Two years ago, I had the pleasure of addressing the CPS Congress here in Houston – at the moment when I was transitioning from Schlumberger to the role of CEO at Eneo. Today, I’m back with you to share the first stepping stones that we have created and crossed on our company transformation journey. As you certainly know, Eneo is the Cameroon electrical power generation and distribution utility – with a positive change well underway – while much remains to be done. Since joining Eneo as CEO in August 2014, an integrated leadership approach has been at the heart of: inspiring an evolving team, growing operational excellence, improving customer experience, and modernizing the electrical system … with the end goal of delivering reliable and abundant power to an increasing number of Cameroon families and businesses. Today, I will share with you the transformation process we adopted, which entails setting big objectives while working on daily improvement. We will review the impact that this “Think Big and Start Small” style of leadership has already made, including examples of transformations that have taken place, as well exploring some of the future challenges ahead of us.
The driving force of the electrical sector, and a catalyst of growth in the Republic of Cameroon, Eneo has a mandate to deliver reliable energy and provide service quality while being a model of governance in Africa. With 3,750 employees and more than 1.06 million customers, Eneo is Cameroon's private-public partnership utility, providing electrical power generation and distribution.
To mobilize our employees in the fulfillment of that mandate, an important step was articulating a shared set of values that would underpin our efforts. Today, our embodied values are integrity, cohesion, respect and commitment. By committing to work together, in the last 2 years Eneo has safely connected 161,000 new homes and businesses throughout the country. With an average of 7 persons per household, this means 1,130,000 more people got access to electricity since 2014. (This is the highest rate of connection reached by the company during last decade).
So, on August 11th 2014, I walked past a gate in Douala, Cameroon where 3,600 people were waiting for me with apprehension. Who is this guy? What are his values? His dreams? His priorities? Of course, from my CV they had some of the answers: JNK is an Electromechanical Engineer; a former VP in Schlumberger with over 30 years of international experience in Oil and Gas; JNK has completed 5 full marathons; he’s married and is father of four. However, for most people watching me that day, this meant: 1- he doesn’t know the Cameroon electrical sector. 2 - he doesn’t know how we do business here. 3 - he doesn’t know Cameroon. … In that situation, what do you do? My approach was simple: Listen, listen, and listen. Listen to the people who have never had the chance to talk… Listen to all employees from management to electricians, to cashiers, and cleaners. Ask them what they think is wrong with the company and how it can be fixed. Ask them about ideas they have to improve how things are done. Really listen. And, while listening, define and implement a set of simple actions that will signal “real change is underway.” For example, on my first day at Eneo, I sent my introduction email to all employees at 7:35 a.m. (Note that 7:30 a.m. is the official start time at work.) By the next week, if an employee arrived at 8:00 a.m., there was no chance of getting a good parking spot. … That first day, at Eneo’s main office, I visited door to door, and I went to 3 of our retail agencies in Douala where I met with (and listened to) customers and employees … These were simple, yet tangible, signals of the beginning of change.
As stated earlier, over the past two years we have embraced an Integrated Leadership approach of “Think Big and Start Small.” This simple, 3-part Leadership framework defines the Strategic Big Picture and uses it as the compass to guide daily Tactical actions of small, practical, high-impact improvements. One might say: tactics that focus on low hanging fruit. … But also note that this approach has to be kept in constant balance, to keep it realistic and effective, in the specific cultural context of the organization, our stakeholders and our customers.
In order to successfully create change in a dynamic and challenging environment like Cameroon, Integrated Leadership requires that we take this “BOTH/ AND” approach … As Richard Branson says here, you need to think:
Big Picture … AND Small Details Profits … AND Safety Shareholder Return… AND Social Impact Efficiency… AND Employee Welfare Infrastructure … AND Customer Service Employee sensitization … AND Behavioral Sanctions Complex technology …. AND Simple improvements
With Integrated Leadership, you need to continually strike this balance of BOTH the ‘macro’ AND the ‘micro.’ Let me give you some specific examples.
