Context

The new CEO of one of the UK’s largest utilities wanted to set a bold vision for the company and a credible strategy to get there. The vision had to address massive operational, social and environmental challenges, while at the same time meeting investors’ expectations for target returns and delivering value for money for customers. And it needed to be developed without the top team losing focus on delivering an urgent turnaround of the business.

Approach

We agreed a radical approach to the project, based on ‘thinking the unthinkable’, unconstrained by current ways of working or scale of change required – if an option could be delivered now, with current know-how and technology, it was not ambitious enough. Our team worked in collaboration with staff at many levels and with external experts, taking a hypothesis-led approach. Options were quickly developed and then stretched, challenged, and quantified, iterating with the executive to ensure the thinking stayed at the peak of ambition.

Impact

Together we set transformational targets that will impact every part of the organisation, benefit all customers, reshape relationships with external stakeholders, and achieve target returns for shareholders, as well as deliver enormous social and environmental benefits.

The vision was endorsed by the Board and communicated widely to stakeholders. The organisation went on to build the roadmap to make it happen, making the ‘unthinkable’ the new way forward.