The StoryConnect Podcast

Sioux Valley Energy's staff LEAD program builds a culture of cooperation across the utility, creating a competitive edge when recruiting talent. Learn how projects from the leadership program improved volunteerism programs, removed silos and strengthened the co-op's internal communications.

Creators & Guests

Host
Megan McKoy-Noe
Brand Storyteller

What is The StoryConnect Podcast?

StoryConnect features interviews with marketers, communicators, CEOs and other leaders at cooperative and independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and municipal power providers. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers. It is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources.

Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources.

StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape
their stories and connect with their customers.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Retention, retention, retention.

How can staff leadership programs strengthen your story?

That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of The
StoryConnect Podcast.

Hi, I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at
Pioneer Utility Resources, and I am joined by Chinelle

Christensen, the culture and training development strategist at
Sioux Valley Energy, serving almost 29,000 members

in both South Dakota and Minnesota.

Chinelle, thank you so much for joining us today.

Chinelle Christensen:
Thank you for having me.

I'm so excited for this.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, I mean, just based on your title, I'm really excited.

Culture and Training Development Strategist is so cool.

And I love that because it really is, like it takes being
strategic with your storytelling to focus on your culture and how

you develop training at your utility and in your community.

So I'm excited.

We're going to start off by diving into your staff leadership
program, which I believe is called "LEAD." And I know it stands

for something. Remind me what it stands for.

Chinelle Christensen:
So LEAD stands for leadership, empowerment and development.

It's an acronym.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Ooh, I like this.

It's a pretty good acronym.

I like that. Talk to me about retention, which I know you rock
there at Sioux Valley and your succession

planning. Why does that part of your utility story matter?

Chinelle Christensen:
I think it's incredibly important for organizations to take a
look at, you know, what is happening within our

employee group for the future.

Are we ready for some of those people that have a lot of
knowledge, a lot of experience within the co-op world, are we

ready for them to retire and bring those next waves of employees
up to those same levels that we've had, or even more than what

we've had? And several years ago, we took a hard look at, wow,
we're doing really well with our retention as far as generally,

people don't leave, unless it's because they're retiring.

But we're facing a huge amount of retirements in the near
future, so we had to take a look at how do we get our employees

ready for those future positions and future opportunities to
grow and develop within themselves?

You know, we already have these awesome employees that believe
in the culture that we have.

They thrive in the culture.

They know the systems.

They know what we're doing for our members.

They understand all of those things.

So you already have a captive audience to be able to say, "Hey,
let's give you an opportunity to grow and develop.

Let's give you an opportunity to be a leader where you're at now,
and maybe there's something down the road that'll open up."

You know, how are we knowledge transferring?

How are we sharing those things?

And then on the – when you look at it from the outside, if we do
have positions open up that, you know, we may have to go external

for, those people are looking in going, "I always hear great
things about the culture at Sioux Valley.

Their employees stay there.

Their employees want to be there.

You know, I want a part of that." And so they're wanting to
come, you know, work with us and be a part of this culture that

we've developed around our membership, around our employees,
around our learning and development.

And so it's kind of makes you have a niche within the community,
outside of the, you know, monetary benefits that we

give our employees.

You know, it gives you a competitive edge.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, yeah, I like that.

Your culture does give you a competitive edge, and I don't know
that everyone thinks about it that way.

We all think, you know, the utility.

It's one of the best jobs in the community because it's stable.

Right? But now you're really competing more.

It's not just about getting a good job in your community because
people can work remotely for so many jobs.

Chinelle Christensen:
A hundred percent.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So yeah, you've got to find that competitive edge.

I like that. And for folks who don't know, I believe you have
just over 100 employees at Sioux Valley.

Chinelle Christensen:
Yep. We're right about 110 with an anticipation of that growing.

We're in a unique spot where we're located, and there's a lot of
growth in our area.

So we anticipate there's going to be quite a growth movement
within our employee group as well.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
All right. And you are positioning yourself for that growth with
the LEAD program, really to grow leaders within your utility.

