AMKAN Chapter 9 | Southwest EFC

9.1 Introduction

Of all the assets your utility manages, the people, or human assets, are by far the most valuable. All the data, information and procedures in the world will not be helpful without the people to make sense of the data, communicate the information and implement the procedures. As we saw in Chapter 2, it is extremely important to get “buy-in” from everyone involved, from elected officials to the field staff, and including your customers. In this chapter, we will look at some of the most important considerations involving communication, knowledge management, training, leadership, and community involvement. This discussion is designed to help you achieve the kind of “big view” that will help your efforts succeed beyond just gathering data and implementing programs.

It requires a culture change… You need to be ready to focus on the people aspects of it.
—Kevin Campanella, Columbus, OH

9.2 Communication

We all know that good communication is the key to success in everything we are trying to accomplish. But how do we make it effective? Anthony Robbins (self-help author and success coach) said “to effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.

With any public education plan, the place to start is with the kids.

—Ted Riehle, Old Forge, NY

Tailoring your communication to the listening of your audience is the key to effective communication. It is very important to understand that others may perceive the world differently than you do; that their understanding of what is happening may be different from yours; and, most importantly, that what is meaningful and important to them may be very different from what is meaningful and important to you. Communication based on this principle establishes a partnership between the speaker and the listener.

If it can be said that communication is the key to success, then it can also be said that lack of communication is often the reason for lack of success. In the case of Asset Management, the real key to success is the involvement and enrollment of everyone who has a stake in the process, be it the Mayor, the meter reader, or the customer at the farthest end of the line. And the key to this “buy-in” is effective communication.

There are two basic types of communication that you should address-internal and external-and each of these corresponds to different audiences and different needs.

Internal communications are communications up and down the chain of command within your organization and across different departments within the utility. Internal communication is often direct and informal and usually contains very specific and detailed information. However, communication with governing bodies may take on the character of external communication since these people are usually not concerned with the details of day-to-day operations. The City Council will be interested in the fact that you are saving money by implementing a preventative maintenance plan. The operator needs to know the specific details of the plan such as the actual schedule for changing the oil in a pump. Thus, they are being given different levels of information about the same program. This is not just a difference in the amount of information that is being given, but also a difference in the kind of information.

External communications are communications with your customers and stakeholders and with the entire community served by your utility. These communications will be usually more general and often take on the character of “PR” or advertising. This is not a negative connotation. Most of your customers are not versed in the inner workings of your organization and will need to have important ideas and facts conveyed in terms that are meaningful to them. It is not important for your customers to understand the specifications for new sewer lines. It is important for them to understand the need for the lines, the impact of the project on their rates and how the installation will affect them.

What is important to understand about the distinction between these two types of communication is that not only will you want to communicate different kinds of information externally than you communicate internally, but you may want to use different methods of communication. For instance, you may publish a brochure to communicate with your customers, but use a memo or meeting to communicate with your operators. This is not to say that you might not use the same methods for both audiences, but that it is important to consider not just the information you want to communicate, but also what might be the most effective way to communicate it.

Some of the methods of communication that the utilities interviewed for this manual have found effective for external communication with customers and stakeholders are:

Brochures
Door Hangers
Plant tours
Water fairs and sustainability fairs
Public meetings
Telephone surveys
Articles in newspapers

Some of the methods useful for internal communications are:

Emails
Phone calls
Brochures
Posters
Memos
Staff meetings

No one can tell you what will work in your community. You know your employees and your customers better than any outside entity providing advice to you. The only limit is your creativity and that creativity is inspired by your desire to make your utility efficient and your community a better place to live.

9.3 Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice. (from Wikipedia)

The ability of an organization to manage its knowledge can be another key to the successful implementation of an Asset Management program. Often we find that the knowledge present in the organization is either inaccessible because it is buried in layers of paper or computer data or it resides only in the minds of individuals. Knowledge management can be as simple as up-to-date maintenance manuals or as complex as cross-training all employees in all aspects of operations. What kinds of techniques you employ will be determined by the size of your utility, your resources, and your determination to create a robust and independent knowledge base.

