Over the past decade an increasing number of institutions have initiated programmes designed to enhance conservation leadership capacity, but they have lacked coordination and opportunities to share learning and ideas. To address this, conservation leadership practitioners and institutions came together in June 2019 for a symposium on New Directions of Conservation Leadership in Cambridge, UK. The gathering involved programmes tailored to a range of audiences in the conservation profession: from those just starting their careers to executive-level leaders well-versed in environmental challenges. Some programmes are still in the early stages of development and eager to gather insights from those more established, whereas others have evolved over time and aspire to expand and coordinate their offerings. Although symposium participants represented diverse views and experiences gained from teaching and training, all who gathered were united by their belief in the value of leadership for conservation.
The symposium generated discussion on why and how conservation leadership can be taught, including through programmes providing pragmatic, real-world learning opportunities. Development of personal and professional leadership skills is needed for addressing increasingly complex and challenging conservation problems. In addition to fostering structured learning environments at individual, team and organizational scales, conservation practitioners and educators can increase their impact by drawing on leadership development tools and frameworks from the business and social sectors.
Participants noted that professionals at all levels in conservation organizations must be versed in leadership skills to serve the collective conservation mission. This could be facilitated by integrating complementary programmes in which, for example, more senior leaders participating in short-term training could mentor younger leaders enrolled in postgraduate courses—the intergenerational leadership approach. Shared training modules could be developed so that learning can continue more rapidly. Alumni networks, collective training, or learning exchange events could also facilitate leadership at different scales. As the number of programmes expands, participants agreed that cross-organizational mentoring relationships should be established and maintained to share skills across sectors, professional experiences and generations of graduates.
The symposium also recognized the need for tailored programmes that reach a greater constituency of environmental workers. An important new direction for conservation leadership training is the inclusion of diverse leaders and context-specific skills that reflect diversity in gender, age, generation, language, indigeneity, culture and process. Participants noted the value of leadership learning communities that are connected for professional lifetimes, in which investments of personal and paid time are rewarded with relationships that provide acquisition and sharing of skills and support for career-long leadership development. Empowerment, especially for marginalized communities and those in traditional modes of governance, is of particular importance to achieve diverse leadership and effective outcomes. As leadership programmes are often utilized by participants who have a combination of English language skills, access to funding streams, and prior leadership training experiences, we recommend increased and diversified training opportunities for greater impact.
Although this symposium highlighted several established conservation leadership programmes, the current array of learning opportunities, particularly in terms of the content they provide and the audiences they serve, is insufficient to prepare the conservation sector for a demanding future. We see an urgent need for innovation and partnerships, oriented around a collaborative model (such as agreeing to share course materials and lessons learned), as an essential response to the biodiversity crisis.
The symposium gave us the chance to share our vision of new pathways for building leadership in conservation. We believe offering leadership training that is timely, targeted and long-term will allow us to achieve conservation sooner, more efficiently and more effectively than in its absence. Given the limitations of geographical, cultural and linguistic participation in the symposium, we welcome greater collaboration with a diversity of stakeholders as we continue exploring insights on programmatic design, impact, evaluation and new directions for conservation leadership.
