One of the GCC region’s largest utility companies was experiencing unusual patterns of employee turnover and performance. The leadership had set a goal to become a world leader by 2020. It partnered with KGC to deliver the performance improvement and behavioral change they needed to accelerate to the top.

The utility is responsible for distributing water and electricity services to all customers in its region. Despite being a sustainable distribution network and well-prepared to meet future demand, the company had a high employee turnover rate, specifically among its leadership team.

New leaders at the company wanted to implement a behavioral change program to transform the whole company from top to bottom to improve organizational effectiveness. This program would focus on four major pain points that were holding the company back from the growth they were capable of:

• Leadership development
• Reinventing strategy to align with new goals
• Creating a culture that lives the company’s values
• Increasing employee engagement and retention

We designed, developed and delivered a broad and deep learning journey to supercharge organizational effectiveness and efficiency, focusing on the company’s leadership competencies, values and employee engagement. We developed four programs to achieve the company’s goals:

1. Leadership development

The leadership team attended a customized senior executive education program delivered by top business school professors from world-class universities. We immersed the leaders in the fundamentals of effective leadership with real-world applications and research-based insights. Challenged to use visionary thinking to make critical decisions, the leaders developed their various leadership intelligences to address complex challenges.

2. Reinventing strategy to align with new goals

• We assessed the building blocks and enablers of the strategic management function – their processes, technology, structure and tools
• We redefined and implemented their strategies, assessing their current strategy execution and performance management
• By articulating the strategic initiatives, we put a transformation roadmap in place
• We managed the transformation program to take the company to a new level

Creating a culture that lives the company’s values

A company-wide values development program, ‘Let’s live our values’, was designed and delivered based on the company’s values. This program aimed to improve employee engagement to reduce churn. All 1,500 employees participated in this customized program.

Increasing employee engagement and retention

In parallel with the values program, employee working groups collaborated with the leadership team to create internal communications frameworks. Identification with values, an understanding of the company’s purpose, and regular and open dialogue at all levels removed many of the causes of disengagement.