So tell me a little bit more about LEAD.

When did it begin, and how has the program evolved over time?

Chinelle Christensen:
So in 2016, it was actually when I started in my role at that
time was the training and development coordinator, and our

CEO went to the vice president of HR at that time and said, "You
know, we really need something internally, you know, to grow and

develop our employees." So she came to me, and I got to work.

You know, I didn't have all the answers at that moment.

But I started researching leadership programs within our area,
leadership programs within other co-ops, if they had

one, Basin Electric at the time, had rolled out one recently.

So I actually went up there for three days and spent time in
their program watching what they were doing with their employee

group and really learning the nuts and bolts of why they chose
the curriculum that they did, why they were doing what they were

doing, and what makes sense to their co-op.

I brought all that back, and and we did a hard look at where are
we at, what, what do we need and what makes sense for us?

And one of the biggest things that stuck out to us was we really
wanted the involvement from our strategic leadership team.

So that would be our CEO and our vice presidents.

We wanted them to be able to come into the program and be able
to share their story.

So their leadership journey on how they got to the positions
that they're in today, the lessons learned along the way, things

that they might have done differently, things that they've been
really successful at, and then take that as an opportunity to

say, "Hey, this is what our department does," and really do a
deep dive into that.

So we've kind of structured the program around one of them coming
into every session.

So they come in for like 2.5 hours, and then they stay for a
lunch, and they have an opportunity to have a casual lunch with

the employee group that's in there and be able to ask those
questions.

I mean, you have this captive person that you can ask them, you
know, tough questions or questions about the role that they play

within Sioux Valley.

And then we thought, we need to weave in some leadership stuff.

You know, we want them to understand Sioux Valley on a deeper
level, but we want them to also get prepared on the leadership

aspect. And so we've changed some of that through the years, but
we really focus on accountability.

You know, how do you move from being a peer to a superior?

Because that's a tough transition, you know, that you're not
always prepared for.

What comes with that?

How do you have conflict resolution?

How do you have crucial conversations?

What personality am I?

You know, what kind of leader am I?

We do a DISC assessment.

We've recently, recently added, you know, emotional intelligence
into that mix to really do a deep dive into how your emotions

play a huge role in how you are as a leader and understanding
your employee group.

We added competencies last year.

We did a big competency thing for Sioux Valley, and we've rolled
that in.

I actually created an assessment to go with it and training.

And through the year that they're in the program, there's
generally eight employees that are not.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I was going to ask the nuts and bolts.

Chinelle Christensen:
Yep. So they're not currently in a formal leadership role.

You know, they're not currently a coach or a manager or
supervisor.

And it's usually about eight.

They apply to be in the program.

And then we select, you know, from the applicant pool, and
they're in it for a year, the same group of eight.

So they build these incredible connections with other employees
from different departments, you know different service centers.

And we meet for sure one time a month.

We spend the whole day together.

And then outside of the curriculum that I bring in, we also
spend time working on a project.

So they have a project that they have to do through that year.

They have to focus on something that's going to have a positive
impact on the community that we serve, on the

facility that we're in, on a process or their fellow coworkers.

It's a very blank slate for me as far as ideas, because I really
want them to have like that deep think, let's spitball, throw

ideas out there and really hear from them what they're seeing as
needs within our cooperative world.

There's guidelines around that on what's expected.

One of those guidelines is they have to pick a sponsor from our
strategic leadership team to kind of aid as a

liaison for them and offer support, offer suggestions.

So once they've identified a project, they identify a sponsor
that aligns with what they're trying to do.

So, for example.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I like that.

Chinelle Christensen:
Yeah. Go ahead.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I was just going to say that that adds another level of
mentorship to the program, as well.

Which I think is important you have because I've been involved
with other leadership programs, and I know a lot of folks are

doing this, but they have the folks come into the room with
these folks once a month, you know, so they have their

CEOs. They have senior members there.

Some of them have board members there, but they I haven't heard
of someone that has a program, a

project that they all do together, and then have that ongoing
mentorship effort added into that.

