South East Water

Context

Nine Feet Tall were engaged by South East Water to help upskill team members within a new change landscape. South East Water were introducing a new change function and methodology. This was a wide portfolio of change to a group that were working in silos and with limited change expertise. South East Water wanted this function to land well while being practical and something teams would actually buy into. Nine Feet Tall had a goal to help build the confidence, capability and structure to make change feel exciting and best practice stick.

Delivery

Nine Feet Tall focused on building capability from the inside out, starting with a Community of Practice (CoP). Nine Feet Tall facilitated workshops to upskill team members and provide them with tools and templates that suited the level of change expertise within South East Water. The idea was to create a space where people could learn by doing; sharing experiences, testing ideas and getting comfortable with new ways of working.

7 sessions were designed and delivered to around 60 employees, covering the essentials: how to manage a project, what good change management looks like, how to build solid delivery plans, and how to track benefits and costs in a meaningful way and much more. Keeping things simple and relevant so they felt practical.

The early sessions were small, mostly attended by those already delivering projects, these then evolved as the sessions gained wider interest. HR teams, finance, and others involved in change began to join. Over a few months, the CoP grew to around 30 regular participants, bringing more perspectives into the room and creating better conversations.
Sessions were deliberately hands-on so that everyone left with something tangible every time.

Outcome

Nine Feet Tall helped South East Water shift from a reactive, stretched approach to something more joined-up and confident. There’s now a clearer understanding of how projects should be delivered with governance in place to support progress.

The Community of Practice built momentum as people started asking better questions, challenging more constructively. There’s been a noticeable shift in how change is talked about too… more confidence.

Engagement with the new change PMO has grown. Importantly, the foundations are there for this to continue. Tools, templates and ways of working have been embedded and ownership has now been handed over internally.

With capability building from within and a stronger framework in place, South East Water is in a much better position to keep delivering with excellence.