ReLEAD | Meet our facilitators: Caroline Zamor, Leonie Altendorf and Ulf Walter-Laufs
In this edition of ‘Meet our facilitators’, Caroline Zamor, Leonie Altendorf and Ulf Walter-Laufs share how their shared training in transformation design shaped their approach to sustainability leadership. They reflect on why meaningful change begins in small, local actions, and what participants can expect from ReLEAD’s environmental module.
1. What is one personal experience or moment that inspired you to work on strengthening civic skills or community engagement?
“During our year-long training as change agents for transformation design – where we met and began collaborating – we encountered a principle that is deceptively straightforward yet deeply transformative: meaningful change begins small. In individuals. In communities. In the quality of the conversations we are willing to have.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of the challenges we face. Climate crisis. Biodiversity loss. Rising social inequality. The erosion of social cohesion. And the sobering reality that decisions with the greatest systemic impact are often made by those far removed from the communities most affected. That gap – between the urgency of what needs to change and the limits of individual influence – can feel paralysing.
What our training made tangible, however, was that these two realities need not be in conflict. The call for systemic transformation and the power of local, personal action are not opposites – they are interdependent. That insight did not diminish the complexity of the problems. It changed our relationship with them. And it changed how we show up.”
2. What’s the most powerful thing participants will learn from your module?
“That they are not powerless. And that sustainability is not an external mandate handed down to organisations – it is something that people within them build, advocate for, and sustain over time.
Participants leave with three interconnected capabilities. First, knowledge: a grounded understanding of sustainability theories, key concepts, and the historical development of the field – because strategic action requires conceptual clarity. Second, practical tools: frameworks and methods for approaching sustainability systematically and creating tangible social impact – applicable not in theory, but in practice. And third – the dimension most professional development programmes overlook entirely – inner capacity: the ability to navigate difficult conversations, maintain perspective under pressure, and take considered action even when institutional structures resist change.
It is this combination that distinguishes effective sustainability leadership from well-intentioned but ultimately limited effort.”
3. Why do civic skills, and programmes like ReLEAD, really matter today?
“We are living through a polycrisis. Democratic institutions are under pressure. The consequences of climate breakdown are no longer projections – they are present realities. Social polarisation is intensifying. And trust, in institutions as much as in one another, continues to decline.
Against this backdrop, many people are retreating further into familiar circles. Algorithmically curated information environments, self-selected social networks, and increasingly homogeneous professional communities have made genuine encounters with difference less frequent and, for many, less comfortable.
The workplace remains one of the few contexts in which people regularly engage with those who hold different perspectives, come from different backgrounds, and operate from different value systems. That plurality is not a challenge to be managed – it is one of the most underutilised resources organisations have. But realising its potential requires more than proximity. It requires the skills to engage constructively: to listen across difference, to articulate positions clearly, to challenge and be challenged with intellectual honesty and mutual respect.
These are not soft skills. They are foundational competencies for anyone who seeks to lead responsibly in complex times. ReLEAD builds exactly that capacity – and the need for it has never been more pressing.”
