JEA
How FranklinCovey Solutions™ Helped Turn on the Lights at JEA
Executive Summary
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Mike Brost, one of JEA's (formerly Jacksonville Electric Authority) five Corporate Strategy Team members, knew that change was needed at the company. How to implement that change was the challenging issue. "We are a 100-year-old regulated monopoly, and with that comes a 100-year old culture," explains Brost. "We had to get people to turn 180 degrees and look at things in a completely new-and initially uncomfortable way."
JEA found context for this new competitive perspective in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® and The 4 Roles of Leadership® workshops. With complete support from executive management, JEA instigated a new training program for all employees. More than 700 staff members completed The 7 Habits® workshop and the results were-and continue to be-readily apparent. "There's certainly been a positive impact on our culture," reports Brost. "People approach their jobs with more enthusiasm and creativity." That enthusiasm and creativity were also reflected in additional training and consulting from FranklinCovey.
Full Power Application
The initial objective for bringing in FranklinCovey leadership was to improve company performance through the 7 Habits. But as the habits became part of the JEA culture, it became clear that a truly thorough change would involve a remolding of internal operations. So JEA management immersed themselves in two more FranklinCovey programs: The 4 Roles of Leadership® and the Organizational Effectiveness CycleTM.
As part of this framework, JEA formed a senior-level Corporate Strategy Team (CST) responsible for leading the company through a complete reorganization of its mission, values, and strategies. Then, to help implement the new vision, the Corporate Strategy Team was charged with identifying areas for improvement-and more importantly, identifying the solutions that would bring about a positive change. Examples of change include alignment of major systems, improvement of high-level processes, and significant changes in organizational structure. "Making 'change' a responsibility of our own people was essential to the success of our mission," remarks Brost. "Many companies bring in consultants hoping for a solution from the outside. We were fortunate to recognize that a sustainable, long-term change would only happen from the inside out." To accomplish their goals, the CST focused on a top-down model and various elements of leadership assessment and development.
The Lights Are On
Positive changes aren't hard to find today at JEA. Through clear initiatives set forth by the Corporate Strategy Team, activities undertaken by the entire company have brought impressive results. And an impressive new contract with the U.S. Navy is just one example.
With three bases in the Jacksonville area, the navy was one of JEA's largest customers. And with potential competition stemming from deregulation, JEA needed a plan to continue servicing that account. Applying the "Seek First to Understand" and "Win-Win" principles from the 7 Habits, JEA jumped outside its earlier monopolistic mindset to suggest a long-term contract with the navy. The outcome was a never-before negotiated, 10-year, multi-million dollar agreement in which both sides got just what they needed: a low, locked-in rate for the navy, and a continuing, satisfied customer for JEA.
Positive changes are breaking new ground within the company as well. With support and assistance from FranklinCovey's organizational consulting and assessment group, JEA developed a methodology for major transformation and change titled "Work Smart." More than a dozen Work Smart teams are working to address issues and provide creative solutions to improve a variety of areas. One team analyzing the company's vehicle fleet identified process inefficiencies in the fueling and loading of the vehicles. Their suggestions saved the department $250,000 in 1997 alone-and will cut costs a whopping $2.7 million over the next three years.
Tracking successes like these has become a positive change itself in the company. JEA keeps a "corporate scoreboard," which continually reflects the high level corporate impact of the various activities, initiatives, and actions. Not only does this keep employee activities on track, it helps determine compensation for management-an additional incentive for ensuring the company's success.
Outshining Themselves
Today JEA is not only maintaining and increasing its customer base, it is increasing customer loyalty by offering even more services. Merging with water and sewer utilities has allowed JEA to give more customers more of what they want. And the company continues to look forward with plans for bundling more valuable services. With a new mission clearly in place and every employee dedicated to ongoing initiatives, JEA is poised for many positive changes-changes that are creating a very bright future, indeed.
