Irish Utilities Companies – Focus on Service First!

As utility providers, you have a unique set of challenges. Your customers really don’t want to hear from you! And when you hear from them the conversation doesn’t start well. Whether you are providing water, energy, waste, transport networks, municipal services or now data, you probably have similar challenges facing your business.

Governmental policy and regulation is placing more demands and restriction on the organisation. The infrastructure is aging along with pressure from climate change to deliver in a more sustainable way. Your workforce is probably aging while the technology required to modernise the service requires constant upskilling.

With all these challenges you need to improve efficiency, reduce any downtime or outages, lower costs, reduce risks (including cyber-threats) and improve customer satisfaction.

These challenges require a holistic approach. Even simple changes must be embedded into the existing organisation. Your job as a leader is to improve your organisation’s response to change. This is not easy. You need to ensure that you have very high standards of service, safety and security. You must also ensure that all the change required now, and in the future, must be embraced by your workforce. 

To lead a utility organisation, you need to focus on the service to the customer first and then the members of your organisation. You are completely dependent on their capability and their pride in the work they do to provide a great service.

All leaders in the organisation should ensure that their team are suitably connected and motivated by the purpose and that they understand their role. The key processes of the organisation need to be connected and transparent.

Your systems of work, new connections, billing, maintenance, and monitoring need to be integrated and transparent. Visibility is critical to performance and change management.

The workforce needs to be encouraged and developed. Leadership needs to understand the prevailing culture and what needs to be done to prepare for the future.

At LBS we use a five-dimension framework to help all members of the organisation, workforce, managers, leaders and board members to play their role in the change. We educate and coach the systems, practices and behaviours that enable change.