Redefining Northumbria Water Group Asset Management Practices

NWG was seeking to transform its approach to asset management through the delivery of a £25m transformation.  The change included the adoption of new technologies, processes and operating structures that would create an asset management culture that would live up to industry changes into the future.  We were commissioned 2 years into the programme to review business change progresses and to establish a change management strategy plan that would deliver transformation.

What we did:

  • Carried out a full review of the programme against the original business case, mapped programme activity against business intention and identified ambiguities and gaps
  • Worked across NWG to establish a business management and deployment approach for the programme and structured this into a clear business change strategy, plan and budget
  • Worked with internal change specialists from HR and Communications to ensure that the change work being commissioned within the programme aligned with the wider direction of the organisation
  • Identified, appointed and mobilised the programme’s business change team and established change governance both locally and with the programme board
  • Commissioned delivery of initial products from the change plan and managed the transfer of the programme’s change management to internal change lead

What it achieved:

  • A robust business change strategy and plan, understood by the business and signed off by the Transformation Board
  • A clear view of the change journey for each business unit and employee group
  • An evolving assessment of the training and engagement impact of each initiative and so the extent to which NWG had the capacity to deploy changes against the ‘ideal’ plan
  • A greater understanding of the dynamics of business change within the internal change teams and business areas, in particular the essential role of leaders
  • Timely change communication and engagement using a variety of social media, websites and cascade approaches