Ducks Unlimited

<p>The vision of Ducks Unlimited (DU) is wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. DU conserves, restores and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people. </p> <p>The core values and guiding principles of Ducks Unlimited's team of staff and volunteers are: </p> <ul> <li>conserving North America's waterfowl and wetlands; <li>acting to uphold the reputation of DU, treating people and wildlife with respect; <li>evaluating our programs to guide us and ensure credibility; <li>working together as volunteers and staff; <li>valuing and enjoying the sport and heritage of hunting; <li>partnering with those who share common goals and values; and <li>celebrating the culture of DU as we serve our members. </ul>

The vision of Ducks Unlimited is wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorro

Goal One: Grow the Scale, Accelerate the Pace, and Strengthen the Impact of Wetlands and Waterfowl Habitat Delivery

Goal Two: Grow and Expand the Involvement of Our Volunteers,Members, Contributors, and Wetland Stakeholders While Maintaining Our Culture

Goal Three: Enhance, Adapt, and Align Internal Capabilities through investments in people and processes and by setting ambitious goals and adopting a culture of continuous improvement

DU has implemented a three-day management training program to provide people leaders and top-performing individual contributors with the essential knowledge, skills, and support they need to effectively motivate and lead people, build cohesive and productive teams and achieve stellar results. The program has an outside moderator and has been hosted at each of our regional offices (4) and twice at our national headquarters. All managers can nominate people for participation. The training also provides a personalized Leadership Assessment for each participant. In addition, DU launched a separate program targeted to building leadership capacity in late July. The seven-month program focuses on growing leadership strengths and creating a leadership pipeline. Participants are nominated by senior leadership and must have attended Management Training as a prerequisite for eligibility.

The largest external change that DU is dealing with today is the implications of a changing climate, and we, like so many others, are still in the midst of this crisis. For DU, the natural cycles that take us from wet conditions to dry conditions are just a part of doing business. Our role is to help landowners and land managers, including cities, towns and counties, prepare for these changes. Our recent partnership with the 100+ mayors affiliated with the Mississippi Rivers Cities and Towns Initiative is a great example of our focus on this external change. As an organization that is predominantly focused on wetlands habitat, and specifically wetlands for waterfowl, DU is a bit of an unlikely ally for working with MRCTI to help deal with problems of too much or too little water. However, our work in this space is expansive, and these local leaders trust us to help them nature-based solutions to flooding, drought, loss of habitat, loss of greenspace and the economic impacts resulting from these issues. We have learned how to implement our mission to improve waterfowl landscapes to help cities, towns and municipalities, along with corporations and foundations, to meet their goals related to water, biodiversity, sea-level rise, greenspace and community health.