Building an Innovation Narrative

Innovation is critical to preparing water and wastewater utilities to meet today's and tomorrow's challenges. Climate change, emerging contaminants, funding, and shifting workforce dynamics are all challenges that utilities need new ideas to address.

Utilities around the world are increasingly being asked to do more with less, and many have implemented innovation programs to create and use new ideas to improve their processes. However, they may have trouble showing how much these ideas help, as demonstrated by a global survey (WRF 4907), which found that only 35% of utility staff think they accurately measure the impact of their innovation.

To show the impact of their innovation programs, some utility leaders use metrics to prove that their programs are working. They may count things like the number of new ideas and the amount of time it takes to make them happen. Some programs also try to measure the effect of the new ideas, such as how they have improved employee experience, or how they make customers feel. But these metrics can be hard to measure and may not capture the full impact of the innovation.

This project, commonly called "Building an Innovation Narrative," was supported by 36 water and wastewater utilities from around the world. This project aimed to help utilities showcase the value of innovation and improve their performance through effective storytelling and meaningful performance measures. The research involved four main tasks, including gathering stakeholder input through surveys and workshops, outlining guidelines for performance measurement and management, showcasing utility case stories, and developing comprehensive guidance for defining program narratives and performance measurement plans. The project built on previous research from the Utility Innovation Network and expanded its focus to include utility communications leaders as critical players in influencing organizational culture and innovation.

The key findings emphasize the importance of integrating powerful storytelling tactics with performance measures to effectively communicate the impact of utility innovation, ultimately creating programs supported by staff and aligned with leadership expectations. The guidance materials developed through this project are expected to support innovation leaders in effectively communicating program impact, driving engagement and resources for innovation, and fostering a more agile and innovative culture within the wider water industry.

Principal Investigator

Jason T. Carter, P.E.

Project Profile

Basic Information Project Objectives Project Background/Rationale Research Approach Key Findings & Conclusions Future Recommendations

Basic Information

Project Number: TWTI-21-01
Project Title: Leveraging Utility Innovation Performance Measures for Program Management and Organizational Transformation

View the detailed list of Principal Investigator(s) and Affiliations, Participating Utilities, and Funding Agencies Here

Project Objectives

What were the objectives of this project?

•Frame the value of innovation within the overall story of utilities, organizational values, and performance measures.
•Outline guidelines for performance measurement and responding to changes in measures to improve program performance.
•Develop guidelines for telling the innovation story, incorporating meaningful performance measures that span the maturity of the innovation program.

Project Background/Rationale

This project addressed the objectives through the following tasks:

•Task 1. Building Innovation Narratives and Aligning Performance Measures. The objective of this task was to frame the value of innovation with overall organizational narratives, associated value dimensions, and performance measures. This task included identifying project Core Questions, soliciting stakeholder input through surveys (Demographics Survey and Narratives Survey), and conducting a workshop around storytelling tactics.

•Task 2. Maintaining and Using Measures to Improve Performance. The objective of this task was to outline guidelines for data gathering, performance measurement, and management as well as responding to changes in measure to improve program performance. This task included collecting data around current innovation performance measures being tracked by utilities through the Managing Program Data Survey, conducting interviews with utilities to better understand audience and storyteller perspectives (executive leadership, staff, and innovation leaders), and identifying innovation program phases. Additionally, this task also included additional research related to innovation performance measures in the industry and measuring the effectiveness of storytelling on organizational change. This task ended with an in-person workshop held at The Water Tower. During this workshop, the team presented a draft of the performance measure selection tool to equip utility innovation leaders to select performance measures (i.e., value and program measures) based on their innovation maturity level and the program’s value dimensions or the purpose of the innovation program. The draft innovation program phases were also presented to discuss the typical lifecycles of an innovation program and describe common performance measure trends that may be expected when managing a program. During the session, key discussions were held with the utility partners to consider in the next iteration of this guidance.

•Task 3. Demonstrating Innovation Impact with Case Stories. The objective of this task was to showcase specific utility innovation management case stories (called vignettes) related to key challenges that utilities may encounter and steps innovation leaders can take to address the challenges. These vignettes included examples of effective communications, leveraging metrics to demonstrate innovation impact, and ways to refresh the innovation program to maintain or improve engagement. These vignettes were presented in Workshop 3 and published in the final resource guide.