In Eneo our “Big Picture” vision has been set with a main goal of reducing the duration of unserved energy by 85% and improving the electrification rate from 53% today to 75% by 2025 Here are some results of our “Practical Tactics” that have supported that Big Picture vision: In 2014, we were losing about 1,000 transformers per year. Today we have reduced this number by more than half, to less than 480. In 2014, we were replacing 25,000 damaged poles per year. In 2016, we will replace 60,000 poles. In 2014, it was taking 2 to 4 hours for customers to line up in an agency and pay their electricity bills. Today this task can be done in 5 minutes in the comfort of your home. In 2014, we had 3 women in the management team. Today there are 13. In 2014, we had 851,000 customers … today we have over 1,060,000 customers.
But great strategies can be destroyed by an aggressive enterprise culture. A culture can be a powerful animal that counteracts and resists attempts to change, no matter how good the strategy is. Or, as management guru Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” If you remember, cultural insight was at the balance beam fulcrum of our Integrated Leadership model. Without cultural insight, the vision either topples, or falls flat. So, focusing on building a strong and supportive culture has been a top priority at Eneo. Let’s look at some of the cultural transformations in place today.
While defining a clear Vision, mission, values ̶ and the company’s first code of ethics ̶ has been very important, that’s actually a relatively easy part of the equation. Creating an environment that gives these principles “life” is the challenge that most organizations face. How do you give life to values when the outside world does not always support them? To meet that challenge, we started “leadership by example” from the top; senior managers are now given clear personal objectives and are expected to “walk the talk.” At the same time, we created a Control Unit with compliance and internal audit that will enforce our values. And we made sure to almost “over-communicate” this with employees through many forums, brochures, posters, online training and seminars, and rewards. And, while setting these intentions and opportunities is
important, proportionate disciplinary consequences have also been put in place for inaction and transgression of these values and ethics. What are some of the key elements of the old cultural environment that I found at Eneo Cameroon back in 2014? ‐ Kingdom mentalities: How to break down barriers when part of the organization is controlled by managers who behave like local village chiefs? (chefferies) ‐ Administrative and bureaucratic attitudes with towers of paperwork ‐ Departmental or “silo” barriers and without a transversal communication streams ‐ Management by committee: a committee to build a new network feeder, a committee to change a lightbulb ‐ Lack of time consciousness ‐ Multiple informal networks ‐ Decision making sometimes based on set of unwritten, unspoken rules ‐ Information is power – so keep it for yourself ‐ Ethics – “La chèvre broute là où elle est attachée ‐ Always have excuses for not meeting commitments ‐ High risk of retaliation ‐ Tricky to manage stakeholders especially government and press ‐ Time- and energy-consuming friends and relatives ‐ A “defined benefit’ situation; You don’t work for your salary – it is due to you By addressing these cultural issues, we’ve begun to move beyond a “values-based” organization to one that is “values-driven.” From “individualism” to valuing “teamwork.” From performing “isolated tasks” to adopting a “full process mentality.” From a “Don’t try” to a “Can do” approach.
While shifting this culture … we’ve made key changes with the help of an infusion of specialized talents that act as Agents of Change in the organization. These are open-minded people, conversant with new technology, who question the status quo and who have a natural ability to lead. The key thing is how to identify them. In Eneo, we identify employees who can step up to play the role of Change Agent through forums like monthly management meetings, quarterly youth/CEO meeting “Cafe de l’energie”, field visits, a Simply Smart Innovation program that seeks low-cost innovation ideas, and impromptu visits. And we have tapped the Cameroonian diaspora for a few high-impact experts who want to contribute to positive change in their home country. We also have a corporate program with experts in the UK to mentor highpotential employees, and a program of One2One Leadership Coaching to accelerate talent development. Our main goal is to Teach, (new processes), Inspire (to try something new and reach objectives) and Improve (processes, measurement, rigor).
