Utilities are facing a lot of change at once — whether in the technology they’re dealing with in their operations, what their customers are expecting from the utility, or market conditions and economics fluctuating power supply and equipment costs. At the center of dealing with all of this change are the people working for the utility. Being able to manage change is a shared responsibility that requires utilities to prepare employees for what’s ahead — from recruiting and onboarding with an eye toward skills needed for the future to leaders that can effectively facilitate change management.
Fortunately, there are options for public power utilities to support professional development within their utility, across their region, and through tailored training, such as the offerings from the APPA Academy. For employees at any level, there are opportunities for building skills and continually learning.
Making it Easier to Begin
The Missouri Public Utility Alliance has been training lineworker apprentices throughout the state for years in an effort to bridge the gap between the need and interest in line work. The training involves learning how to use the various tools and equipment of the trade and build knowledge in the areas of expertise needed to do the job safely.
Brandon Renaud, MPUA’s director of services and development, noted that in addition to building a new training center in Columbia, MO, which incorporates a swath of updated technology and equipment for apprentices to learn on, MPUA has moved a lot of the testing and course components to have remote and online options.
“We want to make sure that becoming a lineworker and getting into public power is accessible regardless of someone’s background,” he said. “We know that there are many people who want to work in this field and we are committed to making training opportunities available to them.”
That view is behind MPUA’s efforts to make sure training is as affordable and accessible as possible. Making training accessible relies on working with others who have shared goals.
“Partnerships are really important for ensuring that that the industry is moving forward,” said Renaud. “For example, I have seen a lot of success when we collaborate with regional workforce groups and member utilities in a specific area, bringing in our trainers to develop programs that meet the needs of the utilities in that region.”
Renaud said MPUA has also been working to increase partnerships with training schools and technical centers across the state to increase awareness among students about the opportunities for working in public power. A grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development helped MPUA launch a pre-apprentice training program for students coming out of high school and individuals seeking to enter the utility field.
Renaud said the two-week program teaches participants how to climb poles, the basics of electric distribution, safety, substation safety and general maintenance on those systems.
“We tell them all they need to show up with is a pair of boots and a positive attitude,” he said.
The program just started in 2024, but Renaud is already seeing signs of participants moving from the pre-apprentice program into the apprentice training.
As the industry evolves, continuing education is also important to keep workers up to pace. Renaud said MPUA installed a small solar system in its training field to help educate lineworkers step by step on the system components, risks, and how to interact with them in a safe way.
“The industry is changing very fast, with the growth and changes in energy generation,” he said. Which means field crews need a holistic understanding of not just distribution systems, but impacts of alternative energy sources and how they impact the grid and the risks of working with such systems on a day-to-day basis.
Understanding the Role
For the nearly 22 years that Julio Torrado has been with Keys Energy Services in Florida, the public power utility has offered a job shadowing program. However, he said the program has become more formalized in written policies over the last decade as it has become an increasingly popular component of some of KEYS’ professional development efforts.
Torrado, who is Keys Energy’s director of human resources and communications, said that the shadowing consists of having an employee spend 4-8 hours with another employee who holds a position that either the shadowing employee is potentially interested in applying for in the future or that has interaction or dependency with their current position. In addition to simply observing, employees who job shadow fill out a form sharing what they observed and learned about the position during the process.
An overview of the program states, “employees who elect to job shadow a position they are interested in pursuing will have the opportunity to observe how the person interacts with their co-workers, to participate in the activities that they face every day, and to see what it takes to “be that person.” The employee will gain insight into whether that position is something they want to pursue.”
Employees who participate “gain an understanding of the pressures, time constraints, and needs of the position” shadowed, in addition to building rapport and appreciation for what those colleagues do.
While any non-probationary employee can participate in at least one job shadow a year, Torrado said that most shadowing activity come from participants in its broader development program called Gear Up. That program gives employees a sense of the work completed across the utility, through a months-long program featuring in-depth classes from the directors of each department and a requirement to complete four job shadows.
The shadowing also comes in handy as part of KEYS’ succession planning efforts. The utility identified individuals who are likely to be retiring within the coming years, and then worked with the incumbent and their supervisor to identify the various components of the job that would make for a successful candidate.
