Turning Operational Blind Spots into Control
Emergent work demands at a mid-size electric and water utility were outpacing available resources, driving chronic overtime, crew burnout and missed service expectations. Despite adding staff, performance wasn’t improving. Without alignment at the leadership level, teams were diagnosing the same problems differently — and then rushing to solve items unrelated to the true issues at hand. Without a clear, shared understanding of day-to-day operations, decision-making remained reactive and fragmented.
We brought together a cross-functional group of field and leadership stakeholders to map current workflows, identify bottlenecks and surface real pain points. Then we validated those insights in the field – riding along with crews and walking shop floors to see challenges firsthand. By bridging frontline experience with a leadership perspective, we facilitated a collaborative process to align initiating factors and develop practical, data-informed solutions. The result was a unified path forward grounded in how work actually gets done.
We implemented a centralized, repeatable scheduling system that eliminated silos and improved coordination, communication and real-time field visibility. Overtime costs dropped, safety incidents declined and crew morale rebounded. Emergent work shifted from an all-time high to a manageable level, allowing teams to focus on reducing a years-long backlog to just 2-4 weeks. With clearer prioritization and better resource allocation, crews moved from resisting overtime to proactively requesting it – signaling a more balanced, sustainable operation.