12/16 - ISAWWA Leadership Series: Strategic Foresight - A Vital Characteristic of Modern Leadership 

As our global workforce shifts and changes begin at the local level, we need to prepare our future leaders. From cultivating their leadership presence
to focusing in on conflict resolution and managing a dynamic workforce, the Illinois Section American Water Works Association is offering their members this virtual leadership series to develop key essential skills. All sessions are 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Earn up to 1.5 Dual Credit Non-Technical.

A Zoom link will be sent 1 week prior to the event.

Description: Strategic foresight is a structured way of exploring possible futures that helps us plan for change and accommodate uncertainty. It’s a creative exercise that helps leaders to anticipate and respond to emerging circumstances; and it’s an essential leadership skill for preparing, recovering, and inventing as changes occur. Employing strategic foresight empowers the imagination and can help to inform strategic priorities, explore new markets, identify opportunities, and develop teams; and within the context of increasingly competitive and uncertain markets, it is a critical characterisic of modern leadership. This immersive deep dive is intended to stimulate discussion, educate and inspire, and inform fresh approaches to business planning and team leadership. We discover what it means in practice to use strategic foresight, exploring methods like backcasting, horizon scanning, megatrends analysis, and visioning; and we explain how taking the long view can develop far more enduring capabilities and impacts for an organization.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Participants will:
1. Understand how to apply this critical leadership skill on a day-to-day basis, as well as within a
longer-term strategic context.
2. Learn to accept and embrace uncertainty as an inevitable but empowering context within which to lead their team and organization.
3. Learn greater adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness in how they lead, all of which are strong
traits of a modern leader.
4. Understand the pros and cons of various forecasting methods and tools.

Andrew Chamberlain bio: Managing Director, Elevated A former association chief executive, for 15 years Andrew held c-suite positions in professional membership bodies across the UK. Since 2016 he has worked internationally, providing dozens of membership organizations with expert support in leadership development, business strategy, and good corporate governance. With a proven pedigree in understanding and maximizing association business dynamics, Andrew provides a distinctly diverse perspective on what drives success in membership. He is a Fellow of the Society of Association Management and from 2020-22 he volunteered as the Executive Director of the UK's Institute of Association Leadership. He is the founder of the Cambridge Governance Symposium; author of the NETpositive Governance™ model; Director of Strategic Development for Membership World; author of The Association Leadership & Governance Competencies Frameworks; co-host of the transatlantic podcast Association Transformation; and author of multiple white papers focused on realizing association success.

Attendees who participate in at least 4 of the sessions will receive a certificate of participation from ISAWWA.

COST: