Growing as a Water Leader : Beware of Six Traps
non-urgent tasks such as strategic planning .
Coaching and structured training are effective developmental methods for building leadership capacity in these areas . Working closely with mentors who excel at strategic leadership is also beneficial . Supervisors also play an important role . For example , a supervisor could work with a non-strategic leader to develop a “ time budget ” ( see Morgenstern 2004 ), and as part of this process ensure that an appropriate amount of time is spent on strategic activities .
3.5 . The Individualistic Leader
3.5.1 . Description
The individualistic leader struggles to bring people with them on leadership initiatives . They tend to be comfortable in the “ champion ” leadership role ( see Howell 2005 ; Howell & Higgins 1990 ; Taylor , Lincklaen Arriëns & Laing 2015 ), where they excel at initiating change but often move too quickly , fail to build a genuinely shared vision , struggle to build a coalition of supporters , take excessive risks , and can leave the initiative before the change is fully delivered .
These leaders tend to be very competent as individual knowledge workers , confident , energetic and highly motivated to drive change . They are , therefore , a great potential asset to their organisations and the water industry . They are usually in their 20s when they appear in the IWC Water Leadership Program . At this early stage in their career , they have realised that they need some new strategies to improve their leadership effectiveness . Typically , their organisation has also recognised their potential but also the need for them to learn to become more effective at driving group-based processes of influence and leading teams .
Their tendency to work on their own and move quickly means that they often fail to do some of the “ basics ” of leadership well . For example , at the start of a leadership initiative they may not invest the time to understand the needs of affected stakeholders and work with them to build relationships and a genuinely shared vision for the initiative . Consequently , they are good at initiating change , but often fail to get support from others ( including authorising leaders ) to fully implement the initiative . This can result in leadership failures , personal frustration , “ burnout ” ( see Roger & Petrie 2016 ) and even career derailment .
3.5.2 . Developmental Guidance
From a coaching perspective , this type of leader is relatively easy to work with as they are highly motivated to improve and usually have a strong work ethic . Traditional approaches such as 360 ° feedback , training , coaching , mentoring , using leadership projects , and individual leadership development plans all help individualistic leaders to try new approaches and establish new habits . In particular , learning about the nature of the champion leadership role by exploring rel-
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