Vitens and its 1,400 employees supply affordable drinking water around the clock. But will it be able to do this in the future? It’s a pressing challenge because increasing pollution poses a growing threat to its sources. Because demand for water is increasing. Because technology is evolving rapidly. And because customers, stakeholders and colleagues expect Vitens to meet their changing service and operational expectations.
Focus
Vitens’ answer is to sharpen its focus. In particular, it aims to become more data and people-driven. How? By standardising and streamlining its processes, by making better use of data and by increasing digitisation. But also by enhancing the skills and flexibility of its people. This should help Vitens move faster and so enable it to continue to guarantee reliable and affordable drinking water and service for its 5.7 million customers.
Accelerate together
To help it achieve this, Vitens asks PROOF to help it align its employees behind the new strategic focus. PROOF translates the company’s strategy into a concept – ‘Samen in de stroomversnelling’ (Accelerate together) – that promotes active storytelling as a way to connect different departments and their respective worlds. Because the challenges Vitens faces can only be tackled by oneVitens.
Align team managers and employees
Both board members and managers are closely involved in the development process. The next step is to share the strategy and concept with team managers. To help with this, PROOF makes a film in which employees tell the Vitens story – and make the point that the company needs to accelerate. After watching the film, the team managers discuss the strategy and translate Accelerate together to fit ‘their world’.
The film is subsequently shared with employees during a New Year’s event. This is followed by an appeal from the board members for everyone to start sharing personal stories about how they are helping the company to accelerate. This call is further stimulated in messaging shared across various internal channels and by naming an ‘accelerator of the month’. All the stories that are gathered are brought together at an Accelerate together platform on the company’s intranet.