•Task 4. Developing Guidance for Building a Narrative through Select Performance Measures. The objective of this task was to develop guidelines for defining the program narrative, value dimensions and a meaningful performance measurement plan to span the maturity of the innovation program. This task included developing an outline for the final Guidance Manual, synthesizing materials developed during the project, and reviewing the final Guidance Manual in Workshop 4, which was a virtual, half-day session.

Did this research build on previous research?
This project is the third in a series from the Utility Innovation Network. The first two projects, WRF 4642 and 4907, focused on developing resources for use by the innovation lead and executive leadership. This project expanded the intended users to also include the utility communications leads, recognizing them as a critical player in influencing organizational culture and innovation.

Research Approach

What was the research approach for this project?

The research approach involved a multi-faceted strategy to frame the value of innovation within organizational narratives and performance measures. This included stakeholder input through surveys and workshops to identify common and effective innovation narratives. Subsequently, guidelines for data gathering, performance measurement, and program management were outlined, informed by survey data, interviews with utilities, and additional research around industry best-practices. The approach also encompassed showcasing utility innovation management case stories and developing guidelines for defining program narratives and performance measurement plans across the maturity of the innovation program, culminating in the final Guidance Manual, which was review by project participants in a virtual workshop.

Key Findings & Conclusions

What were the key findings from the research?

The final guidance report for this research provides tactics for developing an innovation narrative and selecting performance measures, compiles water and non-water industry best practices for reporting program impact and demonstrates how different utilities have addressed challenges with innovation. The guidance developed as part of this project support innovation leaders to leverage narrative building tactics, performance measures, and management strategies to clearly convey the value and impact of their programs.

Organizations create a culture of innovation when everyone can participate. Leaders can support this culture through storytelling, which provides an opportunity for everyone to see themselves as part of the innovation journey. By aligning innovation directly to the organizational strategy, innovation leaders can clearly show how the innovation program positively impacts the business of the utility. The combination of storytelling and directly tying innovation goals to organizational goals ultimately creates an innovation program that is supported by staff and aligned with leadership expectations.

Management and Policy Implications and Benefits to the Industry

How will findings from this project affect the wider water industry?

The guidance materials developed through this project will support innovation leaders in effectively communicating the impact of their program to internal audiences including staff and executive leadership. This will help to drive engagement and resources for innovation, ultimately supporting a more agile and innovative culture at the utility.

Graphics/Figures

Figure Caption: Innovation programs require discretionary energy and creativity from staff. As a result, these programs go through typical “Phases”. To maintain momentum of the program, innovation leaders can assess what phase they are in and take specific actions that are appropriate for that phase.

Future Recommendations

What recommendations do you have for topics of future study related to this effort?
During this project, recurring questions and challenges to innovation program effectiveness were identified by the research team. These topics for exploration, listed below, have been scoped by the Utility Innovation Network as the next collaborative effort.

1. How might we improve the value of direct peer-to-peer collaborations and sharing of innovation insights?
2. How are utilities creatively resourcing (e.g., funding) their research and innovation efforts?
3. How might utilities effectively leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies to accelerate innovation program impact?
4. How might utilities effectively leverage emerging market drivers to build momentum for their innovation program?

Related Research
Are there other studies on this topic that are relevant to the research?

This project is the third in a series from the Utility Innovation Network. This project builds upon this guidance for innovation programs at water and water utilities developed in the first two projects, WRF 4642 and 4907.

Project Outreach
What outreach activities have been conducted for this study? For example, presentations, articles, etc.

This project was presented at the following conferences:
•Utility Management Conference 2023: More to the Story than Performance Measures
•Utility Management Conference 2024: Innovation Amplified: Harnessing Collaboration and Communications for Breakthrough Solutions

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The Building an Innovation Narrative final deliverables are available at no cost by request.

Please fill out the form below to request a PDF copy of "Building an Innovation Narrative".

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Building an Innovation Narrative

Innovation is critical to preparing water and wastewater utilities to meet today's and tomorrow's challenges. Climate change, emerging contaminants, funding, and shifting workforce dynamics are all challenges that utilities need new ideas to address.

Principal Investigator

Project Profile

Request Project Deliverable

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