So, and you may have been about to say this, I didn't mean to
interrupt.

Chinelle Christensen:
You're fine.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I get excited about these things.

Chinelle Christensen:
Me too.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
But what kind of projects have your graduates led at the co-op,
and how has that impacted your community?

Chinelle Christensen:
So we've had four groups go through the program so far.

We had a weird lag with Covid, which, you know, everybody
understands, saw that.

Just, you know, it's like a warped year.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Several weird legs.

Chinelle Christensen:
Yeah. Our very first group to go through LEAD, their project,
they came up with it.

They saw the need to really break down the silos, break down the
walls between inside and outside, different service

centers, because we have four service centers plus three
outposts.

So we have employees in a lot of different places, and we have
some that are remote.

You know, they work 100% remote, and we have some that are 100%
in the office.

And so they really saw a need to let's build some more community
between all of these service centers,

outposts and departments.

And so they created what's called "OUNE WAY." It's an acronym,
and it stands for "Obtaining Unity, Needs Encouragement,

Walking Away From Yesterday." So the whole thought process is
this forward movement together as an organization to serve our

members. And they really believed that if we were one unified
group, we'd be able to serve our members in the full capacity

that we can.

And so they put the employees, all from different departments,
all from different service centers,

in groups of ten, including one person from our leadership team.

And they would leave site and go somewhere.

They would do a team building activity like an escape room,
bowling, ax throwing, you name it.

We've done it. And they would do that together to kind of create
a commonality between them.

You know, they all have this common experience together.

Then they would go have lunch together.

Then they would go volunteer, have dessert, and then they were
done for the day because it took the whole day.

It was, they piloted it that year a couple times.

Tweaked it, learned, you know, where they could do things a
little bit different.

And that program still runs today.

It was approved permanently from our staff into the budget.

So now we run them every year.

And it's evolved to not only the small groups of leaving, to we
have one day every year in July that we do in

all employee outing to a golf course in town, and we put
everybody in mixed up teams.

We have really fun with the golf because not everybody is a
golfer, right?

But we make it fun.

We have a bean bag tournament.

We have lunch. We have busses, pick them up and bring them
there.

It's just an entire employee experience because we really want
people to feel connected to each other.

And so, what started as breaking down walls has evolved into
these incredible relationships with people that you

might not see every day.

So that one is still going today, and it's landed now
permanently with our employee engagement committee.

So they run the budget, and then they plan all of the events
alongside of the other events that they do.

So that's one example of one of our projects.

Another one was community connections.

And so we give all of our employees 16 hours of volunteering a
year that they can do during

work, and they just code their time to the volunteer.

And they wanted to take that to the next level.

They saw a need.

You know, we have a lot of small communities that don't have
area chambers.

They don't have organizations that are spearheading, you know,
volunteer opportunities within those communities.

And they said, "Hey, why aren't we doing that?

Why aren't we looking out and seeing what's needed within these
communities and start spearheading some of these projects?" And

so they came up with the idea of creating a calendar that always
has opportunities on it that employees can sign up for.

Employees can take the lead.

They created a "rake the town" event that we do every October
now.

We go out to our members homes that are elderly or unable to
rake their own lawns, and we rake their lawns.

We show up, they don't even know we're coming, and we take care
of those lawns for them.

That's one example.

They did a –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Where does the calendar live?

Chinelle Christensen:
It lives like within Outlook.

It's a shared calendar that everybody can see, and it's called
"Community Connections." Yeah.

And then they also said, "What about all these opportunities
that happen after hours?

Can we flex our time?" So they proposed allowing people to flex
their time.

So if they volunteer at night, they can take off that time
during the day.

So it was still a Sioux Valley, you know, supported volunteer
activity.

We have seen through that project which has now been implemented
permanently, we have seen

our volunteer hours like triple since we've made some of the
changes with that program.

Because employees are involved, they want to be doing these
things.

They want to be, you know, out in the communities and serving
our communities.

And they all have a different passion, you know, and so helping
identify that.

They did create a committee called the Community Connections
Committee.

