Driving Sustainable Change in Utilities
I read an excellent article by EHS Today that discusses strategies and techniques for driving sustainable organizational change. As I read the article, I couldn’t help but draw parallels with how these strategies align with what utilities in all sectors need to focus on as the overall energy industry continues to evolve.
How Utility Companies Can Foster Sustainable Change
Because human beings are naturally resistant to change, spearheading change requires techniques for overcoming resistance to it. Generally speaking, the effectiveness of fostering sustainable change is often predicated on changing the organizational culture to one that is more receptive to change and, by extension, periodic failure (sometimes, attempts to drive change create unforeseen problems).
What follows is a brief overview of the three strategies discussed in the article, viewed through a utility lens. To read the original article, click here.
1: Create and socialize an organizational mandate to embrace positive change
Utilities are currently facing a whole slew of trends that require them to change and adapt – things like climate change, cybersecurity, increased regulations, heightened customer expectations, smart technology, and the proliferation of social media, to name just a few.
Employees must be educated about these risks, and be encouraged to proactively identify and communicate potential solutions, and leadership must be receptive to any and all suggestions for positive sustainable change.
2: Fail fast
Many times, change happens in fits and starts, and rarely succeeds the first time. Trial and error, test and learn, progressive elaboration – whatever you call it, encourage employees to foster positive change by eliminating the fear of failure.
3: Be consistent
In other words, keep hammering away! Changing the organizational mindset and actually accomplishing sustainable change is not easy due to human nature, especially within the notoriously slow-adapting utility industry. Ideas that are different tend to be met with an initial bias of skepticism.
Expect this, be persistent, and for ideas that you feel particularly strongly about, do not take no for an answer until that is literally the only option.
