Grow Up! — Maturity Assessment to Direct Organizational Development

The utility industry is changing at a rate that is faster than ever before. Increased regulatory pressure, higher level of service expectations from ratepayers, and an increased range of available technology and solutions to meet organizational missions are resulting in a need to continually develop and improve utility operations. For the most mature utilities there are often processes in place to facilitate this development organically. For less mature organizations, foundational processes need to be identified and created prior to addressing these new challenges. For utilities, understanding the current maturity of their organization is key to identifying a path to organizational development. Maturity assessments are he primary way to clearly understand the present in order to prepare for the future. In 2014 Winston-Salem/Forsyth County (WSFC) Utilities was facing a defining moment for their organization. The utility was experiencing historically low levels of service, facing USEPA regulatory action, and undergoing a change in leadership. New challenges were becoming more apparent and the institutional knowledge that the utility had historically relied on to make decisions was quickly disappearing. To understand a path to a successful future, the utility needed to develop a strategic plan to build the knowledge and skills to tackle these critical issues. Through the Collection System Improvement Program (CSIP), HDR collaborated with WSFC Utilities to develop this strategic plan. As a first step, a maturity assessment was performed with a diverse set of utility staff to provide a clear understanding of the organizations level of maturity around 12 core functions. The focus of the exercise included collection system operations. Functional areas of expertise were identified through a mix of utility input and industry benchmarking standards including the AWWA Utility Benchmarking Program. These functional areas include key areas of service delivery administered by the utility throughout the collection system: 1.Collection System Management 2.Condition Assessment 3.Capacity Assessment 4.Capital Delivery 5.First Response 6.FOG Management 7.Cleaning 8.Chemical Root Control 9.Easement Maintenance 10.Inspection — CCTV 11.Inspection — Force Mains 12.Construction & Repair These functions, and their associated maturity levels, were defined prior to maturity evaluation by the team. This was a critical step to allow for the objective assessment and goal setting for these functions by team members. Functions were assessed on a spectrum from Not Practiced — the least mature — to Continuous Improvement — the most mature. Maturity levels were defined under the following standards: - Level 5, Continuous Improvement — In addition to meeting the requirements of previous levels, new technology, processes, and approaches are regularly proposed and tested. - Level 4, Measured - In addition to meeting the requirements of previous levels, function is consistently delivered and performance is assessed against established performance goals. QA/QC occurs regularly. - Level 3, Defined & Standardized - In addition to meeting the requirements of previous levels, processes are defined and repeatable. Performance data may be collected but is not actively managed. - Level 2, Repeatable - In addition to meeting the requirements of previous levels processes are not formally defined, but informal standards exist. Limited QA/QC activity is performed. - Level 1, Reactive — Delivery of function is entirely reactive. Processes are established on a case-by-case basis. - Level 0, Not Practiced — The function is not performed by the utility. Target maturity levels were established by WSFC Utilities staff by reviewing level of service goals and connecting these goals to functional area maturity. This is a critical component of directing maturity assessment activities. By developing Target maturity levels, organizations are forced to make decisions about what they believe is achievable with available resources and required to optimize organizational outcomes. In the WSFC Utilities case, easement maintenance and inspection were determined to not require Level 5 maturity to meet the service goals of the utility. Once target maturity levels were established, an assessment of the maturity of the utility was assessed across all functional groups using a nested survey. This survey was administered to a combination of WSFC Utilities staff, members of the CSIP consultant team, and City of Winston-Salem employees from adjacent departments who work directly with the WSFC Utilities. Survey questions included qualitative assessments of the performance of utility functions that mapped directly to maturity levels, but not did not ask participants to specify a particular level. This allowed for a non-biased assessment of utility maturity without the implications of assigning a poor maturity rating. Understanding both target and current maturity levels allowed the team to understand what the gap between current performance and maturity goals were. Using this information, a strategic road map was developed to identify a path to increased organizational maturity through a series of operational initiatives. These initiatives included a range of strategies from implementing new processes and decision-making tools to improve utility performance to field training on the knowledge and skills needed to perform utility functions. Understanding the workload and path dependencies required to improve organizational maturity is key to managing expectations on the timeframe and level of investment required to reach target goals. After six years of assessing their own organization and working through the roadmap of initiatives, WSFC Utilities has made steady, lasting progress in advancing their organization. For all utilities, developing a clear vision and plan of action allows for the strategic investment in organizational development. By continually assessing organizational maturity, the effectiveness of these plans can be measured and adjusted to provide the most value to organizational staff and customers. For the most mature utilities this allows for the update of existing strategies and establishes a foundation for a consistent approach during mid and upper-level management changes. For less mature organizations, this process creates a path to targeted investment in most critical areas and a common vision of the future. Regardless of the position of any individual organization, maturity assessments are an effective way to understand and direct organizational development.