Laurie Oppel
Managing Director
Navigant Consulting
Excellence in Energy
What does an energy company have in common with a consulting firm? Success in both industries is intrinsically linked to a company's ability to attract, train and maintain the next generation of leaders.
"It's always much more difficult to attract good people than it is to keep good people," explains Laurie Oppel, managing director of Navigant's Energy- Power Systems, Markets & Pricing practice. While few would disagree with that adage, few consultants have the ability to translate it into working solutions for clients and their firm.
Across the energy space, linemen and power plant workers are retiring faster than they can be replaced, leading to a severe shortage of experience. Oppel is leading client engagements aimed at recording the knowledge of the soon-to-retire and capturing it in searchable computer systems. "Currently, a lot of the crucial information is kept in paper form, in notebooks whose pages fall apart because they are so old," Oppel says. "We're spending a lot of time training people to use the new technology and creating training tools to get junior staff up to speed."
What really makes Oppel stand out to her peers is her ability to use her "knowledge transfer" skills internally. About five years ago, voluntary attrition in Navigant's energy practice was about on par with the rest of the firm. But after a series of changes she designed to encourage greater collaboration among the team's consultants, "attrition rates have decreased dramatically," says Oppel.
Part of the slowdown in attrition can be attributed to her informal process of taking junior staff "to sales meetings, to learn how we budget and forecast how we price projects. They don't just watch; they are involved in those discussions."
She adds, "We learn from each other. The team is made up of individuals with different backgrounds. We've developed the kind of environment in which everyone can ask questions, seek help, and be peer reviewed. Anyone can learn from anyone, even managing directors can learn from senior consultants."
—Jess Scheer
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