So, what has the impact been? … Change Agents and resulting new processes have contributed to a 13 Billion CFA revenue increase and 7 Billion CFA in cost saving in the first 7 months of this year (2016). This represents a 20 Billion CFA shift in profitability. Some of the specific achievements of these Change Agents include: • Cost management – Fuel management, litigation costs, other fixed costs • Loss reduction – Better usage and billing management • Bright Spots – Identify what already works in small pockets in the organization and replicate it across the organization
• Simply Smart Innovation – Identify and reward low-cost or nocost grassroots innovation • Data-based decisions – Introduce data mapping and analytics technology to provide Change Agents with the means to bring more transparency to business operations
While these Change Agents are helping to make a rapid impact at Eneo, we’re also focused on building longer-term capacity through team building. We’re training, building more diversity, as well as betting on youth through mass recruiting and giving them early responsibilities. Why is diversity and youth important? We need better, more creative decisions. You want the best talent, you cannot ignore 50% of the population. Intelligent and capable people are everywhere. Let’s think about this in the context of a family. Women bring a unique perspective to situations. We balance a father’s and a mother’s points of view to reach a balanced decision. At the same time the parents can consider the creative ideas of their children; the younger generation thinks differently they are innovative and open-minded. , they master the power of technology and they do not have the baggage of many years of frustrations – “We tried it in the past and it did not work…” If you don’t hire youth how do you expect to have the required know-how to run the place in the future? In business, diversity can come in the form of gender, age, skills, experience, and so forth.
This teambuilding resulted in the recruitment of 318 new employees in 2015 — mostly engineers, commercial managers and technicians — and a real focus on the promotion of women into roles of increasing responsibility. HR transformation has also included human capital development through technical training at the Ombé Training Center and international studies; the delivery of workshops and top-quality seminars. A clear example of “walk the talk”: 5% of the company shares are finally being transferred to employees. We’ve made a progressive shift to empowerment and accountability; with clear personal objectives and consequences for more employees each year. We’ve made great strides on gender diversity. Today, women represent 22% of Eneo’s workforce. When you look at the supervisor and management level, they represent 44%. (As previously mentioned, in 2014 we had 3 women in the top management team. Today, we have 13.) Age diversity: The big crew change. Make it work. To compensate for the massive retirement of an aging employee workforce, and to promote age diversity, the company has recruited 388 employees in 2 years. During the same period, 238 employees left the company.
I will paraphrase Bill Gates here and say, “We are also changing Eneo with technology.” Our internal slogan is the “Smarting of Eneo.”
Some examples of the transformational technologies that are being implemented at a “Smart” Eneo: • Mobile Payments – introduction of a number of new methods to pay electricity bills through various partners including mobile phone companies and money-transfer agencies — has reduced crowding and waiting times in Eneo's commercial agencies. Today, they represent 14% of collection vs. 6.9% in 2015. • Online Agency – the online e-agency has professionalized a number of its services so that, today, customers are able to: receive and view their invoicing online; self-report their meter reading; submit and track any claims processing; get updates on network outages and/or works underway; and also request a connection/subscription. 135 New Connections have already been executed via this new e-agency. • Call Centre: – 93% of incidents are now fixed within 48 hours via the call center. • Cymedist: Computer assist planning and running of the network. • And, as mentioned earlier, we’re implementing a data visualization and analytics system (Tableau) and training many staff on it. This helps us to identify data gaps, performance trends, and business optimization opportunities. As well as streamlining accurate reporting.
As the saying goes … “Want to go fast? Go alone. …. Want to go far? Go together.” To effect lasting change with a broad impact, we also need to look outside the walls of Eneo to engage the broader community in this
transformation. Let’s look at some examples of this “ripple effect” that are underway:
Eneo leadership and Change Agents are meeting more and more, face to face, with major businesses, key suppliers and community leaders to listen to their needs and share our plans. We’re helping the broader community to go through some of the same types of transformation as Eneo, because “we’re in this together” if we want Cameroon to achieve the goal of a dependable, safe supply of electricity for all. We’re seeing citizens who are reporting issues to Eneo like damaged poles, illegal connections, wasted electricity from lights or air conditioners left on in office buildings at night, and so forth. We are seeing citizen protecting our pylons from vandalism, we are seeing villagers ready to clear vegetation to guarantee distribution of electricity. We’re seeing an increased adoption of high-tech options like mobile payments. We’re working in collaboration with private companies to increase electricity generation with Independent Power Producers. And we’ll be introducing a renewable energy program for small businesses and households. As well, we’re collaborating with our universities to bring new scholars into our organization to help us apply the latest research techniques and technologies. Community “Change Agents” are emerging in the form of “Energy Champions” who are volunteering to help change local attitudes toward energy consumption. And companies are starting their own energy efficiency programs.
