crisis mentality – when keeping your head above water is business as usual

There is no doubting the fact the last few months have been the most challenging in living memory, Brexit preparations were followed by the existential threat of nationalisation, and then the most challenging financial settlement since privatisation. Quick breather for Christmas, and then straight in to flooding which tested even the most stringent emergency plans, stretching the workforce both out in the field and back at head office. Fast forward just one short month and the country is facing the biggest public health emergency in a century. Hardly pausing to draw breath, the same teams are being tested again. This time the problem is the complete unknown parameters of the situation – how long will the country be in lockdown? How many of the work force will be affected? Exactly how large is a ‘skeleton’ staff?

Yet the taps need to be kept on, supply and maintenance schedules operated as normal. While utility workers are classed as key workers, with water and sewerage workers specifically identified, if the predicted 80% of the population do contract the virus over the next three to six months business as usual will look very different.

It is not all doom and gloom, however. If there is one thing the industry is good at it is coping in a crisis. From Cockermouth in 2009 to the Whaley Dam last summer, high profile incidents involving an emergency response are well practiced.

For an industry used to operating under pressure, here are three key reasons why water companies are consistently able to raise their game and the lessons that can be shared in a time of national emergency.

1/ Clarity of Purpose

In a crisis, the shortage of time and the severity of the potential impact mean that politics and egos are pushed to one side. Teams unite behind a clear, common objective. For our country at the moment it is supporting the NHS who have deployed changes in weeks which would normally have taken 6 months. They have achieved this through absolute clarity of goal and organisational alignment.

For water companies there are only two priorities – keeping the water flowing in and ensuring the waste flows out. All tasks will be focussed on these two activities, protecting the environment to allow both of those key elements to happen and keep customers safe. Leaders need to maintain a view of all the moving parts but also watch out for colleagues that have a ‘soldier on’ and ‘don’t show weakness’ mindset which is clearly dangerous in this situation.

Last summer Egremont partnered with United Utilities to implement new ways of working across wastewater, and our project team was based near Whaley Bridge during the dam collapse. Our team was in awe at the calm and measured response of United Utilities colleagues as they faced into a life and death scenario. What was striking to us was the effort required to rein in the hero tendencies of technicians who felt tremendous ownership for the sites and watercourses and would seemingly stop at nothing to ‘save the day.’

Actions: Think about whether your messaging is clear to all? Does everyone know what they need to do? Are you keeping in touch with people properly and ensuring they are working safely and are not overburdened? Do you have a mechanism for teams to report back if they do become overwhelmed by the situation? Keep it simple, that way everyone remains safe.

2/ Decision Making

Resist total centralisation and control, it can slow down decision making and the head office often doesn’t really know what is happening on the ground.

Pushing decisions down to the front-line managers will speed up decision making and allow those with the best view of the situation to make the call. They can make decisions in line with
central guidance which will free up the Head Office to work on complex systemic issues. Those on the frontline they will inevitably make mistakes, but the benefits usually outweigh the costs when well managed.

During the London riots, one store manager closed his store against the guidance of Head Office. He could clearly see the impact the social disruption was having on the surrounding retail outlets. It would have been too late if he had escalated the issue to Head Office and waited for them to clear the closure. By taking positive action himself, he managed to save the store.

Action: Set out as clearly as possible which decisions can be made by the local teams but also give the front-line workers the freedom to prioritise work in times of emergency. Foster a culture of shared purpose, there will be mistakes made, but make all teams aware that wrong decisions made for the right reasons will not be judged harshly.

3/ Innovate

Once frontline teams know it is within their power to change working practices in an emergency, innovation will flourish. In these uncertain times the pressure points within the organisation become visible to those on the ground. Find a way to highlight them in day to day operations in order to develop effective solutions for the critical problems. Create proper forums for identifying the issues and sharing new ideas.

During industrial action, senior employees are often deployed in different areas of the business to cover the gaps. In particular, we worked with Senior Managers who were suddenly working in the control room 24/7 reviewing customer calls and alarms. This led to them recognising an opportunity to better risk manage out of hours workflows and creating an official process to prioritise how the work was dispatched which was maintained upon return to business as usual significantly cutting costs.

Use the unique perspective your employees are given if asked to work in a new environment, let them use their diverse knowledge and expertise to devise new ways of working.

Action: Focus effort on equipping teams with tools and techniques that enable them to be better problem solvers ‘in the moment’ when they may well be far from management. Ensure that they feel empowered so that they can problem solve and make high stakes decisions with little support.

Building for the future

Working in a crisis can bring out the very best (and also the very worst in people). In the water industry, employees and managers have faced huge challenges in the past, let’s build on these. Use this time to really take on the positives, embrace new perspectives and ways of working to ensure that once normality resumes we have a bright future to look forward to.

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