Streamline your utility’s operations and boost efficiency through collaboration

A previous version of this article was published in February 2020 by the  Northwest Public Power Association.

From grid modernization to shifting customer behavior and expanding regulations, the power and utilities industry is changing quickly. On top of these challenges, utilities must factor in increasing talent turnover and retirement influxes. To keep up, they need to find ways to improve efficiency.

As key personnel leave, strong collaboration between accounting and other departments can help. This approach can provide each department with the support, insight, and resources it needs to stay on track, while helping the utility:

• Keep up with increased demands and industry changes
• Reduce errors and miscommunication
• Increase efficiency and information accuracy

Here are some important ways your utility can increase collaboration throughout the organization, improving efficiencies and bolstering the strength of your utility — now and into the future.

Background

We know that key personnel will eventually leave their organizations and, with that change, comes loss of experience. We also know that most utilities struggle with barriers within the organization. Collaboration can help reduce these silos, easing the transition when personnel leave or retire.

Example

When I was at a Denver utility conference last year, I had an interesting conversation with an accountant from an electric cooperative. I asked him about his future and what he wanted from his career, and he told me that although he really loved working for his cooperative, he couldn’t see a long-term career in the utility’s accounting department.

His reasoning was that the position he’d most logically progress to was held by an individual who was going to retire soon, but who actually started in the engineering department and then went back to school to get their accounting degree. The accountant I was talking with didn’t think he could meet that level of expectation, experience, or familiarity with the position’s needs.

However, if the accountant had opportunities to collaborate with others across the organization with relevant experience, or directly learn from the senior professional who currently held the position for an extended period of time, he may have been able to learn the details of the position before the professional retired. This could’ve saved the utility the time and resources of hiring and training a professional from outside the organization and potentially saved the time and expense of addressing a new hire’s learning mistakes.