Fish & Wildlife Compliance

HOW TO CHANGE COURSE MID-STREAM

Like turning a barge around in the middle of a river, getting a large federal utility to change its way of working isn’t easy.

The Fish and Wildlife group at a federal utility is responsible for making sure the utility complies with the Environmental Species Act (ESA). Two separate legal agreements must be met that relate to ESA-listed fish.

The Fish and Wildlife group needed a way to meet these agreements and also manage and document all work conducted within the entire program. They needed a new methodology and reporting tool that would compile quantitative data from multiple sources and provide a holistic view of the program.

That’s when ACME came aboard.

 We soon learned we had to facilitate process discussion not only with the utility, but also with representatives of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and other groups.

We also had to build relationships with executives, policymakers, lawyers, biologists and geologists – many of whom were less than keen on implementing a new system and formalizing the process infrastructure.

We had to get everyone facing into the wind.

Our first challenge was to build credibility. We spent a lot of time forming strong working relationships with stakeholders and overcoming their skepticism of “outside consultants.” Communicating project goals and showing the value that would result was critical to getting people on board.

Through detailed interviews, process charting sessions and weekly team status meetings, we began to shape a new system. Together with the data management team, we created a new step-by-step process and methodology that gave Fish and Wildlife management a holistic view of their entire program.

We recommended a dashboard for the executive team fed by an underlying work plan. Tangible outputs were delivered, including policy documentation, process diagrams and project implementation tracking sheets for charting every task.

People recognized the value of the quantitative results. In fact, the new methodology was so well received that Fish and Wildlife management decided to use it as a barometer for all projects (not just those associated with the ESA-related activities).

And now, they’re full speed ahead.