creating an environment of active problem solving and innovation in water utilities
the challenge
In the context of significant Ofwat targets, this water company’s underperformance had caught the eye of regulators. The business needed to embark on large-scale change which included desperately needed improvements to operational performance, regulatory outcomes and employee engagement.
The results
The overall project, which also included an operating model and organisation design workstream, has delivered an RoI of 25:1. Over 1000 individuals across the business have been trained in new tools, techniques and ways of working. This new approach has resulted in reduced risk, increased efficiency, more productive use of resources across both the workforce and physical assets and increased employee engagement scores.
There are many tangible benefits of the operational excellence project. Highlights in wastewater include a reduction in repeat jobs of 30% and a reduction in high priority reactive work of 75%. In water, highlights include a reduction in contractor maintenance spend of more than 90% and repeat job reduction of 40%
how we got there
This work was led by six Egremont consultants and a joint client team of eight. We started with an initial two-month diagnostic phase to define what “operationally excellent” really looked like for our client and how close, or far away the current state was from that. From here we identified priority areas for change and, with access to operational, customer and regulatory performance data and inputs from teams across the business, created a summary of the key issues driving the need for operational transformation and how they were connected.
This early engagement with stakeholders was crucial and the outputs of this informed our initial approach which was designed around frontline teams reviewing performance using the Hub Meeting concept.
We launched with initial pilots in Water and Wastewater teams. The Hub Meetings provide a place where teams on the ground meet to proactively review performance and agree actions. They empower teams to adopt a problem-solving mindset and ensure clear visibility of the issues that are really impacting the business every day. Pushing ownership to the frontline fosters a culture of performance ownership resulting in performance improvement.
Their implementation was part of a programme which created better connections across teams, the development of clear accountabilities, four new visual management tools, and the creation of an Operational Area Manager Hub to monitor risk, track benefits and provide a route of escalation for the frontline Hubs.
We also ran centralised problem-solving streams on our client’s asset data model, job flow and job management, maintenance planning and management, support and people processes and the alignment of goals, measures and initiatives to focus on doing the basics, brilliantly.
At the core of this was the training and coaching of the front-line staff and managers living the change. We worked hand in hand with them to apply problem-solving tools to complex legacy issues and finding solutions to address these issues. For those closely involved in the programme, there have been notable promotions, illustrating their growing capability.
Seventy hubs across the business improve connection and collaboration between teams who apply new tools and ways of working which sit alongside better processes in key areas such as maintenance and risk management.
Put simply, Operational Excellence has created an environment of active problem solving and innovation from the front line to the senior team, focusing attention on the things that matter as our client provides 541 million litres of drinking water every day.