Knowledge is an asset, no less important than the physical assets you own. And, just as with any asset you own, it is important to classify your knowledge assets. Generally, knowledge can be said to be one of two types: explicit and tacit. It might also be helpful to classify this distinction as external and internal. Explicit (or external) knowledge is generally data-based. That is, it consists of facts, figures, procedures, business plans, financial information, customer lists, even your Asset Management plan itself. These kinds of things can, and should, be written down, kept up-to-date, and made accessible to everyone in your organization. This “writing” can be in paper form or electronic, but must be accessible.

…collect all the information that these folks have in their heads and try and put it in one spot.
—Stacy Gallick, Johnson County, KS

In terms of external knowledge, your knowledge management plan should consist, at a minimum, of the following:

A complete inventory of assets
Maps showing the exact location of all assets
Your Level of Service Agreement
Maintenance manuals on assets you own
Operating Procedures–standard, alternate and emergency
Maintenance schedules and procedures
Procedures for updating all of the above
A history of maintenance on all assets (to the extent that it is known)
A written Capital Improvement Plan
A written Repair and Replacement Schedule
Your rate schedule and the basis and rationale for the rates

Internal (sometimes referred to as tacit) knowledge is a lot harder to manage. This is all that knowledge that resides in the minds of your employees. The statement that your employees are your most valuable assets encompasses the understanding that some of this value lies in the knowledge that they possess.

However, having this be the only place valuable knowledge resides is risky and inefficient. Employees retire, move away, seek other jobs, get sick, die. When one of these inevitable events occurs, the organization can be left without the crucial information it needs to operate. It is therefore very important that utilities develop strategies and practices that capture all the knowledge that is needed to continue efficient operation. Needless to say, turning internal knowledge into external knowledge–i.e. getting all that information out of people’s heads and onto paper or computers or video tape–is one of the best ways to manage a lot of this risk, and every utility should strive to do that as much as possible.

However, some of the knowledge your employees carry around with them does not lend itself to this kind of externalization. This kind of tacit knowledge is based on judgement and experience. This is the ability of an operator with 30 years of experience to just hear when a pump is having problems or the “gut feeling” that something should be checked.

This is your meter reader knowing that the gate will be locked on Tuesdays or your billing clerk understanding that Mrs. Jones doesn’t get her check until the 15th and that she will always pay her bill on the 16th, so it is a waste of money to send a past due notice.

…collect all the information that these folks have in their heads and try and put it in one spot.
—Stacy Gallick, Johnson County, KS

This is people knowledge and it is extremely important. This kind of knowledge, by its very nature, is difficult to capture, but there are some techniques that can be employed to help organizations make future use of this kind of knowledge.

Cross-training builds redundancy of employee skills into your utility and can be extremely helpful in the event of sudden illness or departure of employees.

Job-sharing is similar to cross-training, but has the advantage that 2 or more employees actually share duties and knowledge on a continuing basis, as opposed to one-time or occasional trainings that are characteristic of most cross-training programs.

Mentoring is a long-term, complex process in which an experienced employee seeks to impart his or her knowledge and wisdom to a less experienced employee in order to ensure continuation of that knowledge within the organization.

Shadowing is similar to mentoring, or may be a component of mentoring. In this process, the less experienced employee or “protege” may spend only portions of his or her time with the “expert” or may do so only on a few occasions.

Joint problem-solving may incorporate aspects of all of the above techniques and is generally an ongoing feature of an organization’s mode of operation. In some ways, joint problem-solving is the most effective and the most difficult to implement of all the strategies to manage the risks inherent in internal knowledge.

However an organization decides to manage its knowledge, an effective program should help the organization accomplish the following:

Foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas
Improve customer service by increasing operator knowledge
Enhance employee retention rates by recognizing the value of employees’ knowledge and rewarding them for it
Streamline operations and reduce costs by eliminating redundant or unnecessary processes
Stabilize operations by ensuring smooth transitions when employees leave the organization
Cut costs related to loss of employees and training of new employees
Cut costs related to loss of ability to operate smoothly in the event of unexpected employee absences or departures

9.4 Training

Training programs are at the heart of the implementation of any new program, as well as the orientation of new employees to existing programs.

…to give them a very high level overview on how what they do is critical to Asset Management.
—Stacy Gallick, Johnson County, KS

…a way for operators to…go into their training with the idea that they would try to maximize energy savings.
—Russell Batzel, St. Peters, MO

Since Asset Management, as a formal program, is unfamiliar to most utility employees, it is imperative that the utility establish robust training programs for all employees. There will likely be new software to be learned, new procedures to be mastered and new concepts to be incorporated.

