New Water Policy and Practice Issue 4, Number 1, Fall 2017 | Page 17

Growing as a Water Leader: Beware of Six Traps
Individual impacts typically include poor physical and mental health during
periods of intense work, feelings that they are letting their team down, stagnating
professional/career development, and below average progress in leadership devel-
opment activities (as they struggle to make time to do the work). In the 9-month
IWC Water Leadership Program, these leaders are at most risk of not completing
all elements of the program and consequently failing to earn a “Certificate of Ex-
cellence”.
Their chaotic working habits also adversely impact people around them.
They often struggle to hold teams together as some members of their team find
the work environment they create to be stressful. They can also model poor prac-
tices to their staff/colleagues (e.g. working excessive hours, not being able to dis-
tinguish between urgent and important tasks). Data collected from 360° feedback
processes indicates that their colleagues typically perceive them to be poor team
leaders.
Other impacts on their leadersh ip performance include not making time
for important, non-urgent activities which are essential to leadership such as stra-
tegic networking (see Ibarra & Hunter 2007). Their personal power can also be di-
minished as a result of failing to deliver on commitments (e.g. not meeting dead-
lines). In addition, the quality of communication with colleagues is often affected
by their poor time management ability (e.g. they frequently reschedule meetings
that are important to others).
3.1.2. Developmental Guidance
Ideally, these emerging leaders would be provided with training on self-leadership
skills, especially time management, early in their career before deeply ingrained
habits develop. Groups like the International Water Association’s “young water
professionals” network provide mechanisms to achieve this. Relevant self-leader-
ship skill sets include: time management; guiding one’s own professional develop-
ment and career; building resilience and managing stress. The recognition of the
importance of time management as a critical self-leadership foundation skill has
resulted in the IWC Water Leadership Program providing participants with access
to a comprehensive online training module at the start of the program.
In the opinion of the author, these leaders are not suited to formal team
leadership roles until they have improved their self-leadership capacity. Supervi-
sors and mentors can play a role preparing them for such roles, by guiding their
professional development progress and providing incentives for them to build new
skills, use new tools and change their behaviour. Organisational incentives could
include linking career/salary progression with progress against relevant profes-
sional development goals (e.g. completing a leadership development program that
has a strong emphasis on self-leadership), and requiring the emerging leader to
fully commit to professional development activities (e.g. a developmental plan,
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