Setting the Tone
Paul Benson is Partner, U.S. Lead Power & Utility Practice. Rose Gailey is Global lead of the Organization Acceleration and Culture Shaping Center of Excellence. Ellen Maag is Partner, Co-Lead of Leadership Assessment Practice at Heidrick & Struggles.
As climate concerns intensify, utilities face significant disruptions and challenges. To prepare, utilities are reimagining their cultures to embrace agility, innovation, and resilience. They are engaging their employees through missions anchored in a recognition of the invaluable contribution they can make to sustainability of our planet. The authors of this article have more than seventy years of combined experience working with utilities to realize future ready leadership, talent management, and culture.
Prioritizing culture and leadership during the energy transition can create significant value. Strong leaders focused on healthy, mission-based, and inclusive cultures are the glue that holds an organization together through change and tough times. Companies that possessed these assets weathered the recent pandemic better than those that didn't.
Leadership and culture set the tone for employees working to meet the expectations of energy transformation. Leaders provide the North Star in setting a utility's direction, and culture helps create the conditions for success in achieving it.
A survey by Strategy&, the strategy consultancy of PwC, found that sixty-five percent of energy and utility professionals believe culture is more important than strategy and operating model in achieving an organization's objectives. Culture starts with leaders who understand and are intentional about the shadow they cast.