APA – AI Adaptive

APA Energy are a leading energy infrastructure business listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and own and/or operate a $25 billion portfolio of gas, electricity, solar and wind assets around Australia.

The Networks division were embarking on a Workforce Transformation Program to modernise and uplift their delivery and improve customer service, public safety, compliance and provide cost savings across the business. This included implementing the Salesforce Scheduling tool to replace manual processes and spreadsheets that were labour intensive and were unable to adapt with unplanned customer emergencies.

Working closely with the integration partner and APA project team, we designed a change strategy and program that enabled an uplift of capabilities (transitioning roles and skills from low-level data entry to analytics and optimisation), a humanised restructure process that provided a sense of agency and dignity for those who stayed and had to learn a new way of working as well as for those who left, a culture shift from perfectionism to a mindset of optimisation, and a transition program that enabled workloads to shift into the system with low-risk to business operations.

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Firstly, we conducted a Capability assessment and built Skills Profiles for all new roles, working with the Planning and Scheduling Manager. In this assessment we measured the technical skills of staff as well as their potential to transition from low-level routine work to more strategic analytics, system management and the ability to optimise the system outputs. This assessment also supported the selection process and helped us identify opportunities for staff across the business, supporting career growth and minimising job loss. We presented the new role profiles to impacted staff so they could review the skills and responsibilities required for each role and choose which one was the best fit for their career path.

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Third, we commenced a culture shift from perfectionism to a mindset of optimisation via a deliberate design of the change program to include slow exposure to the new system and awareness-building of the shift to higher-level analytical skills as well as the need to optimise to improve outputs and be comfortable with the fact they weren’t perfect because things were always moving.

a. This included a staged approach to the rollout, early screenshots of the system provided to staff, followed by base-level demo sessions that staff could book into, volunteers in user acceptance testing, and setting up forums for staff to share their experience of the system with those who were part of later stages in the rollout and had not yet transitioned.

b. We identified staff members who had high credibility and influence across the impacted staff-base and we set them up as advocates and sponsors of the change with early access to our communication materials, key messages and timing of activities. These influencers were on-the-ground. They answered staff questions (as soon as they arose) and they provided confidence that this change (and the modernisation) was in their best interest, for their roles, the business and their careers.

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Second, we designed a restructure program that provided dignity and agency for those that stayed in the team as well as those that moved to other teams or chose to leave the business. This involved:

a. Supporting the Head of Network Operations to communicate and lead the process with staff, in a way that made them feel supported and informed (and not excluded or kept in the dark).
b. We worked with the Planning and Scheduling Manager to develop a workload transition plan that moved staff into the new structure and system slowly, in a staged approach, enabling staff to build their capability and confidence and feel that they could continue to be successful even though their ways of working had been completely rewritten.
c. Lastly, we mapped the Employee Experience Journey of the restructure to ensure it maintained the engagement of staff while minimising insecurities.
d. From this, we worked closely with HR to build a selection plan that aligned with the business policies, planned and executed a staff selection schedule Australia-wide, and enabled leaders to move swiftly through the process minimising the uncertainty for staff.
e. We utilised career discussions with staff instead of formal interviews to minimise the sense of threat and intimidation, and we included a Development Support Bonus for all impacted staff (where the business funded a training program of the staff member’s choosing) as a retention mechanism, signal of support and to facilitate, an employee-led, sense of growth during the transition.

The Head of Network Operations felt confident and successful in his role of leading and communicating the change. He said we made it easy and seamless with the process we ran, the communication materials provided and the preparation meetings we put in place.

There was positive feedback from the staff on the process. They were comfortable with the decisions that were made in terms of the system, the structure and the workload transition. They felt supported throughout the process and appreciated how transparent and open we were with the information we shared – they also expressed gratitude about how different the restructure was in comparison to past programs that were delivered poorly.

And finally, the workload was transitioned smoothly to the new structure and system without disruption to business operations. Productivity and engagement remained high during the entire process.

"Big thank you to Deb and everyone whose been involved....the amount of time and effort that went into the preparation, really paid dividends today in terms of the outcomes we've had....I felt really prepared."

APA: HOW DO YOU AUTOMATE, MODERNISE AND UPLIFT CAPABIITY OF A FUNCTION (WITH RESTRUCTURING) AND GET POSITIVE ENGAGEMENT?

The Opportunity

THE SOLUTION

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The Impact

Acknowledgementof Country

Adaptive Change Mindset Pty Ltd