23 personal skills to achieve the 17 global sustainability goals

Workshopzeit für unser TransRegINT-Team: Im Oktober haben wir an zwei Tagen mit Alena Engelhard und Sebastian Kremser vom IDG Düsseldorf Community Hub erarbeitet, wie unsere innere Entwicklung uns unterstützen kann, unsere Arbeit erfolgreich zu erfüllen und ja, auch unsere Vision zu erreichen.

Why internal development could be the key to the 2030 Agenda

In 2015, the 2030 Agenda set 17 goals, the so-called SDGs (Sustainability Development Goals) for sustainable development. Where do we currently rank? In the foreword to the 2024 report on the Sustainable Development Goals, Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, states that it is a sobering read: ‘Only 17 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals are on track, progress on half of them is minimal or moderate, and more than a third have stalled or even regressed.’

Is there any chance at all of making faster progress and saving the 2030 Agenda? The non-profit IDG (Inner Development Goals) Foundation is convinced that humanity can make it if each and every one of us develops and strengthens our inner capacities to develop skills that support us in leading a purposeful and sustainable life and ultimately realising the SDGs. Or, as it was succinctly put during our workshop: ‘The IDGs enable us to move from a position of powerlessness to one of energy.

The IDGs: 5 dimensions and 23 skills

To this end, the initiative has developed a framework in collaboration with scientists, experts and specialists from the fields of human resources and sustainability. This consists of the five dimensions of being, thinking, relating, collaborating and acting. These dimensions comprise a total of 23 skills. It would go beyond the scope of this article to list and explain them all. We therefore recommend that you visit the IDG Foundation website for more detailed information. Just this much: the 23 skills include many so-called soft skills. Soft skills are our personal, social, methodological and communicative competences, such as communication skills, assertiveness, willingness to learn and the ability to work in a team. Many soft skills complement each other and build on each other. The best thing about ‘inner competences’ is that we can even train them purposefully.

From individuals to groups

And this is precisely the personal development opportunity that the IDGs build on. If we strengthen our inner competences and focus on our self-development, we will find that we become more tolerant, can understand other people and situations better and can implement change projects more successfully, among other things.

When we start to become aware of certain issues and take responsibility, it is often only a small step to overcoming the obstacles to change. The best example is the typical car journey to the bakery for Sunday rolls. There is usually some reason why we get back in the car for the short journey despite our good intentions. It’s raining, it’s windy, it’s cold, it’s a rush. Do you recognise yourself? The more you are aware of the consequences of your actions for the community, the easier it will be for you to actually walk or cycle to the bakery next time, reduce your carbon footprint and even get some exercise.

Challenge: incorporating IDGs into everyday life

All team members were invited to embark on a personal skills journey. Among other things, we looked at what the IDGs mean for our individual roles in the TransRegINT project and how we understand them.

The 23 skills in the IDG framework are not a new invention – openness and willingness to learn, critical thinking, appreciation, communication skills and courage, to name just a few, have certainly been encountered by all team members in projects or in their private lives. The workshop reminded us of them and of the need to visualise these skills again so that we can incorporate them into our work.

In addition, Alena and Sebastian provided us with methods and tools to integrate the IDGs into our everyday lives.

A joyful realisation: we, the  TransRegINT team members, are united by an attitude, a certain mindset, without which we would not be part of the project. The workshop helped to further network and connect us, working at two campus locations, as one project team, and created a sense of unity that gives us further motivation on our journey from transfer to transformation on the Lower Rhine.