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Welcome to The Executive Exchange, a premier podcast series for on-the-go senior executives. Each episode features short, impactful podcasts where industry leaders share key insights and experiences from the water industry.
[00:00:00] Piers Clark: Welcome to the Exec Exchange, 15 minute podcast, in which a leader from the water sector shares a story to inspire, inform, and educate other water sector leaders from around the globe.
[00:00:10] Piers Clark: My name is Piers Clark and my guest today is Callan Paske, the new General Manager for Customer and Community at TasWater.
[00:00:20] Piers Clark: This is the first of three podcasts we are doing with TasWater.
[00:00:24] Piers Clark: Callan, it's wonderful to be with you today.
[00:00:26] Callan Paske: Lovely to be with you Piers, and hello to all your listeners.
[00:00:29] Piers Clark: Thank you. Now, the topic we're gonna talk about today is what is breakthrough performance and why is it important?
[00:00:35] Piers Clark: But before we get to that, let's just quickly recap on your career. And as I just mentioned, you are the new General Manager for Customer and Community. So, what have you done to get to this role?
[00:00:46] Callan Paske: I'm a Tasmanian boy, born and bred, from the northwest coast, little island off the bottom of Australia. Grew up here, studied journalism, communications background. And then, traveled to the UK, worked in some sports marketing roles for a couple of years before meeting a girl and settling back down in Tasmania.
My career has spanned, consulting in communications and public relations, as well as working in sales and marketing at an executive level in the food business in local government in Tasmania. And then finally into TasWater where I've been for the last three years, working across the customer community space, but also for the last year, working in operations before getting the new general manager role.
[00:01:27] Piers Clark: Brilliant. I love that little bit. Yeah. I met a girl, had to come back down to Tasmania.
[00:01:31] Piers Clark: Does that mean you met a girl and had to run away from her, or you met a girl and brought her back to Tasmania, or you met a girl and she was in Tasmania and that's what brought you back?
[00:01:40] Callan Paske: I met a girl in Tasmania , left said girl to go over to the UK and then came back planning to go back to the UK and stayed because of the girl.
[00:01:48] Callan Paske: So there you go.
[00:01:49] Piers Clark: Excellent. That's such a good, what a romantic story!
[00:01:52] Piers Clark: Alright, well thank you for that update and congratulations on the new role.
[00:01:57] Piers Clark: Now, most listeners will know about TasWater, but let's just do the quick 30 seconds summary as to who is TasWater? What do you do?
[00:02:05] Callan Paske: We're the water and sewage utility for the state of Tasmania. We are not really centralized, so it's pretty rural and regional area. As a result of that, we're an amalgamation of 29 councils ultimately. We are owned by those 29 councils as well as part ownership from the state government.
[00:02:22] Callan Paske: So we've got lots of treatment plants, almost 40% of Australia's treatment plans managed by major water utilities residing in Tasmania. So lots of small treatment plants, disparate assets and aging assets across the state.
[00:02:35] Piers Clark: Brilliant. Now let's talk about breakthrough performance. Why do we need breakthrough performance, and what does that phrase mean within TasWater?
[00:02:44] Callan Paske: The business has been on a transformation journey in the last three to four years. The business is only 11 years old coming up on 12 years old. So it's a relatively new business, really as an amalgamation of all of those council bodies, as I said.
[00:02:57] Callan Paske: So it's still growing into itself. It's still maturing, but there's been an understanding that we need to make bold decisions about where we need to invest to take the organization to the service level we think Tasmanians deserve. We've got lots of aging assets. We've got lots of things that need to be fixed and improved for better outcomes for customers and for the environment.
[00:03:19] Callan Paske: So, we've been on this journey around how do you create a step change, not just gradual continuous improvement, but how do you create breakthrough performance?
[00:03:29] Callan Paske: And it comes from leaders being prepared to generate a future that is not just a small improvement on what we did yesterday, but in fact actually changes the game. And then generating that purposefully rather than waiting for circumstances to impact you.
[00:03:45] Piers Clark: What I love about this is water utilities around the world, we're always aspiring to be better, and most of the time it's incremental change because we're already doing pretty well and it's a bit of tweaking here, tweaking there, and getting incrementally better.
[00:03:58] Piers Clark: What you've done in TasWater is you've shaken the core of that foundation to say, no, no, no, we are not good enough. And therefore, it's a radical shift in how we think, how we behave, what we do, the decisions we make.
