Similar to any innovation that is propelled by investments yet bounded by liabilities, sustainability too depicts both these sides. In an attempt to display this matter,
ConXerv, The functional committee of Xavier School of Sustainability (XSoS), hosted its annual business conclave,
Parivartan on the theme “
Sustainability: Investment or Financial Liability?”
We are delighted to have with us the coordinator of ConXerv,
Elakiya Priya to share her memorable journey and experience in organizing the conclave.
How is the theme for Parivartan relevant in the present world?
The theme of Sustainability Management Business Conclave, Parivartan’18, “Sustainability: an investment or a financial liability for organizations?” revolves primarily around the premise of collective mindsets of organizations towards sustainable practices. Similar to any innovation that is propelled by investments yet bounded by liabilities, sustainability too depicts both sides of the same coin. While several global companies have adopted it as a strategy to gain competitive advantage, there are others which question its business case and thereby view it as a burden.
What went behind organizing a conclave so efficiently?
A conclave is just a one-day event but nearly 3 to 4 months of work goes into planning and organizing it. We started brainstorming about the theme nearly 4 months prior to the date of the event and once the theme was finalized we started looking for relevant speakers. A conclave is very different from any event conducted by a functional committee. We collaborate with both the school (XSOS) as well as the central Career Advisory Service (CAS). We work hand in hand with the CAS members and this is an integral part of any successful conclave. For a successful conclave, like any other event, there are many important pillars such as teamwork, good leadership, passion, hard work, and cooperation and that is what precisely went into organizing Parivartan.
What were some of the challenges faced while organizing it?
We faced several challenges over the course of the event. The major challenge was cooperation. As stated earlier we collaborated with both the school as well as CAS. Cooperation between different committees to achieve a common goal and complementing each other is key for such an event. Even though cooperation was a challenge in the beginning, through the course of the event we worked for hand in hand with great team spirit.
Another challenge we faced was in maintaining perfection and our passion to work. An event that spans for over 4 months is filled with ups and downs. Hence, even when a red flag flies for the nth time, we need to approach the problem with the same amount of passion and strive for perfection as we did for the first problem. This was one of the important lessons we, as a team, learned through Parivartan.
How did you select the speakers based on the theme?
We look at different aspects while we select the speakers, relevance to theme, the interest of the batch, and how it benefits placements.
Once the theme was finalized we started searching for speakers relevant to the topic.
Sustainability Management (SM) CAS is the committee that takes up the task of approaching and finalizing the speakers. Since SM course mainly consists of operations and marketing as its major, we focused on industrial experts in Sustainability, Operations, and Marketing.
What are some of the key learnings and takeaways from the conclave?
Key learning and takeaways for us as a committee from this conclave would be efficient event management, teamwork, cooperation, maintaining and scaling up of work, and management-leadership skills.
As a student of XSoS, my take away from the conclave and its theme would be that any initiative will have both positive as well as negative effects and sustainability is one such initiative. But, as managers we should always weigh cost against benefit, risk against opportunity, profit against liability and sustainability is a field with immense opportunities and has proven to be highly beneficial over the years. Hence sustainability is and will remain an investment.