New Water Policy and Practice Volume 1, Number 2 - Spring 2015 | Page 13

New Water Policy and Practice Table 1: Examples of water leaders who perform each of the six roles Role Title Brief Role Description Examples The champion leader Involves initiating processes of influence (change) in the water sector. • A water practitioner who is strongly advocating for the adoption of integrated water management principles within a new river basin or urban planning process. • A practitioner working for a local waterway-focused community group who is lobbying government agencies to invest in a waterway rehabilitation project. The enabling leader Involves enabling (rather than directing) others to collectively ‘learn by doing’ to find solutions to complex water challenges. • A middle manager in a water agency who creates a crosssectoral ‘community of practice’ for practitioners in a city to develop and trial innovative solutions for the most challenging water issues through collaboration by the public and private sector. • The crossboundary team leader The thought leader The strategic leader The trusted advisor Involves being the assigned leader for a water team (e.g., a project team) that crosses boundaries relating to geography, organisations, professional disciplines, etc. Involves using high levels of credibility and expertise to exert influence (e.g., by promoting technological innovations). A senior water leader in a government department who establishes a cooperative research programme to bring practitioners and academics together to trial new technologies to address pressing water management challenges in a local river basin. • A water practitioner who is responsible for a team of technical experts from different organisations who are building and monitoring programme for an estuary. • A water practitioner leading a multi-disciplinary team to design a new urban development that incorporates integrated water management principles. • A technical specialist with rich and diverse expertise who works part-time for a local university as a researcher and part-time as a water manager in a government agency. • An experienced consultant from a niche consulting firm who pushes the boundaries of ‘best practice’ water management by encouraging their clients to consider innovative approaches. Involves working with stakeholders to build a shared vision of the future direction of a team or organisation, and a strategy to achieve the vision. • The leader of a programme in a large government department tasked with developing new strategies for increasing water security in a region of the country. Involves working as a credible, independent agent to influence the political system through communication, networking and advocacy. • An experienced academic who is called upon to review the scientific research on point source pollution for a government water minister. • The head of a large, water-focused capacity building programme that aims to change stakeholder behaviour in order to improve integra ѕ