[00:04:11] Piers Clark: You are making deliberate changes to how you do things to drive through a shift in how TasWater is perceived and operates for its customers.
[00:04:22] Piers Clark: And it's great words, but it only really matters if you can give me some examples of where you needed to improve and what you did to do that. So, Callum, give me some examples of where you needed to improve and what you did.
[00:04:36] Callan Paske: I think utilities in general are often risk averse by their very nature. They're either government owned and as a result risk averse or they're in a sector that doesn't tend to want to take risks.
[00:04:48] Callan Paske: What I think we've benefited from in George's leadership is setting ambitious targets and to a certain extent, a removal of a fear of failure. Understanding that some of those targets won't be met, but let's set them further out than we think that we can perhaps get to not set a safe target.
If you think about our general corporate scorecard, there are some key metrics. Customer trust, for instance, around are we delivering for the community. On a zero to 10 scale, for people to trust us, they must rate us at 8, 9, or 10. Otherwise they don't truly trust us.
We've seen significant, almost double digit, growth in customer trust over the last 24 months since we embarked on this new ambitious strategy with pretty ambitious targets. So both on the customer side, the proof is in the pudding. The work that we've done around communication in particular and telling people what we are doing, why we are doing it, and the value we drive.
[00:05:40] Callan Paske: And even when we've gotten it wrong. When there's been crisis, what we've done is been really front footed with what's happened and what we're doing about it. And over that period, we've seen significant customer trust growth .
[00:05:52] Callan Paske: The same time internally we had very low staff engagement. To deliver great outputs, you've gotta have a team that are committed, cohesive, and all driving towards the same goal. The strategy has given us that. It's also given us the opportunity to understand what good looks like and what we're focused on.
[00:06:07] Callan Paske: And then some of our basic service metrics around regulatory responses around response times to issues, rectification times, reduction in complaints. All of those things are trending on track with the corporate scorecard which again gives us real trust that we're on the right lines with some of those decisions.
[00:06:25] Piers Clark: Brilliant. Now you mentioned at the beginning of that section, George. George will be our podcaster for the third of our series of podcasts on TasWater, and he is the Chief Executive for TasWater.
[00:06:37] Piers Clark: Now, I love the change that you've made in those key statistics on customer trust and staff engagement and the regulatory responses, but I still haven't quite got down to what is it you've done? So, can you give me an example of what it is you've done?
[00:06:51] Piers Clark: And, you tease me there with even when things go wrong, we own up to it and we move forward. Tell that story as well, please.
[00:06:59] Callan Paske: I'll give you an example and it's got a link with the UK. We have a factory down here Cadbury's so chocolate factory. Tasmania's very proud of the factory that is here but they discharged trade waste into one of our treatment plants.
[00:07:11] Callan Paske: And late last year, we had a treatment upset driven by a discharge of trade waste that was well outside what we should have been receiving unbeknownst to us. And as a result, we were discharging noncompliant waste into the Derwent, which is big body of water in greater Hobart.
So, school had closed. The next day was beautiful weather. Everyone set to swim in the Derwent and The Department of Public Health came out and said, you can't swim in the Derwent because one of TasWater's treatment plants is discharging in noncompliant waste.
[00:07:41] Callan Paske: Previously we would've been pretty quiet about that. The business would've been shy about why that had occurred. Pretty risk averse in terms of naming those players up. The business took a very different decision this time around, which was to say this is what's happened. This is our view of why it's being caused.
[00:07:58] Callan Paske: We are fixing it and we are working with that customer, but we are not gonna own or accept responsibility for a customer doing the wrong thing. Pretty bold decision and not one the organization has done previously.
[00:08:11] Piers Clark: And bold because it could flare up. It looks like a tit for tat. And it all depends on the trust you've got with the public as to whether they're going to think you are just getting drawn into a tit for tat, or they're just blaming someone else, they're trying to dodge the bullet or whether they're telling us the truth and who we trust.
[00:08:26] Piers Clark: So, it is a really bold decision to make that. How did it go ?
[00:08:30] Callan Paske: Customer trust increased over the same period. And at a time when, as I say, closing the River Derwent, meaning that school kids couldn't swim over those next few days was a big, big thing. It's Australian summer heading into Christmas. So, it's the first time that's ever occurred on that level.
