For many utility professionals, handling the day-to-day tasks of operations, maintenance, repair and administration in their daily work comes naturally with experience. However, there may come a time in the careers of operators, managers and others with utility responsibilities that the daily tasks give way to discussions with the system’s city commissions/councils and boards of directors.
I’ve been to about 200 water and wastewater systems in my career and have spoken before several utility boards. The vast majority of the time, everyone involved wants the same thing – a well-functioning utility providing a reasonable level of service at a reasonable cost to customers.
This three part series will cover important aspects related to communication of utility matters to board members.
What should utility professionals know about their board?
A key part of any communication is identifying your audience. Broadly, there are three main types of utility governance boards in the United States. These are 1) governmental (primarily run by city and counties), 2) utility-specific governmental and quasi-governmental organizations such as Rural Water Districts or municipalities with separate utility boards, and 3) non-profits that happen to operate water utilities such as homeowners associations, many summer camps, etc. Many utility operators may work for utilities not governed directly by a board – for example, an operator at a factory or resort – but many of the communication tips presented here are still applicable.
Communication with the board will change depending on the type of governance the utility has. An organization with a city or county type of structure will have board members whose attention is generally more stretched – they also have to worry about streets, police, fire, parks and many other local governmental concerns.
An organization that operates only a single or few utilities, such as a Rural Water District, will generally have a greater ability for board members to understand the needs of the system – there’s just fewer demands on board members time.
Non-profits such as homeowner associations will typically fall somewhere between governmental and utility specific boards in the amount of attention they can pay to utility functions.
Beyond the type of board structure present at the utility, it is also important to understand specific audience members. What are their backgrounds? How supportive or skeptical have they been of the utility in the past? How knowledgeable are they about operations? Finances? Management? Does their background and career indicate they will easily understand technical or financial information?
Building a relationship and better understanding with board members can be a valuable investment, as all relationships improve with greater trust. Have members toured utility facilities to understand the scale of investment and operations needed to keep services reliable and safe? Tours can go a long way in educating board members about issues impacting the utility.
Finally, there needs to be a good understanding if communication is being mediated by a management level. In a very small system, an operator may have regular direct contact with board members, but in a larger community there may be several layers between field personnel and board members.