Here is an example of a local community leader who is volunteering as an “Energy Champion” to support the “I Share / Je Partage” Campaign. The purpose of the nation-wide Eneo “I Share / Je Partage” Campaign is to contribute to changing Cameroonian attitudes and behaviors with respect to conserving electricity in their homes and workplaces. We all need to cooperate and wisely use this shared resource of electricity in order for there to be enough to meet the constantly growing demand. To date, 14 community leaders (representing business, entertainment, government, independent workers, and education) have agreed to become Energy Champions and lend their name, and their organization's name, to this transformational social marketing campaign.
Here is another local Energy Champion. As an early result of the 'I Share' campaign, the conversation about the public's role in the future of Cameroon's electricity has started to shift. We need their ongoing support and participation to be successful. Despite the positive progress made with Integrated Leadership approach, there are still numerous challenges remaining for our electrical system. Let take a look at few of them.
One key challenge is to have the entire sector working in harmony. With the unbundling, all actors most be aligned. The ultimate objective is to have abundant electricity with good quality of service. This depends on investment, and each stakeholder has a role to play in it. Planned production should come on time and on budget Less administrative burden will be welcomed Financing should be raised by investors Users should have responsible behavior (i.e. do not steal electricity or damage infrastructure) ‐ Eneo employees should have integrity and commitment
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Eneo has submitted to the Cameroon Government an investment plan of almost 900 billion CFA for the period 2015 -2031. This represent an average investment of 60 Billion CFA per year. This is a huge sum of money to mobilize and spend with great care. In order to do this, we have a few challenges ‐ Mobilize the financing ‐ Right sizing and project governance ‐ Training and follow up on the project teams. We have starting to address these challenges by setting up a Bureau d’etudes (technical design office) and a PMO Project Management Office
Another key focus for the future continues to be building renewable energy capacity. This will come from both ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ projects. Here you are seeing a micro-solar project in the north of Cameroon and a major construction project for the Lom Pangar Dam in the East Region. Cameroon has the second largest hydro potential in Africa, after the DRC, with about 20 GW capacity (only 5% exploited today) … of which 2 GW could come from mini-hydro. Many projects for hydro production are on the way as Independent Power Producer (IPP) agreements. We estimate that the country will need an additional 2,000 MW in the next 10 years. The potential for solar power is very high in the Far North, North, Adamawa, East of Cameroon. A pilot project will start in few weeks in Djoum. Biofuel: With Cameroon’s abundant agricultural capacity and bio-waste, biofuel also holds great potential that needs to be developed.
The safety of our employees and customers is always a top priority for Eneo. Let me tell you a story to illustrate how important it is that all of Cameroon makes safety a priority: “On January 22nd of 2016, two young pupils of St-Jean Baptiste d'OBAN primary school, situated some 3Km from Nkol-Ebaï in the Centre region, died after coming in contact with a Medium Voltage cable that had
disconnected from the pole. They were returning home from school. Not aware of the danger, one of them tried to have a swing with the cable. Two deaths too many for our company and our country. This tragic situation is a challenge to us all and we cannot be indifferent to it.” While making our equipment safe, we are sensitizing the youth on the dangers of electricity in primary schools and colleges. After this terrible incident, during the 2016 Youth Week, all 3,750 Eneo employees were deployed in all 10 Regions of Cameroon to educate students on measures to take to avoid accidents and always inform Eneo Cameroon of unsafe conditions by calling 8010 or via the address Facebook.com/MyEasylight.
So, in conclusion, let me emphasize that we can be proud of the work that Eneo employees and our community partners are doing together. We believe in diversity as a strength – skills, ideas, gender and age. We are transforming Eneo through culture building and a technologyenabled “Smart Eneo.” As mentioned earlier in this presentation, our ultimate goal is reducing the duration of unserved energy by 85% and improving the electrification rate from 53% today to 75% by 2025. Cameroon deserves a world-class approach to delivering on this critical goal. I believe that the Integrated Leadership Model and its “Think Big and Start Small” approach we are implementing at Eneo could be equally useful for the many companies and organizations outside Cameroon … that are facing similar complex challenges in driving transformational change. Eneo is making great progress … with much work still to be done … and all lasting cultural changes take time. We believe in our vision and we are
moving ahead, leading by example, driven by our values, and engaging the support of our stakeholders and community.
Thank you for your kind attention.