Primeast

The background

During the 1990s the electricity and gas industries in the UK were privatised and to a large extent merged. Mergers and acquisitions resulted in new companies focusing across fuel types on one or more segments of the evolving energy industry such as generation, transmission, distribution, trading, supply and metering.

Following privatisation, competition was introduced according to a regulated timetable. For metering, this began in the late 1990s and required essential changes to systems and processes and a corresponding change in culture just to make the business work.

MeterPlus is the in-house metering business of npower and had already invested heavily in system, process and culture change by 2004 when Primeast was engaged to take “the next steps”.

The challenge

Graham Jefferies is head of MeterPlus and described the journey he needed his business to take:

The culture change work already undertaken means that our managers and staff appreciate the nature of the competitive marketplace. However, there is more to do in terms of helping them understand how our organisation works and to really feel good about the part they must play to make the business successful. We need to make sure everyone is fully onboard and contributing positively.

The audience

The primary audience for this programme was the thirty-plus senior managers in MeterPlus. In tandem with this group the aim was to support the whole management team to supervisor level so that staff would eventually be enthusiastic advocates of the business who testify to having the support of positive-minded managers of the highest calibre.

The intervention

This challenge was discussed with Primeast and an outline programme agreed. It began in 2004 with a series of workshops where managers at all levels could engage with their leaders, not only in MeterPlus but also at director level in npower. Broadly speaking, in 2004, the focus was on understanding the business and its vision for the future. Management workshops under the banner of “Focus on the future” and “Raising the bar” were staged. In hindsight one of the key questions posed to managers in 2004 was “Are you on the bus?” building on the philosophies of Jim Collins from his book “Built to last”.

In 2005, Primeast maintained the dialogue with the management team during a period where the focus was primarily on process change and the roll-out of a number of corporate npower organisation development (OD) initiatives.

It was decided that Primeast should re-engage at the beginning of 2006 under the theme “Sharing the journey”. By this time Graham Jefferies had noticed a distinct change in management attitude:

Managers were feeling more in tune with the business and becoming good conduits for npower strategy. At this stage we needed to help them to take more ownership of the vision as it applied in the context of their particular role - so their staff would feel they were being led personally by their immediate manager and not somebody more remote.

So as part of “Sharing the journey” managers acknowledged the nature of vision and the fact that it needs to be expanded at every level of their organisation and translated into language that the recipients can relate to.

2006 hence saw significantly more ownership and empowerment within the MeterPlus management team and Graham Jefferies was pleased how the leadership development facilitated by Primeast was dovetailing into the npower internal OD programme. Productivity during the year also reflected improved performance. Yet he knew there was more that needed to be done:

During 2006 it became clear that the metering world would change significantly. A combination of regulatory and technical changes combined with a more demanding marketplace was on the way and likely to peak in 2008. We must use 2007 wisely if we are truly to have managers and staff energised and equipped to be star players.

So at the end of 2006 Graham and Primeast agreed that 2007 should be the year where managers in MeterPlus would truly know what it means to own the vision for their part of the business and for their careers. Over Christmas managers were gifted a number of current business text books and asked to work out for themselves what was needed during 2007.

In January 2007 the overwhelming verdict of the management team was that each manager needed to know their personal strengths and, importantly, how they could use them to transform the business. They also wanted the tools to tap into the strengths of everyone in the business - up to and especially at the sharp end - the interface with the customer! Clearly some of the thinking of Marcus Buckingham from his book “Now discover your strengths” had rung true.

So at a Primeast management workshop that month, the managers themselves designed the programme required to make the transition in 2007. The programme comprises a continuation of the now familiar Primeast manager’ workshops, combined with coaching, coaching development, action learning sets, problem solving and inspirational inputs.

Results

The goal? Well Graham Jefferies puts it like this:

By 2008, our npower’s metering business will be the metering agent of choice. Every single member of staff will know how we add value to the business and to the customer. They will feel good about the contribution they make and the language in all our conversations with stakeholders will be 80% positive.

And measurement?

We expect to see a growing market share, greater productivity, improved employee opinion and reduced absence from work…

By 2009 we hope to share some hard facts.

Working with Primeast

We asked Graham what he appreciated about working Primeast. He had this to say:

The consultants from Primeast are business partners who truly share the challenge of change management. Where others may jump in, they first of all listen and seek to really understand the need. This facilitative approach applies whether they’re talking with our senior managers or with our front-line staff. They work at a pace that fits the wider journey required of our business and take account of other initiatives we need to pursue as part of an international corporation. They do not expect to impose their ways, instead they bring their experience to the table and work in a way that makes sense to everyone in the business. When it comes to making change effective in the combined challenge of business and human nature they’re actually very good.