Beyond time, cost and scope: the sustainability competencies project leaders need

lorenaflorian0
Aug 5
4 min read

Projects shape more than schedules, budgets and deliverables.

They create infrastructure, introduce technologies, redesign services and transform operating models. In doing so, they influence how organisations consume resources, distribute value and affect communities for years to come.

Project success should therefore involve more than asking whether an output was delivered on time, within budget and to specification. We must also ask:

Did the project create enduring value?
Who benefited and who carried the costs?
What environmental, social and economic consequences resulted?
Will the outcomes remain valuable under changing future conditions?
Did the organisation sustain the benefits after the project team departed?

These questions require a broader conception of project management competence.

A framework for leading sustainable change

A useful foundation comes from the Framework of Key Competencies in Sustainability developed by Wiek, Withycombe and Redman in 2011.

Their research identified five interrelated competencies:

Systems thinking
Anticipatory thinking
Normative or values thinking
Strategic thinking
Interpersonal competence

In 2021, Brundiers and colleagues used a Delphi study with international sustainability education experts to test and refine the framework. They reaffirmed the original competencies and added:

Intrapersonal competence
Implementation competence

These capabilities are brought together through an eighth, overarching competency:

Integrated problem-solving

Although developed initially for sustainability education, the framework is highly relevant to project management. Projects are among the primary mechanisms through which sustainability commitments must become practical change.

Translating the competencies into project practice

1. Systems thinking

Projects are usually divided into manageable components. While this helps planning and control, it can conceal dependencies, feedback loops and unintended consequences.

Systems-thinking competence enables project leaders to consider how a proposed change affects the wider organisation, environment, economy and community.

It involves connecting outputs to capabilities, outcomes and benefits, while asking what costs, risks or impacts might be transferred elsewhere.

The question is not simply, “What will the project deliver?” It is, “What will change across the wider system because this project exists?”

2. Anticipatory thinking

Project planning often relies on a preferred forecast. Sustainability requires us to consider multiple possible futures.

Project leaders should test whether an investment will remain effective as technologies, regulations, climate conditions, demographics, supply chains and community expectations change.

This means using scenarios, challenging assumptions, considering intergenerational effects and designing solutions that can adapt rather than becoming prematurely obsolete.

3. Normative or values thinking

Every project embodies values, whether they are explicitly discussed or not.

Decisions about priorities, accessibility, workforce impacts, procurement, benefits and risk allocation reveal whose interests count and what the organisation considers important.

Normative competence enables project leaders and governance bodies to examine these choices openly. It asks:

Who benefits?
Who may be disadvantaged?
Which voices are missing?
Are stated organisational values reflected in actual decisions?
Is the proposed future desirable and equitable, rather than merely feasible?

This is especially important because sustainability is not only a technical issue. It is also a question of purpose, values and responsibility.

4. Strategic thinking

Sustainability aspirations achieve little without a credible pathway for implementation.

Strategic competence translates goals into requirements, interventions, investment decisions, governance arrangements and measurable outcomes.

For project professionals, it means identifying leverage points, evaluating options and connecting the project to the organisation’s wider strategy and portfolio.

5. Interpersonal competence

Sustainability challenges cross organisational, professional and community boundaries. No single person or discipline holds all the knowledge required.

Interpersonal competence includes collaboration, empathy, communication, negotiation and conflict resolution.

Stakeholder engagement should not occur only after key decisions have been made. Sustainable project delivery requires people to participate in defining the problem, evaluating options and shaping the solution.

6. Intrapersonal competence

Leading complex change requires self-awareness as well as technical expertise.

Project leaders need to recognise their own assumptions, values, biases and emotional responses. They must remain open to evidence that challenges a preferred solution, maintain motivation through setbacks and manage the personal demands of sustained transformation.

This becomes even more important as AI supports analysis and decision-making. Technology may generate options, but accountability, ethical judgement and reflective leadership remain human responsibilities.

7. Implementation competence

Many organisations can develop sustainability policies and targets. The greater challenge is turning them into sustained action.

Implementation competence involves converting commitments into funded activities, clear accountability, delivery requirements, operational ownership and measurable benefits.

It also requires monitoring what happens after implementation, responding to unintended consequences and adapting the solution as conditions change.

A project should not be considered successful simply because its outputs have been accepted. Completion is not the same as implementation, and implementation is not the same as sustained value.

8. Integrated problem-solving

Integrated problem-solving brings the other competencies together.

A capable project leader must be able to understand the system, consider alternative futures, examine values, develop a viable strategy, engage stakeholders, lead reflectively and implement change.

This is not a linear checklist. Complex projects require repeated movement between understanding, envisioning, deciding, delivering, evaluating and learning.

What should organisations do differently?

Traditional project controls remain essential. Schedules, budgets, risks, scope and governance still matter.

However, they do not demonstrate whether a professional can lead sustainable change.

Organisations should consider whether their project capability frameworks, professional development and assurance processes enable project leaders to:

Identify systemic and long-term consequences.
Challenge assumptions within business cases.
Facilitate conversations about values and trade-offs.
Translate sustainability goals into delivery requirements.
Work across professional and institutional boundaries.
Transition outputs into enduring outcomes.
Evaluate whether benefits and wider value were sustained.

Sustainability should not be confined to a separate section of a business case or a standalone training module. It should be embedded throughout project definition, planning, procurement, governance, delivery, transition and benefits realisation.

From project delivery to responsible transformation

Projects do not simply deliver outputs. They shape systems and futures.

The central question for the profession is therefore changing.

It is no longer only:

Can we deliver this project successfully?

It is also:

Do we have the competence to determine what should be delivered, understand its wider consequences and create value that can be sustained?

At PMLogic, we believe the next generation of project capability must combine disciplined delivery with systems thinking, ethical judgement, human leadership and sustainability.

Organisations that develop these competencies will be better equipped not only to manage projects, but to lead responsible transformation in an increasingly complex world.