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The energy and utility industry is faced with a lot of change: renewables, microgrids, IIoT, and automation. Climate change is driving unpredictable service outages; digital transformation adds complexity and capability in communicating with stakeholders, enabling data-driven decisions, while maintaining aging infrastructure, technologies, and systems is straining budgets.

Most B2B technology companies have no shortage of demand but lack a robust sales and marketing presence to seize the opportunity for growth. Engineering-driven companies have a healthy skepticism about marketing and often lack the core competency internally.

Automation and digital transformation are the next revolution in productivity. This is driven by a severe shortage of skilled labor and supply chain disruption is capping growth for advanced manufacturing across the sectors we serve. Automation has the potential to improve output, introduce new capabilities, improve margin, and grow revenue—but the skilled labor gap is making this change an imperative.

Integrating renewables into energy frameworks. Outdated energy infrastructures with increasing energy demands. Ever-changing regulations and political pressures. It's no wonder people who work in the energy industry are exhausted.

Change fatigue is a real thing and it's costing your company. Organizational restructuring, new technologies, process improvements, upskilling...employees are experiencing anxiety and may show resistance borne from fear. Here are some strategies for helping employees manage change.

Appropriate change management and internal communications are critical to the success of your change plan, whether that’s driven by:

• Digital transformation
• M&A integration
• Reorganization or business model change

“Change is coming”--it's a bit of a troupe. After the world-changing experience of the COVID pandemic, frequent, rapid change in business has become universal and continual. [Check out our blog on important lessons learned.] Some of the biggest changes are common across all businesses:

Digital transformation today is taking place at a pace that is 20-25x faster than pre-2020. Changing at unprecedented speed comes with inherent risk, and in this case, digital transformation is largely treated by leadership and operations teams as a series of independent IT projects instead of realizing its full potential as a driver of competitive advantage.

Mergers and acquisitions present challenges to even the most seasoned leadership teams. Executing a strong and organized communications plan—one that delivers the right messages to the right constituents at the right time—can help a merger or acquisition go smoothly and establish unity and profitability. Yet, despite the best-laid plans, change management is always hard and you’re sure to encounter challenges along the way.

Years ago, we worked with an entrepreneur to help him prepare his company for an exit. He did all the right things: built and developed a talented team, grew his bench of successors, and partnered with us early to build a scalable sales and marketing competency that increased his valuation. He anticipated that it would take three years to complete a successful transaction. Instead, it was done in just 18 months.

We know that change is good, that's why we are expanding our change management support! Like you, we recognize how critical this is to the success of your organization's initiatives. In the companies we work with, the pace of change, employee fatigue, and the need for our support has grown over the last year. We are proud to announce that we are expanding:

I hope you have taken the time to recognize and reflect with pride on what you accomplished last year. The team you built showed resilience and grit in adapting to challenging circumstances. The hard news: your team members are now in danger of burnout. As leaders, it is our job to provide the structure and tools to help them prioritize and focus on the year ahead.

In the best of times, employees report “better communications” as their top suggestion for improvement on nearly every leader’s 360° survey. It has become a trope…and the scourge of every leader.