It is important to stress, however, that Asset Management is a common sense approach to doing business and that many of its techniques are already in place in a well-run utility, even though they may not be in a structured formalized program. In addition, Asset Management is a scalable process, so that it may be implemented in small increments. Understanding these two points is important in the determining what types of training programs will be needed, as well as in allaying fears and the natural resistance to new programs or activities. If training programs are put in place from the beginning at appropriate levels and if all employees are given a chance to participate in decisions, the process of implementing Asset Management is likely to proceed smoothly.

9.5 Leadership

Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. (Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States)

Most of us do not like to be told what to do, but we don’t mind being shown a better way to do things. Every organization has leaders; some of them are at the top of the organization and some are not. The implementation of an Asset Management program utilizes leadership at all levels, but it is extremely important that top levels of management understand and support the program. Without the endorsement of the Board or Council or other governing entity, the implementation can flounder for lack of funds or the inability of employees to see the importance of the program. On the other hand, a top-down mandate can generate resistance.

…a way for operators to…go into their training with the idea that they would try to maximize energy savings.

—Russell Batzel, St. Peters, MO

For these reasons, top level buy-in is critical. Total participation throughout all levels of the organization might be gained gradually. As the process gains momentum, and success is achieved, and as people receive training, buy-in will increase at all levels. People will come on board as they see the benefits. This is where true leadership comes in. A good leader can help people understand their role in the overall process without forcing their participation.

9.6 Community Involvement

Many water and wastewater utilities seem to operate in a vacuum. They are invisible to everyone but themselves. We turn the tap and water comes out. We flush the toilet and all is well. But most citizens know very little about what keeps these processes going. It’s not that they don’t want to know; they often just don’t have much opportunity to learn. This is where the utility has an opportunity to tap a huge resource of support.

Simply informing your customers can go a long way toward gaining support for your programs. The experience of the utilities interviewed for this manual, as well as many others worldwide, bears this out. In several of the utilities we interviewed, people responded in overwhelming numbers to campaigns to inform them about their water and wastewater utilities. In other areas, large numbers of community members have participated in drafting master plans and sustainability plans for their communities. Such involvement gives people a sense of belonging and pride in their communities.

If the people feel that they have participated…they are going to be more willing to move forward.
— Jim Noucas, Portsmouth, NH

Just as you will have greater success by involving all your employees, you will compound those successes even further by involving the entire community in your plans. For larger communities, this involvement is vital to gaining support for rate increases and capital improvement plans that might require voter approval. For extremely small utilities with limited resources, involvement of community members can mean the difference between being able to implement your Asset Management plan and never getting off the ground.

It’s all a volunteer-driven effort.
—Peter Britz, Portsmouth, NH

Small communities are full of individual people with different valuable skills. Some of these people may be retired, semi-retired or underemployed. This is a resource that can be tapped for various aspects of the implementation of the Asset Management plan–e.g. mapping or creating databases.

It has been said that two heads are better than one. Surely 500 heads can be used to better advantage than 5. Thinking of your customers as allies and collaborators can reap significant benefits.

9.7 The Triple Bottom Line

The concept of the Triple Bottom Line is gaining acceptance around the world, as communities begin to examine their quality of life and consider the environmental consequences of their actions. Triple Bottom Line (also known as “people, planet, profit” or “the three pillars”) considers an expanded spectrum of criteria for measuring the success of any organization. These criteria are typically economic, social and environmental. Triple bottom line accounting expands the traditional reporting framework to take into account ecological and social performance in addition to financial performance.

This approach also uses all three criteria to structure total business case evaluations for proposed projects that take into account the three types of capital needed to complete a project (financial, human and natural) as well as the three types of impacts of the project.

The ultimate goal of the triple bottom line approach is sustainability. But for most people and most communities, true sustainability is a nebulous concept whose realization is beyond our reach. That, however, should not prevent us from working toward that goal. Every step in that direction enhances our future and that of our children and grandchildren.

That’s the ultimate goal— we want to protect our rivers and waters.
—Ted Riehle, Old Forge, NY

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