“There's a listing of attributes and skills that any potential candidate should either possess or be doing some work to possess. There is an opportunity for those individuals to then do some job shadowing in that position with the individual who has identified that they will be retiring from us in the next few years.”
The shadowing helps people get a realistic picture of what depth of knowledge and skills are required, and where they need to work on building those skills.
Beyond helping individuals grow professionally, Torrado sees the effort as building better rapport across the organization. “It helps to create a good dialogue. Inevitably, people come in with preconceived notions of what a job is and what a person does. And sure enough, at the end of the job shadowing session, they're aware that they do in fact have many things that are competing for their time. It’s very informative and building a good base for employees to understand what their fellow coworkers are doing.”
“It’s not just a day away from their work, it’s really to get them to interact, grow personally, and see if there are ways to improve processes globally,” he added. Employees that participate in job shadowing often follow up the experience with further education, as the experience might have helped them see the benefit of getting a college degree or pursuing certification of a skill.
Of the 130 employees who work for Keys Energy, Torrado said about 20 to 30 people have participated in recent years, largely thanks to the Gear Up and succession planning efforts.
“It’s really a matter of the employee having the initiative to request to job shadow, or the supervisor recognizing when they have an individual in their section who shows promising attributes that will equate to future success.”
Modeling Leadership
Being technically competent is a key aspect of running a utility, but leading a public power utility in today’s environment requires a broad set of ‘soft’ skills that include strong communication, critical and strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence. As such, the APPA Academy has focused on developing a robust series of classes and certificate programs that focus on these leadership and management skills.
“Oftentimes, as leaders, we haven’t spent a lot of time understanding ourselves,” said Dave Taylor, CEO of LDR Leadership, whose instructors teach APPA's Leadership Essentials Certificate Program. “Some people will view it as mushy, and as a former Army Ranger, I’m saying this is important stuff. You must know what is and isn’t your strength and know who you can go to. The key is then being comfortable and confident enough to utilize the diverse strengths of your team that compliment your own to achieve a high level of team and organizational effectiveness. The better we can lead ourselves, the better we can lead others.”
Shawn Tenace, an instructor with LDR Leadership, pointed out the diverse array of challenges and information utility leaders grapple with, from customer-facing issues on outages and billing to more employee-focused situations, such as working with employee unions.
“Public employees are much more exposed than other utility leaders,” shared David Ritz, senior instructor at LDR Leadership. “We all want customer engagement, but because of their structure, and perhaps the structure of their board, there is a different pressure on them. Customer engagement through communication is so important for public power leaders.”
“There’s a diverse amount of information coming in. Critical thinking and being able to gather the team to make a decision is crucial,” said Tenace. “When there’s change and conflict, communication becomes even more important,” he added. The biggest piece of communication, he said, is listening.
“Communication is the foundation of everything. Wars often begin because of miscommunication — or the complete lack of communication — and they end through communication. The same is true for relationships; they succeed or fail based on how well people communicate,” said Taylor.
That’s why LDR instructors spend a lot of time on helping leaders think about how they communicate, from practicing role playing scenarios to working through problem solving situations they face. Utility leaders who take their training also often complete assessments, such as the DISC, ahead of time to help leaders understand the dynamics of how they interact with their team. This understanding helps set the foundation for how a leader might become better at setting standards or holding employees accountable, in handling conflict resolution, or offering positive reinforcement and recognition.
While these trainings give leaders a foundation to build from, and the LDR instructors noted how they focus on having participants apply the skills within their sessions, they acknowledged that building the skills needed to be an effective leader ultimately takes practice to become habit.
“Leadership is a lifelong event. We teach it, but we still learn,” said Taylor. “You can get a class on emotional intelligence or communication, but those things take time. If it didn’t, we’d be living on a planet with perfect individuals. All of these things take conscious effort to try and be better.”
Embracing the mentality of lifelong learning isn’t just for self-improvement, but to pass along and model positive leadership for the organization.
“Leadership is about developing other leaders,” added Tenace. “I’m lucky enough to be where I am because someone was a selfless leader who wanted to develop me.”
APPA’s next Leadership Essentials Certificate Program will be held May 5-8 in Orlando, Florida.
Leadership Fundamentals for Managers and Supervisors, an offering from APPA Academy Online, will be held in four parts July 10-31.
