shrink its debt and gearing by reducing shareholder dividends, freeing up funds to invest in programmes to tackle leaks and improve security of supply. It also builds on Anglian Water’s Love every drop
strategy, launched in 2010, to ensure long-term access to secure water supplies in one of England’s lowest lying and driest regions, with a fast growing population. While Anglian Water was changing its Articles of
Association, it was also conducting a refresh of its corporate purpose. ‘We are recasting the North Star of our business, by looking again at our purpose and values, [to ensure they endure] for the next 25 years, not just one year,’ explains Nelson. ‘For example, there were about a half a dozen interpretations of our purpose that had developed in the business over time, in the absence of something being centrally mandated. Teams had developed them, with a tendency to focus on what we do – the provision of clean water – rather than why we do it. They were all functional things that did a reasonable job of describing what it is we’re here to do, wrapped up in our mission, but they didn’t inspire our business. So we gathered them together, elevated them, refined into one, and then shared it back out to the teams: To create environmental and social prosperity in the region we serve through our commitment to love every drop. It is the immutable truth of our business.’ He adds: ‘Public expectations of business are changing. We needed to work a little harder to explain why we are here, particularly when nationalisation was a real threat. Defining our purpose is a powerful way to do so.’
Both Anglian Water’s corporate purpose and values
were ‘co-created’, but the starting point for developing its values was a cultural audit of the business. ‘We wanted to understand culture at three different levels,’ explains Nelson. ‘Culture as it is articulated: what our people think we are trying to tell them; culture as experienced: what does it feel like to work at our business; and, a deeper culture – what types of people come to work here? What are the unspeakable truths? If we don’t own our culture then everything we do will be viewed as inauthentic.’ Anglian Water recruited management consultants
Lane4 to help. ‘We looked at other companies and the frameworks they had used to drive that change,’ adds Nelson. It was an iterative process that took at least nine months. ‘People feel wedded to a value or concept, and we had to then break it down. We held a series of focus groups, from different layers of the business at different locations. We employ 5,000 people – 11,000 when we include partners and suppliers –
CorpComms | February/March 2020
POLLING 500,000 CUSTOMERS ON WHAT IS FAIR
More than 500,000 customer engagements underpinned Anglian Water’s five-year business plan but the company has long involved customers in decision making, making use of an online customer community, a customer engagement forum and a customer advisory board.
Ciaran Nelson, Anglian Water’s director of brand and communications, explains: ‘Over a period of about 18 months we took on board the views of more than half a million customers, engaging with them through 38 different channels. For instance, we ran a week-long festival with a fairground theme in Norwich (dubbed H2OMG) which used funfair-styled games to draw out views on things like what they felt our priorities should be, or how they would prefer us to balance up supply of and demand for water: 33,000 people passed through during the week. At the other end of the spectrum we had (and still have) an online community of about 500 customers who are posed questions and challenges in a variety of creative formats. Of course, these more creative formats are underpinned by traditional willingness to pay, stated and revealed preference studies, all of which we then triangulate to get a clear picture of what customers expect, and what they are willing to pay. Ultimately, we then tested the complete package with them on multiple occasions, as we iterated our plan.’
The discussions also formed the basis of a ‘social contract’, as part of its enhanced Articles of Association. To date, customers have indicated that they would like Anglian Water to be more than just a responsible business but to be a ‘force for good’ in the region. They expect the basics – tackling leakages, preventing pollution and delivering value for money – to be delivered as a matter of course, while the company must also step up on big issues, such as climate change and single-use plastics.
Anglian Water’s social contract will ultimately be framed around ten customer outcomes centred around the statement Water is our business. We handle with care and we don’t cost the earth.
The ten outcomes are: • Investing for tomorrow
• Fair charges, fair returns
• Our people: healthier, happier, safer
• Positive impact on communities
• Safe, clear water • Delighted customers • Supply meets demand
• Flourishing environment
• A smaller footprint • Resilient business
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