Introduction
Welcome to the second episode in this blog series from the International WaterCentre (IWC).
Water leadership is an essential process to ensure that teams, projects, programs and processes of change are successful. Water leaders work collaboratively to achieve a common direction and sense of purpose, to align resources with that direction and generate motivation and commitment to success (read more here). They require particular skill sets and behaviours to be effective in this work, skills and behaviours that can be developed through a mix of approaches including conscious practice, feedback, coaching, mentoring and learning from research about what works and why.
The purpose of this blog series is to profile emerging water leaders globally, their practices, and how they go about improving their capabilities through leadership development in various ways. Through this our aim is to build wider appreciation of the value of engaging in water leadership development, and ultimately to foster the growth of water leadership capacity globally.
Meet Mark – our second profiled water leader
In this second episode of the blog we talk with Mark Lawrence who started a new role this year as General Manager of CMP Consulting Group, having moved from a Major Projects management role at Melbourne Water. Mark gained a Certificate of Excellence when he completed the IWC’s Water Leadership Program (WLP) in late 2024, joining over three hundred Program Fellows spread across Australia and New Zealand. We will start off by building a picture of Mark’s backstory – how and why did he move into the water sector and the role that he now occupies with CMP Consulting?
“I guess it’s probably a little bit by accident. Whilst my degree was in Civil Engineering with European studies (I studied German) my masters was in bridge engineering. As part of my degree though I was able to go and work in Germany on various building sites, and one of the sites was a new house and swimming pool. So you can maybe say there’s a tenuous link there!”
“Following studies, my working career has been largely in the water industry though and has spanned working in construction, design and most recently working on the client side.”
“My first construction role was working on a potable water mains project over in Jamaica. We were delivering potable water to a township that hadn’t had potable water before. There’s a clear benefit there in terms of what that brings from a societal point of view and helping to deliver what we would just expect when we turn on the tap in the UK or Australia for example.”
“Following the successful commissioning and handover of the Jamaican project, I continued overseas for another couple of years (working on a power station project in remote Southern India) before returning to the UK and joining a design consultancy that specialised in water projects. During this time, I was able to complete my charterships in both Civil and Structural engineering.”
“I moved over to Australia in 2005, with the same company and continued to work predominately on water and sewerage projects. I moved from doing the design myself to then managing design, then project management as well as design management, then Team Leader.”
“I initially joined the company I’m back with now – CMP – in 2017 and this is where I got exposed to working on the Client side. I was seconded into Melbourne Water to help them with the management of their capital delivery. I worked on a number of high risk projects, through to April 2021, where I then moved formally across to as Project Director within Melbourne to head up the delivery of close to $1bn of capital projects at one of their major treatment plants. Following the successful implementation of the delivery strategy for these projects, I returned to CMP in my new role as General Manager”.
How has investing in leadership development impacted you and your work?
“Throughout my career, I’ve never really pursued becoming a MD or anything like that. Generally the trend has been towards more and more senior in terms of both project responsibility and then people responsibility through that journey. And probably it’s a combination of my managers seeing the opportunity in me and then me taking that opportunity when it’s given that’s allowed me to progress to my current position as General Manager.”
“The big projects always excite me, so over my career I have chased those rather than pursuing a structured approach to growing my leadership skills. Thinking of the 70:20:10 rule of leadership development (70% on the job learning, 20% peer based learning and 10% formal training) I think most of my leadership training and development has been on the job training with a level of oversight and guidance from my managers along the journey.”
“I believe that no feedback is bad feedback. I have always appreciated and actively encouraged feedback sessions. I love interrogating the information where you are doing well, but more to learn about the areas where I am open for growth. I do then try to incorporate the feedback into my development plans to improve and grow.”
“I think that the Coaching sessions are also very helpful to interpret feedback. I think even if you just take 10% of what happens out of any coaching sessions you will benefit. They help you both in terms of confidence that you are doing well, but they also open your eyes to the areas that you need to develop more.”
What are the most challenging aspects of leadership for you?
“I have always found time management to be quite challenging for me. I can easily fall into the trap of working long hours consistently, but there is real value in prioritising tasks, setting clear goals and managing time effectively both for me but also for my team. I recall the discussions around this at the IWC in person days where it reinforced the importance of working smarter not harder.”
“The other aspect that I would like to be more proficient at is the difficult conversation element of managing any team. Whilst I hope that this is not something that I need to call on regularly, I saw from a recent experience that it is important to ensure if a conversation is required it is held sooner rather than later, otherwise it can very quickly impact the broader team negatively.”
What does the future look like in terms of your leadership practice and development?
“I think the IWC Water Leadership Program came at just the right time for me, completing it as I did just prior to commencing my GM role with CMP. I therefore, have a fantastic suite of information to refer to, plus a wealth of knowledge gleaned from the in person and remote learning sessions.”
“Currently I would say I’m in a transformational leadership role. The company has strong aspirational goals to grow across Australia over the next 3 years but we’re just at the start of that now. So, it’s all about the messaging, a positive vision of the future, and emotionally connecting with the team to motivate and encourage.”
“I love creating high performing teams and this is a key element of my new role. I recognise that I will need to build trust with my colleagues, act with authenticity and provide the support and guidance that is needed to allow the team to grow and succeed.”
“The other area that I recognise as important in a leadership role, is that of self-reflection. It is a skill to build it into a working schedule, but once the habit is formed, I have found it to be very beneficial. It provides that opportunity to pause and look at what has gone well, what could be improved, and allows that continuous learning opportunity.”
“I will be looking for mentors to support my ongoing development. I have a couple of people in mind, and they will provide both the broader learnings and knowledge I will need but have also “been there and done that” so speak from experience.”
“As I reflect on my leadership journey, and most recently by participating on the IWC Water Leadership Program, I think the big take away for me is that whilst leadership is a journey, you don’t have to be a CEO or MD to be seen as a leader. And once you start looking at yourself as a leader, you’ll be amazed how much great stuff you’re already doing, but also what other avenues there are to grow and develop. I certainly still have lots still to learn, but that’s part of what makes leadership development a journey.”
More information
If you want to learn more about leadership development then please read more about the Water Leadership Program (if you are living in AU/NZ) or Pathway Program (if you are living and working in another country). Contact us at IWC_training@griffith.edu.au for the opportunity to talk through your aims and needs. We are always happy to partner and collaborate.