Water Leadership

H2Otalent aims to provide our clients with a talent based competitive advantage.

We believe that talent based competitive advantage is derived from employing professionals with leadership qualities at all levels of the organisation. In rapidly changing times and in complex environments this gives clients an adaptive advantage, as these individuals are able to recognise opportunity and  translate strategic intent into immediate action.

Through research and observation, H2Otalent has developed nine leadership competencies and qualities for the water industry.

1. Self-Aware
Having a good understanding of ones self is absolutely the most critical leadership skill. If you don’t know your own strengths and weaknesses, and your own biases and tendencies, you will never be able to lead effectively because you will not be able to manage yourself. Self-awareness naturally leads to an understanding of others.

2. Internal locus of control
Individuals with an internal locus of control fundamentally believe that they can influence outcomes (rather than being the victims of circumstance), and are willing to take responsibility for outcomes.

3. Visionary
In a changing environment leaders must drive for change, and that requires clarity, a big-picture perspective, and a vision of what can be.

4. Authentic
People will follow you if they believe what you believe. Leaders must take a position and be true to their values

5. Enabling
Leaders must empower others to act. You can achieve nothing on your own. This requires giving authority and control to others, not just delegating tasks.

6. Emergent
While leaders must provide vision and values, in complex environments it is better to allow solutions and tactics to emerge in a bottom-up way rather than take a hierarchical directive approach. In complex environments undergoing rapid change, there is no way that one person can always know the right course of action. It is the leaders responsibility to create an environment where this is possible, and let go of certainty over outcomes.

7. Experimenting
Complex system environments are non-deterministic, so planning and forecasting are often doomed to fail. The best way to test ideas is by trying them, and trying lots of them.  Leaders must provide an environment where early stage failure is encouraged, so that major failures can be avoided.

8. Disruptive
Continuous adaption to a changing environment is much more desirable than the step-change phenomenon that tends to occur in natural systems when a system is pushed beyond its level of resilience by external change and collapses. Leaders need to be able to continue disrupt the status quo to provide room for change

9.Transcendent
Powerful leaders have the ability to consider a choice of two or more undesirable alternatives, reject both and find a third previously non-existent path which combines the positives of both.

H2Otalent tribe

You can engage with the H2Otalent tribe by joining one or more of the groups we manage on Linkedin.

H2Otalent Water Leadership Tribe
This group is for those who beleive that water is a critical, and more importantly complex, challenge, that requires passionate, innovative, visionary and inclusive leaders. We encourage discussion about big picture ideas on how to approach the water management dilemma.

Integrated Water Management
This group is for those professionals who are trying to optimise water management across environment, social and econonomic requirements. 

Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD)
For professionals who are involved in the management of water in urban catchments.

H2Otalent Water Recruitment Network
We encourage those looking to recruit and be recruited join this group and find each other.