New Water Policy and Practice Issue 4, Number 1, Fall 2017 | Page 14

New Water Policy & Practice Journal
this information to help emerging water leaders to accelerate their professional
development.
2. Methodology
T
he observations and guidance presented in this paper primarily draws from
the author’s experience from 2008 to 2017 working with a diverse group of
non-executive, emerging water leaders who have participated in the follow-
ing activities:
1. A customised, 6-month, feedback-intensive leadership development program
(see Guthrie & King 2004) for Australian, champion-type water leaders in 2008
(see Taylor 2010a). Designing and delivering this program was part of the author’s
PhD research. It involved 20 participants and 40 one-to-one coaching sessions.
2. The 9-month, feedback intensive IWC Water Leadership Program which has
been run annually since 2011. One hundred and forty-four (144) water leaders
have graduated from this program. Each participant has three formal, one-to-one
coaching sessions with an IWC leadership coach (i.e. 432 sessions). The vast ma-
jority of these have been conducted by the author. Most of these participants are
Australian, although some have come from Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Lao,
the Philippines, and New Zealand. The average age is mid-30s with equal partic-
ipation from males and females. Participants come from a wide variety of work
contexts (e.g. consulting firms, Commonwealth, State and local government agen-
cies, water utilities, and non-government organisations).
3. Customized IWC water leadership development programs. Three large pro-
grams were run for small groups (typically eight people from the one organiza-
tion) over 2013–2016. These programs also involved 2–3 rounds of one-to-one
coaching.
4. Customised leadership development short courses, masterclasses, and on-line
courses over 2010–2017. These activities typically ran over several days for groups
of domestic water practitioners in Australia and visiting international study groups
(e.g. from Indonesia). They have included: a series of five workshops held around
Australia in 2010 in partnership with the Australian Water Association; and an-
nual masterclasses with a diverse group of students entering the IWCs Master of
Integrated Water Management; and a 5-week online team leadership course that
has been run twice a year from 2016 for young water professionals. Overall, these
activities have involved approximately 675 water leaders from a diverse range of
workplaces.
5. One-to-one coaching and mentoring activities with emerging water leaders
since 2008 that occur outside of formal programs. Typically, the author would par-
ticipate in 6–12 of these sessions per year.
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