We simplify a complex field of inner development into a framework that helps to identify understand communicate develop integrate
the inner skills needed for sustainable development.
We believe there is a pressing need to increase our collective abilities to face and effectively work with complex challenges.
And without a foundational shift in human values and leadership capacities, external solutions to our global challenges may be limited, too slow or short-lived.
This is why we are co-creating the Inner Development Goals Framework - an essential roadmap that can assist us in navigating and developing our inner lives to catalyse outer change.
Rooted in interdisciplinary research, the IDG Framework consists of 5 dimensions with 23 skills of human inner growth and development.
Discover how Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating and Acting become a unified catalyst for global change.
Full Framework in different languages
23 Skills Across 5 Dimensions.
The initiators of the IDG Initiative were motivated by a belief that there is a blind spot in our efforts to create a sustainable global society. We have accumulated much knowledge about the climate crisis, poverty, public health, and other social ills communicated in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, we seem to have an underdeveloped capacity to deal with our increasingly complex environment and challenges. We have a vision of what needs to happen but progress towards this vision has been disappointing as technical solutions and public policy, which comprise the majority of approaches today, are insufficient on their own.
Fortunately, modern research shows that the inner abilities we need to face and overcome these complex challenges can be developed. What is missing is a keen insight into what abilities, qualities or skills we need to foster among individuals, groups and organisations that play crucial roles in working to fulfil these visions. In 2021, a series of meetings were organised with founders, CEOs, HR managers, sustainability managers and influential figures in both the private and public sectors, as well as many discussions with researchers and leaders from prominent academic institutions. With collaboration, they formulated a key survey question that could collect as much relevant input as possible on which skills and qualities are most important to work more effectively towards the SDGs. After analysis of the 800 responses and several iterations, 23 skills and qualities of human inner growth and development were identified and, in order to have a more pedagogical framework, organised into five dimensions.
The IDG Framework has co-creation at its centrewith ongoing development and input from experts, scientists, practitioners and organisations worldwide.
Co-Create With Us
To reduce any Western-centric bias and ensure the framework’s global applicability, a newly launched survey aims to reach over two million people and is anticipated to yield 100,000 responses from more than 100 different nations.
The One Big Question opens up co-creation to more voices in a well-structured, inclusive and truly global dialogue that will shape the future of the IDG Framework.
What qualities, abilities, or skills do you think are essential to progress towards a more harmonious, sustainable, and equitable world for people and planet?
The IDG Framework is open-source. You can freely use it with no permission or involvement needed.
Integrating the Framework
Business Partnerships
Multinational corporations like Google, Ikea and Ericsson are among the first collaborating partners to incorporate the IDG Framework into their organisations and more intentionally work on the inner skills needed for sustainable change within the company. IDG has more than 50 global corporate and institutional partners.
Global Collaborators
Collaborative efforts with IDG Country Centres and a Global Leadership for Sustainable Development (GLSD) programme have been initiated to develop and strengthen leadership capacities across all sectors, ensuring a more integrated approach to sustainable development that includes both external and inner dimensions.
Grassroots Movements
There is a global community of practitioners, scientists, employees, consultants, coaches, and more who are working together to put the open-source IDG Framework into action collectively. These grassroots initiatives are supported, not controlled, by the IDG Foundation. There are 500+ Hubs across 80+ countries.
Education & Academia
The IDG Foundation has co-creation at its centre with ongoing development and input from scientists, academic partners and researchers worldwide. The IDG Framework has been adapted for research, integrated into classroom activities and invites diverse stakeholder’s contributions.
The IDG Framework is not another framework to implement, rather it is a lens that helps map, understand, and refine your strategy.
Going Deeper
The framework’s simplicity is a design principle, both keeping it easy to communicate and relatively ‘naked’ or decontextualised, ready to be re-contextualised within specific training or personal development approaches…
The strength of the IDG Framework lies in its flexibility. While it offers a map for inner growth, it does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach, nor does it represent a training curriculum in itself.
This adaptability allows it to be tailored to diverse cultural and societal contexts, ensuring its relevance across different settings.
We recognise the relationship between individual and collective skills and qualities.
The 23 capacities are often properties of systems rather than individuals, and we believe the framework can be used as a starting point for exploring both individual and collective skills and qualities and how culture, organisations and institutions can support the development needed.
By recognising its limitations and continuously refining the framework in response to feedback, the IDG Framework can become an increasingly robust and globally transferable tool in the quest for a sustainable and equitable future.
While frameworks like the SDGs provide quantifiable targets, the IDG Framework’s emphasis on inner qualities and personal growth can be seen as less tangible.
How does one measure self- awareness or empathy without depending on self-reports? Can such intangible goals be universally applied, given the diverse cultural and societal contexts across the globe?
Such questions continue to be addressed through discourse and research, and it is essential to recognise that personal growth may manifest differently across cultures.