E.ON is an international energy company providing residential and business electricity and gas solutions. With over 9400 employees in the UK they are the 2nd largest energy provider.

The Challenge

Despite being voted number one for overall customer satisfaction in the uSwitch Energy Awards, E.ON, didn’t want to get complacent. ’We are driven to provide the best possible quality of service for our customers,’ says David Bird, Customer Operations Director, E.ON UK. With this in mind they wanted to equip their managers and team leaders with the tools and techniques to have effective performance coaching conversations, leading to improvements in service quality.

The Approach

E.ON approached us to tackle this challenge and we designed and delivered a two-day workshop ‘Coaching for Performance’ to over 600 managers and team leaders in its Customer Operations division. We used TA (Transactional Analysis) to give the delegates a set of tools and techniques to increase their ability to have effective conversations. The workshop included how to coach others and how to confront difficult situations. We followed up with a one-day workshop to develop identified advocates to sustain and embed the learning.

Results

Reaction to the learning was instant, ‘People left the workshop, tried something new and got a positive result straight away. The effect on performance was immediate’, says David.

Nine months on from the workshop we evaluated its impact with an online survey and telephone interviews. Feedback from participants was extremely positive, including improved teamwork, improved relationships with direct reports and better management of underperforming staff. An average of 93% of the delegates reported improvements in areas such as, customer service, productivity, challenging difficult behaviours and job satisfaction.

‘We called the programme ‘Powering up your People’ and it did just that, equipping managers to have really effective coaching conversations that have led to improvements in service quality,’ says David.

‘Since the workshop began you can see, hear and feel a massive culture change. The way we hold our coaching conversations has been transformed. Managers are having more conversations with colleagues regarding their performance and are holding people to account who don’t step up to the mark.’

‘TLC’s evaluation was impressive, continues David. Our line managers and team leaders have shown they can positively influence the attitude and performance of others and create a high-performance culture. Since the workshop we have retained the uSwitch Energy Award for best overall customer satisfaction and are confident that we have put ourselves in a strong position to further improve the service our customers receive.’