I’ve always said there’s something faintly suspicious about certificates. They’re a bit like gym memberships or fresh fruit in the fridge; comforting to own, but not always a sign of actual use.
But every now and then, one comes along that doesn’t just sit there looking smug on the wall - it does something. It changes things. Shifts the needle. Nudges behaviour in the right direction.
So when I completed the IEMA Environmental Sustainability Skills for Managers Course, my first instinct was to ask: is this one of those certificates that quietly gathers dust in a drawer, or is it a proper “let’s-roll-our-sleeves-up-and-do-something” sort of thing?
Turns out, it’s very much the latter.
I'm now armed with a delightful new set of “green super skills”, and I'm bringing them straight to the wild and wonderful world of Kent Country Parks. And this is where things get interesting.
See, we spend a lot of time trying to make things faster, cheaper, and shinier. But when it comes to parks, it’s not about speed or cost-efficiency. It’s about preservation. Stewardship. It’s about making sure that the squirrel you see today isn’t the last of its kind, and that future generations don’t have to Google “what’s a tree?”
This training is a practical nudge in exactly that direction. With this certificate, I'm helping KCP continue to make better, greener decisions - from reducing waste to protecting wild places. And unlike a lot of sustainability waffle, this isn’t theoretical. It’s local, it’s immediate, and it’s actionable.
Now, I’m not saying a certificate will save the world. But I am saying that a certificate held by the right person, in the right context, can be like a laminated passport to doing things better.
Just imagine if every manager in every public-facing organisation had a “make-things-greener-and-not-just-because-it-looks-good-in-the-annual-report” badge!
