Utilities must empower workforce to ‘fail forward’, says National Grid director

Making progress on big issues such as carbon reduction requires water and energy companies to engage their own people and empower them to drive change.

That was the consensus among utilities leaders who contributed to a new Utility Week report titled Balancing risk and security on the road to net zero.

However, a low corporate appetite for risk can often lead to an inflexible approach to change and innovation across utilities, according to Philip Sandy, director at National Grid.

To overcome this barrier, Sandy believes there is a balance to be struck between leadership teams empowering their people, and the workforce themselves taking the initiative to support change.

“We need to make sure we are setting out the right strategy so that people are given the time and space to do this. I think empowerment is crucial,” said Sandy.

“Leadership is the key thing here because teams have to feel they are trusted to do the right thing, as well as giving them the space to fail in the right way.

“The willingness to fail incrementally and fail forward is so important. Businesses have to have processes in place that allow people to fail early. The result is that people feel empowered and that there is no retribution for bringing new ideas forward.”

Sandy referenced the approach that Google takes to innovation, where staff at all levels of seniority across the organisation are encouraged to pitch new ideas. “It is them skipping all of the traditional hierarchy within an organisation and directly accessing the people,” he said. “We have started to do a lot of that at National Grid and it has been great because often a tiny idea spawns another idea that results in significant improvement.”

Tackling the data challenge

To truly empower the workforce, utilities must ensure their people are equipped with the right tools and information to assist them as they navigate daily and longer-term challenges.

Southern Water’s head of commercial operational services (energy, fleet, facilities), Matt Gee said valuable data supports good decision making, which is preferable to solely relying on an individual’s expert judgement. “In various roles during my 16 years in the water sector, the old adage of ‘you manage what you measure’ has been absolutely true,” he said. “Whether you are manging energy efficiency or environmental impact, it all comes down to having good quality data on all of those activities.

“You can manage the activities, you can manage the contractors who are doing work on your behalf, and you can manage performance in so many ways a lot more effectively with the right data.

“Data helps companies to prioritise and focus on the biggest problems first. It helps them to deliver solutions efficiently and effectively, so it is absolutely vital.”

In his previous role at Thames Water, Gee sponsored the installation of the first Real Time Control system at the company. By monitoring ammonia levels before and after water treatment through real-time data monitoring and innovative control algorithms, the control system can adapt to more consistently achieve required treatment parameters, while not wasting energy by “over-treating” beyond agreed levels.

The system demonstrates how data can be used to enhance the quality, consistency and energy efficiency of the treatment process.

To discover more about how improved data management and process optimisation can empower the workforce and drive improvements across all business areas, read Utility Week’s Balancing risk and security on the road to net zero report.