[00:08:45] Callan Paske: And I guess the big point was in terms of the communication, we didn't say that it wasn't our responsibility to fix it. We didn't shy away from the need that we had to work with that customer for us to get that plant back up online and to give clear updates on how that was happening 'cause that business is also a big employer in Tasmania. But that doesn't mean they don't have a part to play in it.
[00:09:05] Callan Paske: So, I think the balance of the communication around we are gonna be transparent around what's happened, we're not gonna shy away from the cause of it, but we're also not walking away from our responsibility to fix it.
[00:09:15] Callan Paske: Getting that balance right was important but I guess more to the point, you talk about breakthrough performance and making bold decisions - that was one of those ones where previously I think we would've been pretty quiet. We would've stayed away from media.
In fact, we were the ones going out and saying, hey, here's what's happening. We were on radio, we were on press conference up alongside the Premier of the State talking about what the plan was.
[00:09:36] Callan Paske: So, I think the feedback from stakeholders and the community at large told us that that's the right play, and that they want us to be open and transparent and to understand that we take our responsibility to the services we deliver to Tasmanians and the environment, which we know Tasmanians cherish above almost anything else, really importantly.
[00:09:56] Piers Clark: There are gonna be utilities listening to this going, God, I hate them. I want that double digit growth in some of those key metrics.
[00:10:04] Piers Clark: What's your advice to 'em? How do they start on this journey? Because to say, oh, it's about bold leadership is true, but it's a hard thing to start on.
[00:10:12] Piers Clark: What would you advice a utility listening to what you're doing to do as their first step work forward if they want to be achieving this sort of breakthrough improvements in some of their key metrics?
[00:10:23] Callan Paske: You know, it sounds really simple and often the best things are right? But what has been transformative in this business is that idea of alignment at a senior leadership level.
There's been a lot of work done with the executive and the senior leadership team on where we are going and why we are going there and what good looks like. And then being prepared to, rather than wait for circumstance or an incident to occur to make us do something. The Cadbury's one called for that. But, conversely being proactive in making things happen ourselves rather than waiting for things to occur. So things like our investment program.
[00:11:02] Callan Paske: It would be easy to tell people, we're gonna depress prices. We're not gonna rock the boat. We'll just leave this for someone else down the line. And that's not what we are doing.
[00:11:10] Callan Paske: We are saying, no, no, no, we've got a problem. We need to fix it now. And we know that no one likes a price increase, but we're gonna really communicate the value and why it's important, and the fact that we are not gonna pass it down the line for someone else to have to carry
[00:11:22] Callan Paske: We care enough to do the right thing now, but that's gonna mean making bold choices, bold decisions.
[00:11:28] Piers Clark: And bold is about confidence. That's what I think I'm hearing. It's about saying we know what the right thing is, we're gonna stand by it, we're gonna do the right thing, and we're gonna argue why we're doing it and inform people and get everybody on board.
[00:11:41] Piers Clark: It is a simple, clear message, but it's quite hard to do.
[00:11:45] Callan Paske: I think the important distinction then is even if you are not quite sure how you're gonna do it at the time, still make the declaration.
[00:11:52] Piers Clark: Brilliant. Now, we're running out of time and we normally finish with the question of if you could go back 20, 30 years, what advice would you give your younger self? But Callan, you are ridiculously young already, so I'm not gonna ask you that one.
[00:12:05] Piers Clark: I'm gonna ask you the question that I hope someone will ask my children, which is what do you owe your parents?
[00:12:13] Callan Paske: Well, I owe them everything. They taught me that I could do anything. They gave me opportunity to experiment, to be safe, to do so, and try lots of different things. And as a result, that taught me that I can do that and not be too worried about failure.
[00:12:29] Callan Paske: We talk in Australia about having a crack, you know, I'll have a crack at that. And I've always benefited throughout my entire career, and even in personal life, I've benefited from good luck and good fortune. But part of that's been about being in the right place at the right time and then being prepared to give it a crack . And mum and dad taught me that I could do that. And even if it went wrong, I'd have a safe space to fall.
[00:12:50] Piers Clark: You have been listening to the Exec Exchange with me, Piers Clark, and my guest today has been Callan Paske, the General Manager for Customer and Community at TasWater.
[00:13:00] Piers Clark: And we have been talking about breakthrough performance, what it is, how you achieve it, and why it's important to do. Thank you to our sponsors, and until next time, keep asking questions, keep sharing, and keep safe.