Last week, I had the privilege of guiding a group of 35 senior managers from seven large water utilities through a deep and honest reflection on change leadership. These leaders face the complex challenge of investing in the future of their companies, ensuring sustainable water access and quality, while navigating a shifting social fabric marked by climate change, demographic pressures, and evolving citizen expectations.
What stood out most during our sessions in Bonn, Beethoven’s birthplace, was not just the strategic intent, but the human dimension of change: the discomfort, the questions, and the quiet leadership that often goes unnoticed.
We started with an unusual team game, navigating an obstacle course blindfolded. It sounds simple, but within minutes, the exercise revealed much about trust, miscommunication, leadership under pressure, and how teams react when the way forward is unclear. As always, the insights emerged not during the game, but in the laughter, hesitations, and candid debriefs that followed.
From there, we explored Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, not as a checklist, but as a mirror. We spoke about the courage it takes to name conflict early, to let go of the illusion of harmony, and to make room for disagreement when the stakes are high. “Change begins with what I allow in the room. Indeed”.
Inspired by Beethoven’s resilience and innovation in the face of deafness, we shifted to a more personal space: What symphonies are we trying to compose, for our teams, our communities, our water systems? And what does it mean to conduct under pressure, with limited instruments or shifting scores? The metaphor hit home. Leading change, like music, is not about perfection, it is about interpretation, trust, and presence.
I left Bonn energised and humbled. Change management is not a toolkit. It is a practice of showing up, asking the difficult questions, listening more deeply, and letting others lead. These water utility leaders are doing just that, and it is communities, not just companies, that will benefit.