And so they meet once a quarter and identify opportunities that
we can be doing.

You know, what are we missing?

What are some new things that we can be doing within the
communities?

And that's a variety of employees from all different
departments, you know, so you get a wide variety of opinions

and ideas with that group.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And I know this isn't exactly what we're talking about, but now
I'm excited and intrigued.

Do you pair that up with any of your sponsorships or grants?

Chinelle Christensen:
Some of them. So our Operation Round Up board that we have.

One of the employees in there also sits on the Community
Connections Committee.

So we know a lot of applications that are coming in that maybe
need volunteers.

They need extra hands and feet on the ground.

So we're able to kind of partner up that way.

And then we have two employees like our key accounts and then
our economic development gentlemen, both of them are so involved

in the community that they're always communicating.

You know, what opportunities are coming?

You know, I was just at this, you know, meeting for this city,
and I see a need for this.

So we're really trying to open up those communication lines to
be able to say, "Hey, we're here." You know, we actually have an

ad in our Cooperative Connections magazine that goes out that
has our Community Connections logo.

It has my contact information in there.

You know, if you have a need or a volunteer need, contact me and
let me know.

And that's worked too.

So we're trying to find multiple ways to reach people to say,
"Hey, we're here.

We want to help you." And so, yeah, we've seen those efforts
grow tremendously.

And that was one of the projects through LEAD.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, I was going to say, and it all started by empowering your
staff across different departments, bringing them together

and giving them an opportunity to enact change where they see
needs within the utility and within the

community. That's a beautiful way to marry those two together.

Yeah. So LEAD includes a lot of hands on icebreakers
relationship buildings.

You've touched on the mentoring aspect of LEAD, which I love.

Why should a utility invest in connecting staff across different
departments?

Chinelle Christensen:
I think it is incredibly important to build those connections
with your employees.

When you have a culture that people want to belong to and they
feel like these people are their family, they're more apt to come

to work happy. They come to work connected to each other.

They show up for each other.

You know, it's more than just the day to day functions of the
job.

You know, you're with these people 40 plus hours a week.

And so building these lasting connections, you know, runs deep.

I'll give you an example.

I actually lost my house in a house fire six years ago.

We lost everything in the home.

We lost all our vehicles, and I have never been that blown away
by the amount

of pouring love and support that I've ever had in an
organization that I did that from Sioux

Valley. You know, like our CEO called, he gave me a company
vehicle to drive until we found one.

I had people dropping off toilet paper, paper towels, clothes.

Like it was unbelievable the amount of support we have.

And I truly believe it's because we have made connections
amongst our employees.

We have done the work to say, "Hey, I know you work in a
different service center than me, but I want to know you.

I want to get to know you" And I weave in team builders and
icebreakers on purpose with all of the programs that I

run, because I want them to knock down those walls and have a
commonality to be able to say, "Hey, we're on the same playing

field here. We just did something goofy together, and now we
have a commonality."

And then it just kind of lightens the mood of the room.

You know, if they're nervous, if they're unsure or they're an
introvert, maybe by nature, it kind of puts them all on that same

level playing field to be able to say, "Hey, we're on the same
team here.

We're part of the same family." And I purposely picked certain
ones through the year, depending on

the topics or what we might be doing.

Because I have a theme maybe for that day, and I want it to tie
in to what that theme may be.

One of the best ones that we do is Dale Carnegie with LEAD, and
he comes in for an entire day, and it's high impact

presentations. And it is 100% out of almost everybody's comfort
zone.

But all of them walk out of there now going through the same
uncomfortable experience.

And they have this unique relationship now where they have
something they can laugh about together, something they can talk

about. It really does help break down those walls and build a
better family within your

organization. I find it incredibly important.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that so much.

Well, thank you for sharing your staff leadership story and your
retention efforts with

utility pioneers.

She is Chinelle Christensen from Sioux Valley Energy, and I'm
your host Megan McKoy-Noe at Pioneer Utility Resources.

And until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Outro:
StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a
communications cooperative that is built to share your story.

StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studio.