Work to improve
As a final step toward building an organization entrenched in
continuous improvement and customer satisfaction, Nelson
includes expectations in performance plans and implements
continuous improvement process training for the employees of
newly acquired companies immediately.
“This is part of the expectation of working here — it’s not voluntary,” Nelson says. “You always get some push-back from new
employees when you acquire a company because it’s a change
and so that’s to be expected.”
To get them on board, he spends time talking with the employee groups telling them why they do this and why it’s important.
Once they complete the training, it helps them understand the
process and overcome some of their fears, so they begin training with new employees right away. While a few opt out, most
stay because it’s a better deal for many of these employees to
work for Cal Water because the compensation, benefits and
security are better and it has a larger footprint, which opens the
door to increased career opportunities.
“That value proposition at least gets them to move forward
with the training, and once they’re engaged, they generally don’t
want to go backward,” Nelson says.
Every six months, he establishes a new set of objectives for his
20 field managers and six headquarters managers that support
his corporate goals of providing excellent service, developing
employees, delivering shareholder value and communicating
well.
“You don’t want to set objectives that are too long-term
because things change, and you can’t make corrections,” Nelson
says.
He has eight officers on personal performance contracts with
him, and he checks in on their progress every Monday.
Additionally, they spend the day together once a year to select
one major initiative for that year.
“If you just always focus on goals and objectives it gets routine
and people can lose their enthusiasm,” he says. “I like to select
one annual initiative that will really make a difference and focus
on that. The officers are then charged with communicating the
initiative and how each employee can contribute.”
By doing these things, Nelson has increased Cal Water’s service connections by more than 100,000 and has grown revenue
from $210 million when he started in 1996 to $367.1 million in
2007. The company has made numerous acquisitions under his
leadership, and he’s achieving the board’s original charge by
delivering growth.
“It’s a great question to ask how customer satisfaction is tied to
business performance, and I think it’s one that CEOs should ask
themselves all the time,” Nelson says. “Good service is the key to
customer retention, and when you have it, everything just seems
to work better.”
HOW TO REACH: California Water Service Group., (408) 367-8200 or www.calwater.com