DC Water creates new strategic plan, realignment

DC Water is embracing a new set of six core values and will immediately move towards reshaping itself to operate more streamlined and businesslike under a strategic plan and realignment announced by Chief Executive Officer David L. Gadis.
 
Under the new plan, called The Blueprint, DC Water will better meet future challenges, improve service to customers and support One DC Water - known as Team Blue, said Mr. Gadis.
 
“This new blueprint is straightforward and sensible and it will get our organization to a better place to serve our customers,” said Mr. Gadis. “We’re going to do more to help customers and improve their experience interacting with the water authority.”
 
Under The Blueprint released by Mr. Gadis, DC Water will drill down on six strategic program areas as part of its service delivery. They are: Driving Performance, the Employee Experience, Leveraging Technology, Operational Safety, Customer Affordability and Resilience & Readiness. At the heart of delivering on those broad services will be six distinct values that DC Water is embracing authority-wide: Accountability, Trust, Teamwork, Customer Focus, Safety and Well-being. DC Water employees also helped craft a new vision statement for the organization: We will be known for superior service, ingenuity and stewardship to advance the health and well-being of our diverse workforce and communities.
 
The announcement was preceded by a top-level meeting of DC Water executives to review and discuss the new plan, as well as to lay out a plan for implementing it. Also, Mr. Gadis announced that he’s refined the leadership structure at DC Water to generate more focus on the customer experience from start to finish, and to reduce the number of departments to eliminate the silo effect.
 
Under the new organizational structure, DC Water will be streamlined into seven separate departments; Administrative Services, Finance & Procurement, People & Talent, Performance, Customer Experience, Legal Affairs, and Operations and Engineering. Most of that staff will work out of the consolidated new DC Water administrative building, which sits next to the historic main District pumping station on O Street, SE near the Nationals ballpark. More news on that structure is coming this winter.
 
“Make no mistake, DC Water will continue to be the best utility in the world. But by realigning ourselves we will be more unified, deliver a better customer experience and provide the best environment for our employees,” added Mr. Gadis before concluding: “This new organizational structure will foster a collaborative environment – One DC Water! - for driving performance and improving employee engagement.”