New Water Policy and Practice Volume 1, Number 2 - Spring 2015 | Page 5

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

Understanding Six Water Leadership Roles: A Framework to Help Build Leadership Capacity
André TaylorA, Wouter T. Lincklaen ArriënsB and Matthew LaingC
This paper describes six leadership roles that often feature in processes of change
that drive more sustainable forms of water management in developed and
developing countries. These are referred to as the champion leader, enabling
leader, cross-boundary team leader, thought leader, strategic leader and trusted
advisor roles. The paper also highlights some of the key leader competencies (e.g.,
skills) and leadership strategies (e.g., behaviours) associated with these roles.
Understanding these roles can help to build the leadership ability of emerging
water leaders and therefore the capacity of the water sector to drive change. It
helps to ‘cut through the complexity’ of leadership development by providing
a practical framework to identify which leadership roles are most relevant to
a developing leader, and therefore the types of knowledge, skills, leadership
models, case studies and leadership strategies to include in tailored leadership
development activities. It also helps to identify which roles an emerging water
leader is most suited to, and provides a framework to help analyse how people
in different leadership roles typically work together to drive major processes
of influence in the water sector. This framework is now being used to inform
the design of water leadership development programmes around the world.
Keywords: Capacity building; change; influence; leadership; leadership
development; water leadership.

1 - Introduction
1.1. The need for greater leadership capacity in the water sector

T

he scope and magnitude of the challenges facing water practitioners around
the world are profound, especially in developing countries. The United
Nations (UN WWAP 2014 and 2015) estimates that 3.5 billion people have
inadequate access to safe drinking water and a further 2.5 billion people currently
have inadequate sanitation. By 2050, global water demand is expected to increase
A

International WaterCentre, Brisbane, Australia.
TransformationFirst.Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore.
C
Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities and Monash University, Victoria, Australia.
B

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