Human Synergistics Conference

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Human Synergistics Conference

• The Yarra Valley Water Story

24 August 2006 Tony Kelly Managing Director
Yarra Valley Water
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Yarra Valley Water
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Yarra Valley Water

• 42 of Melbourne
• Revenue 350M pa
• Assets 3B (replacement)
• 8,465 kms water 7,758 kms sewer
• 9 small sewage treatment plants

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Yarra Valley Water

• State Government owned
• Corporations Law
• 650,000 customer accounts
• Serving 1.6 million people
• 380 employees

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Yarra Valley Water

• Comparative Competition
• Independent Economic Regulation

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The Yarra Valley Water Journey

• In 2001
• Lack of trust
• Decisions delegated upwards
• Innovation created almost exclusively by the
  Executive
• Overt internal competition
• Very strong perfectionism
• Central command and control

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Creating Context
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Our Journey
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Alignment
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Sense of Purpose
Water Is Life Yarra Valley Water exists to
provide water and sewerage services that
contribute to the health and well being of its
Customers and the Environment
Public Health Is My Reward
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Our Strategic Intent
Water Is Life Yarra Valley Water exists to
provide water and sewerage services that
contribute to the health and well being of its
Customers and the Environment
We strive to lead the global water industry in
serving the Customer and the Environment.
Supported by Our high performing business culture
Continuously improving our efficiency.
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Our Strategic Intent
CUSTOMER
ENVIRONMENT
EFFICIENCY
CULTURE
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Our Strategies
The Natural Step
Customer Service Strategy
CUSTOMER
ENVIRONMENT
Human Synergistics
Six Sigma
EFFICIENCY
CULTURE
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Why We Liked the HS Model

• The number of companies in the benchmark was
  impressive.
• The statistics were valued by our scientists,
  engineers and accountants.
• It made intuitive sense it related to our
  understanding of our own problems.
• Provided a means of measuring and monitoring
  progress
• Offered a common language for culture

ENVIRONMENT
CUSTOMER
EFFICIENCY
CULTURE
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Our Challenge
2001 What we wanted our culture to be
2001 What our culture actually looked like
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Leadership
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Do Leaders Make a Difference?
Identical Teams, Different Leaders
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Leadership Programs

• Understanding of self
• Myers Briggs for all managers with feedback
  sessions
• LSI for all managers with feedback sessions
• Service Leadership Program
• For all managers
• Training in management basics
• Run by same consultant who ran HS program
• Invited successful HS practitioners to share
  their learning and experience

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What Did I Do?

• Glass walls in office turned my desk around
• Skip level interviews with follow up letter
• Lunches with staff
• Present to every management team meeting
• MC all reward and recognition and business update
  events
• HR strategic meeting once per fortnight
• Delegated more
• Very open communications no secrets no
  surprises
• Shared my LSI

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MDs 2001 Profile
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MDs Improvement Plan

• Express feelings more
• Be open about self
• Try to be more in touch with peoples feelings
• Trust others to do more agree with them what
  has to be done and step back
• Coach people on the process
• Dont be defensive
• Build stronger relationships

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What did the Executive Do?

• Created a joint commitment to change the culture
• Consistently behaved the way we wanted the
  business to be
• Shared LSI with each other and our direct reports
• Strong sense of equity and fair play
• Hid nothing
• Skip level interviews
• Shared feelings more
• More like human beings
• Shared vulnerabilities

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Tapping In
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Having Serious Fun

• Corporate Games
• Open Days
• Channels of Change Program
• Kick Off

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Releasing Their PotentialSecondments
United Kingdom Anglian Water OFWAT
California, USA East Bay MUD
New Zealand Metro Water
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Improved Recruitment

• Brought recruitment back in house
• Objectives
• Lower costs
• Better cultural fit
• Higher retention rate
• Better calibre of staff
• Employed two new staff in HR
• All objectives achieved

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Other Supporting Programs

• Invested in Blue Zone Training (Blue Zone Days)
• Every Manager has LSI improvement plan
• Involved Staff in all change decisions
• Delegated Authority and Responsibility
• Also used OEI drivers of culture
• Screen Savers

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Lessons Learnt

• Need commitment from the top
• You need a good consultant
• Context and purpose must be clearly communicated
• Its not about being nice!
• It is about
• Improving Business performance
• Stretch goals
• Taking responsibility for own development
• Teamwork Coaching

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Lessons Learnt

• Influence, dont impose
• Change is more effective when the whole team
  participates
• Reward and Reinforce good behaviours
• Keep the program live something new every few
  months
• Recruitment important
• Move on the recalcitrants
• Monitoring progress very important we test
  every two years

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Overall Results OCI
2001
2003
2005
Retesting Every 2 Years
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Some Outcomes

• Total staff turnover reduced from 26 to 6
• 65 of advertised positions filled internally
• Recruitment costs down by over 70
• Zero industrial action
• Training costs reduced by 50 and twice as
  effective
• Staff satisfaction increased from 57 in 2001 to
  76 in 2004

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Summary

• Know your Purpose
• Historic context with an Eye on the Future
• Align your Staff
• Clear Vision and Objectives
• Release 100 of Everyones Potential
• Leadership development
• More delegation and trust
• Monitor your Progress
• Continuous improvement

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What Next

• Keeping ahead of staffs expectations
• Consolidate Blue Zone
• Exploit Requisite Organisation
• Management practices systems
• Align systems and processes
• Consistency
• Learn to live Landmark
• Communications

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Thank You