Reaching out for utility stars

The Utility Week Stars Awards returns at the end of June to recognise the unsung frontline heroes of the utilities industry – and there’s still time to nominate someone special for a gong.

Does your team have a star player? Don’t miss your chance to let them shine. Put them forward for our Utility Week Stars Awards, which is taking entries now.

It’s people that make the utilities world go round – whether it’s those on the frontline helping customers, keeping the lights on and the gas and water flowing, or those finding new ways to provide and adapt a quality service.

And it’s work that brings out some very special employees. If you know a utility hero who deserves to be a star, then your chance to nominate them for the Utility Week Stars Awards has just been extended.

The deadline for entries for the 2018 awards scheme, celebrating those who are the pride of the industry, has been extended by two weeks to Tuesday 3 April. It gives executives and managers a final chance to nominate teams and individuals in their organisation for recognition, at a ceremony that will take place in Manchester in June.

The accolades are designed to showcase the contributions of utilities’ employees to company performance and the delivery of critical services to UK consumers.

They are also an opportunity to highlight outstanding schemes for collaboration with communities, the supply chain and education in the interests of improving sector image and efficiency.

The Utility Week Stars Awards are a unique way for companies to thank their workforce and to help their talent, commitment, and leadership really shine.

Awards day, at the Hilton, Deansgate, Manchester, is 29 June. Categories are listed on facing page.

The Utility Week Stars Awards are open to companies of all sizes from all parts of the utilities industry. The initiative, project or campaign in most cases should be completed during 2016/17.

For full details and to nominate your utilities heroes go to www.utilityweekstars.co.uk to find out more.

Winners’ words

UK Power Networks

Last year, UK Power Networks clinched four Stars Awards and was a finalist in seven other categories.

Its customer services director Matt Rudling said: “The Stars Awards are a welcome opportunity for individuals and teams to shine and receive public and industry recognition for their work.

“We were delighted to win four awards last year and it was a real boost for the employees involved.”

Judges’ top tips

This year’s judges come from across the world of utilities, consumer policy, technology, training and innovation. Below, some offer their top tips for entries.

• Mark Smith, CEO of innovation and growth experts WRc
(Big Bang Award for Innovation, and Hero [Team] categories)

“WRc is committed to leading and driving innovation across the water and energy sectors. I’m delighted to be judging the awards this year and am looking forward to learning more from the entrants about their game-changing examples of innovation resulting in significant benefits to customers.”

• Chris Wood, chief executive of compliance, technical, and safety training provider Develop Training (DTL)
(Rising Star, Shooting Star and Guiding Star categories)

“I’ll be looking for evidence of passion and commitment; the difference between ‘doing the day-job’ and really standing out.

“Entries should demonstrate what real differences have been made and how the entrants’ star qualities really shine through.”

• Mike Foster, Chief Executive, Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA)
(Long Service, Constellation Award for Utilities Collaboration category)

“For the Long Service Award, I’m looking not just for years served but for what that person has contributed to the industry in their long service and perhaps how they have adapted to the changing environment in which they have worked.

“For any award on collaboration, the absolute must is to see what has been achieved as a result of sharing knowledge and experience. For this, evidence of outcomes is the key. Collaboration should not be about just information sharing but acting upon what’s been shared.”

• Lynn Cooper, chief executive, Institute of Water
(Rising Star, Shooting Star and Guiding Star categories)

“My stars would have to be reliable, keen to make a difference and willing to listen, learn and act.”

• Mark Dunk, Head of Engineering, Energy Networks Association
(Health and Safety categories)

“It is important to recognise the people working in the utilities essential for society to function in the 21st Century. I am looking for demonstration of a positive attitude to both emergency and routine tasks, as well as an aptitude for achieving whatever is necessary to succeed in those tasks.”

Utility Week Stars Awards categories

Big Bang Award for Innovation – Customer Facing
This award, for which teams and individuals can be nominated, celebrates ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It is looking for employees who have brought forward game-changing ideas to transform customer experience and engagement with utilities.

Big Bang Award for Innovation – Infrastructure
An award for utility teams or individuals who have made their infrastructure smarter, more sustainable or more efficient. They must have significantly altered industry expectations around the way critical infrastructure performs and shifted the organisation’s ability to address challenges relating to assets.

Constellation Award for Collaboration With Customers
A team award celebrating the success of a utility company/team in building strong links with customer communities for mutual benefit. With the industry overall struggling to lift levels of public trust, this recognises the hard work teams put into building bridges with customers and collaborating with groups to minimise disruption caused by essential works.

Constellation Award for Utilities Collaboration
It is key for utilities to have confidence in supply chain partners and maintain strong relationships with companies who make their own service ambitions achievable. This award recognises collaborative working which displays best practice and benefits in the quality, efficiency and right-first-time delivery for consistently seamless customer experiences.

Culture Change Champion Award
Utilities companies are transforming. Strategies for the future lay less emphasis on traditional asset-driven concerns or unit price billing but increasingly focus on the delivery of customer experience and service innovation. This award recognises the influence of a team or individual that has had an outstanding positive impact on this process of culture change.

Data Demon Award
Celebrating the contribution of data scientists and analysts in empowering modern utilities in the information age. A team award, it recognises the impact that a particular data initiative has had in improving business efficiency, competitiveness and customer experience.

Guiding Star Award
Recognising the individual contribution of a director or senior management-level utilities leader who has gone above and beyond to mentor rising stars, ensuring their workplace presents equal opportunities and to act as an ambassador for the utilities industry, raising awareness of the career opportunities it can offer.

Health and Safety Champion – Individual
Celebrating an individual’s contribution to promoting health and safety in the workplace. Successful entries to this award will demonstrate how an individual has influenced others and changed health and safety performance for the better using their own initiative and passion.

Health and Safety Champion – Initiative
This award recognises a health and safety initiative that has strengthened a company’s performance against key metrics in an ingenious or especially perceptive way. Commitment is fundamental for a successful utility to build and maintain a strong health and safety culture, and companies must continue to be inventive to avoid complacency and motivate employees in this area.

Hero Award – Individual
Celebrating the dedication of an individual who has made a real difference to customers, colleagues, the business or the industry. The impressive commitment of utility employees to putting others first in times of need constantly leads to stories of derring-do, charity and compassion.

Hero Award – Team
Celebrating the dedication of groups who have gone the extra mile to make a difference to their customers, colleagues, the business, or the industry by working together effectively and proactively. Utility teams do incredible work, leading to real feats of heroism and acts of charity and compassion.

Rising Star Award
Recognising the talent and ambition of a junior or apprentice, this award is for individuals who demonstrate outstanding promise, passion for their work and determination to succeed. With the industry facing skills gaps, encouraging rising stars to become tomorrow’s industry leaders has never been more important.

Shooting Star Award
To retain talented people within the utilities sector, it is vital we acknowledge those who are excelling and growing professionally within the industry. This award highlights those who have recently made remarkable strides in their career through outstanding work and understanding of business needs.

Supernova Award for Long Service
This long-service award is aimed at employees who have dedicated their career to utilities and continued to give back to their company, industry and the communities it serves. With a significant proportion of the UK’s utility workforce set to retire in the next few years, it is time to hold up their achievements and work ethics, as exemplars for the next generation.