In 2022, Phoenix Water Services experienced a change in surface-water quality in the wake of large rainfalls.

But rather than have just the utility’s water treatment team figure out a solution, officials quickly formed a cross-divisional team of employees from various other departments, including the utility’s lab, distribution, collection and engineering divisions.

After studying the problem, the team forged a short-term solution: adopting a different treatment process; as well as a longer-term solution: upgrading some of the utility’s reservoirs, says Brandy Kelso, assistant director of the utility.

What advantages did a cross-divisional team provide?

“I think that without a CDT, the solution might have been more reactive to what was happening right now instead of taking a more holistic look from a big-picture perspective,” says Kelso, who’s been with the utility for 20 years. It serves more than 1.7 million customers in a 540-square-mile service area.

“The group was able to consider things such as will this be what water quality looks like going forward or is it just a snapshot in time?” she says. “Or what engineering controls we might need — add new technology to a treatment plant, for instance — as opposed to just longer water-detention time, adding more chemicals or other short-term solutions.

“It also sped up our ability to solve the problem because there was so much more knowledge shared among the team members,” Kelso adds. “It also helped us avoid solving one problem but creating another.”

USING EFFECTIVENESS ATTRIBUTES

Phoenix Water started using cross-divisional teams about 10 years ago when a new utility director at the time adopted a program created by the American Water Works Association called the 10 Attributes of Effective Utility Management. It gives utilities a blueprint for improving water quality, customer satisfaction, employee development, financial viability, sustainability and operational efficiency, to name a few, Kelso explains.

“We used those concepts to redefine our business plan at that time and develop some metrics we could use to judge ourselves against to be sure we’re operating efficiently and effectively,” she says.

The CDTs help ensure that all of the utility’s divisions are effectively participating in developing each attribute.

“For example, we wanted to make sure the water and wastewater sides were developing programs and methodologies that ensure we were providing high-quality water,” she says. “The CDTs learned together about things that worked or didn’t work as well and shared that information to the benefit of all the groups, as opposed to working in silos.

“In the end, it’s really all about breaking down silos and not investing in things that only benefit a few divisions. Investing collectively benefits more people.”

FASTER AND BETTER RECRUITING AND HIRING

As another example of the program’s effectiveness, Kelso points to the utility’s recruitment and hiring methods. Years ago, a CDT composed of different divisional leaders and other employees systematically went through everything a supervisor had to do to fill a position, from recruiting to onboarding.

Team members did a lot of brainstorming about ways to streamline the recruiting and hiring process and vetting all ideas to determine which ones were truly worth further examination and study.

The results were well worth the time invested. In one division, for instance, the time it took from when supervisors scheduled interviews to when they hired people dropped to an average of 48 to 54 days, a significant decrease from an average of 4 1/2 to six months.

“It was a very long hiring process,” Kelso notes. “Now we’re in the process of expanding that division’s recruiting and hiring approach to other departments because it’s been such a huge success.”

STRUCTURED APPROACH

Here’s how the CDT program works: Two managers are assigned to each of the 10 attributes and are considered as “champions” of those particular attributes, such as water quality or employee development. The two managers aren’t always actively working on an attribute but are ready to do so when required.

“If there are, say, three to five things related to each attribute, that’s a lot to work on, so we have to prioritize them,” Kelso says.

When they’re assigned to work on a project related to their attribute, those managers reach out across the organization to round up team members. Teams vary in size depending on the size and scope of the problem being addressed.

All of the attributes merge into the utility’s master business plan, which is shared with employees annually.

“The business plans provide metrics that document where we are with various initiatives,” she says. “We update it each year and email our employees a link to it. It’s also accessible on our SharePoint platform.”

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Open communication and allowing people to freely express all ideas without judgment are critical to running successful CDTs.

“It’s essential to let every idea be heard because it tells team members that everyone’s contributions are valued,” Kelso says. “Sometimes the craziest ideas lead to good solutions. You have to adopt a no-idea-is-a-stupid-idea kind of mindset.”

On the other hand, all ideas must be objectively and thoroughly vetted. And the CDTs must be truly cross-divisional, with participants selected on their merits versus managers selecting their favorite employees, she advises.

“You need to invite people with different thought patterns, educational backgrounds, work experience and so forth,” she explains. “A team composed of a variety of people tend to arrive at the best outcomes, so you need to be very intentional and thoughtful about which experts you bring on board.

“Sometimes you need the boots-on-the-ground, line-level employees to hear what they have to say. They often are best positioned to tell you what might or might not work and why.”

BENEFICIAL SIDE EFFECTS

CDTs are beneficial because they bring together people who normally might never work together. And by getting to know their peers and the challenges they face, they realize they’re not all alone on “islands,” Kelso points out.

“Some people in a service yard or in a treatment plant might think they’re working by themselves,” she says. “But then they get on a CDT and see that others struggle with some of the same things.

“And in doing so, they form peer-to-peer relationships that might not otherwise exist.”

CDTs can also improve employee engagement by showing that their organization values their knowledge and ideas. Employees take a lot of pride in developing ideas that get accepted and put into practice.

“They get a lot of personal and professional satisfaction from being able to help,” Kelso says. 

By sharing information organization-wide, CDTs also can help various divisions avoid reinventing the proverbial wheel by tapping into existing knowledge bases to solve problems already encountered and resolved by other departments.

“We’re leveraging the knowledge of the collective. There is a lot of untapped potential in organizations.”

The program also exposes employees to jobs in other departments. This can open up career opportunities that employees otherwise might not know about.

PATIENCE IS KEY

It’s not as if problems weren’t solved before the utility started using CDTs, Kelso says. But CDTs helped the organization be more focused and better able to improve efficiencies by more effectively communicating success stories and knowledge across all departments.

“We’re pulling in perspectives and information from a broader network as opposed to from narrow silos,” she explains.

What’s one critical piece of advice Kelso would share with other utilities interested in giving CDTs a try? Don’t expect it to change your organization’s culture overnight, she says.

“Working with CDTs has become second nature to us — it’s just something we do around here. But it wasn’t like that right away.

“You have to be patient,” Kelso continues. “Sometimes if we don’t see a benefit from something right away, we tend to scrap it and move onto something else. But it takes a while to foster communication between groups and get people to feel comfortable with sharing ideas. 

“But it’s well worth the time. CDTs have benefited us a lot.”