Customer journey Stedin
How Stedin is tackling grid congestion with Obeya
Read how Stedin used the Obeya method to overcome its challenges around grid congestion and strengthen internal cooperation.
Aanleiding
Een overbelast net
Dutch sustainability ambitions and the increase in electricity use have caused the load on the electricity grid to rise sharply. In addition to a growth in supply and demand, peaks and troughs have become more extreme, especially on sunny and windy days due to solar and wind energy. This rapid development could not be kept up with the expansion of cables and lines, which has led to “grid congestion. “It’s a complex problem,” says Aran Haeken, Customer Product Manager at Stedin. “We manage the grid from Utrecht to Zeeland, with connections for two million households and business customers with much larger power demands.”
Challenge
The complexity of power supply
Stedin is looking ahead and wondering:
“how are we going to manage such a huge program?”
Obeya Coaching & Training was asked to think along and Reinko de Vries set to work on this challenge.
Reinko
de Vries
Approach
Managing the program with Leading With Obeya
“Then came the question: how are we going to manage such a huge program? We wanted to work visually, so that we would have a common picture of progress. We also wanted to include the rest of the organization in a unified and clear way, and not communicate through newsletters and reports. We thought the method Leading with Obeya might be something. I had never heard of Obeya before, but someone on the team had positive experiences with it.”
“We started the Obeya Team Kickstart program from Obeya Coaching & Training, where we built the Obeya in three days and set up a consultation structure. Eight months later, we see that this structured and agile approach is working extremely well. The team is always up to date, works in a steady rhythm and makes timely adjustments. The transparency towards the organization is enormously valuable; everyone, from the Board of Directors to mechanics, now knows what we are doing and how they can contribute.”
Approach
The Obeya Team Kickstart
To work effectively and transparently, Stedin chose the Obeya method, a visual management approach that helps make goals and achievements clear. This brought the following benefits:
- Visual transparency: all team members and stakeholders get real-time insight into progress.
- Improved collaboration: multidisciplinary teams work in a structured and consistent manner.
- Increased agility: the team can make quick adjustments based on up-to-date data.
- More efficient decision-making process: because everyone has the same view, decisions move faster.
The structure and routines as the beating heart
“What works well is the logical structure of the Obeya board. The Leading with Obeya method feels natural and right: from Strategic Direction, to Performance, to the Plan to Value board. We still work according to the routines and rhythm we were taught during training. We have Acting and Reacting sessions twice a week, and Performance and Plan to Value sessions every other week. We do these sessions physically at the Obeya board. We also have content sessions when needed and, of course, quarterly sessions to review the past quarter and plan for the next quarter. At the Performance sessions, MT members often join us to see where we are now. Because we have everything on the board, we are looking at the same thing and can monitor progress and dependencies well.”
“The challenge is that sometimes it gets a little too static; in fact, there is a lot of repetition in the sessions. And then if there is no new information, the team quickly loses its energy. The rhythm has to match the content. After all, we have quite long change processes, so the indicators don’t change every week. We want to keep the value of the sessions high for the MT and ourselves. There has to be something to report. We are putting that puzzle together now. If we manage to improve the indicators, we’ll do that, and otherwise we’ll adjust the rhythm of the sessions.”
“We have a regular facilitator who guides the sessions. This is essential; he really gives us structure during the meetings. We get a lot of critical questions about the process, such as: ‘Does this belong here?’ ‘Do we have to discuss this here now?’ and he keeps us to the time and agreements. This allows us to deal with the content and keeps the sessions short and effective. We used the LWO routines as a basis, but have since made it our own style.”
Quote
“We leave the milestone cards with green dot hanging until the next quarterly session so we can celebrate our successes.”
Results
More connection within the team and with other chains
“The program team consists of a mix of the MT, Epic owners and product managers, with support from IT. We are in a certain maturity as a team now, which of course is fueled by the systematics. Because we sit together in a regular rhythm and talk about the relevant things, I really feel that we are a team. We weren’t when we started.”
“We also get much more connection with other chains through this way of working. We see the impact of our work on other chains. If something fails, we immediately see the impact it has on other chains or milestones. This system really gives us the tools to be able to discuss the right things with each other. I believe that through this method we are better able to meet our program goals.”
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