A Leadership Development Programme for Watercare

Challenge

Watercare is the main water provider in Tāmaki Makaurau, supplying more than 400 million litres of water to 1.7 million Aucklanders every day.

Watercare’s old emerging leaders’ programme only had capacity for 28 out of 1,300 employees. It was aimed at mid-career professionals who’d been working for 10–15 years.

Staff said getting a place was like winning the lottery. Not only were there not enough opportunities for people to develop, but there was a real issue with awareness and access. When people did find out about the course, they might have to wait a year to get a slot.

Watercare’s Learning and Organisational Development (L&OD) team, led by Clare Sarney, said “We want to create a culture where people want to engage in learning. So, when people say, ‘I'm keen to learn,’ and we say, ‘You have to wait a year,’ it’s not ideal”. Clare explains, “Our vision is for everybody to have the opportunity to learn and develop. If you're early in your career, and keen to grow in self-leadership, why would we say no?”

At the start of 2023, the L&OD team reviewed their leadership training offerings and realised there was little to encourage self-leadership, or the important associated soft skills such as:

• knowledge to develop resilience 

• confidence to have productive conversations  

• ability to question norms and evaluate your own approach  

• how to adapt your communication skills to enable effective conversations with people who have different communication styles 

• greater self-awareness, understanding your strengths, challenges, and values.  

Their new leadership development programme, EmpowerMe, fosters self-leadership for their team and fills a gap in their leadership development offering.

EmpowerMe programme structure 

The EmpowerMe programme has three parts to it:

1. Preparation
2. Workshops
3. Tools.

Watercare staff previously said training had too much pre-work and homework. As a result, EmpowerMe prep is optional. People can do a short e-learning module before each session to get a taste of the concepts they’ll cover, but if they don’t do it, it's not the end of the world.

The 6 workshops cover:

1. Setting myself up for success: participants find their learning zone, adopt a growth mindset, discover the power of reflection, and create good habits to support their growth.
2. Knowing myself: participants develop greater self-awareness, understand what drives their behaviour, what they’re good at and how they can be themselves at work.
3. Managing my time: participants recognise the control and influence they have over their daily routines and create ways of working that improve productivity.
4. My communication: participants explore different communication styles and learn how to adapt their communication to relate more effectively with others.
5. My resilience: participants learn approaches and tips to manage stress, maintain wellbeing and build resilience.
6. Meaningful conversations: participants explore ways they can build and maintain trust with others, confidently have meaningful conversations and resolve conflict.

Workshops are a communal learning experience with discussion and group activities. Michael aims to create a casual atmosphere where people feel relaxed and comfortable. Michael says, “I want to minimise anxiety so people can bring their true selves, have fun, and feel better about themselves.” His goal is to create a safe environment where people can share their experiences and how they’ve experimented with new skills.

A critical part of learning is sustaining and embedding behaviour change on the job. After each session, people get practical tools they can apply day-to-day, such as a template to guide them through tricky conversations or a three-step process for habit change. Instead of homework, they’re invited to try concepts from the session in their work environment.

Team leaders are given a kete of resources, reflections, and activities to use with their teams to keep the learning alive. These resources also expose the whole Watercare team to the concepts of self-leadership, impacting everybody, not only those who enrol for EmpowerMe.

The L&OD team promoted the launch of EmpowerMe using Watercare’s internal channels. Word went out on email, internal social media and chat, while managers briefed their teams. Demand has been strong ever since.

The programme is open to anyone, people can self-enrol, and participation has been diverse, with people enrolling from across the organisation at all stages of their career, from graduate recruits to general managers.