team, make sure to contact them and make them aware of the commitment they would be agreeing to by joining the team. If they accept, fill in their information cards with key data of how they can improve the Diverse Empowered Team.

4. Expanding The Diverse Empowered Team

Based on the three individuals that you have chosen in Exercise 3, ask these three members to reach out to another three individuals (one each) that they believe could provide another relevant perspective to the team. This will help expand your Diverse Empowered Team.

Once these other three individuals have agreed to participate, ask them to provide you with feedback on your own recruits to evaluate their relevance for the sustainability journey. This process will ensure the quality of the team, as it is considered an iteration mechanism.

5. Finalising The Sustainability Leadership Cohort

Explanation (Finalise the Sustainability Leadership Cohort - your very own diverse and empowered team that will lead sustainable development in your destination.)

Lastly, in the last part of the activity, you'll first have to map out your Diverse Empowered Team. By putting everyone down on a paper and laying out what each person brings into the process, you'll be able to realise if any of the key perspectives that you had identified at the beginning are missing, or maybe new needs have appeared and it will allow you to find more members to cover for these.

The second part of the activity will allow you to gather a holistic perspective on the different expectations that each member of the team has on the sustainability journey. This will help you to identify key points of action that the strategy should focus on by means of leading the sustainable development of the destination.