9.1 Introduction

Of all the assets your utility manages, the people, or human assets, are by far the most valuable. All the data, information and procedures in the world will not be helpful without the people to make sense of the data, communicate the information and implement the procedures. As we saw in Chapter 2, it is extremely important to get "buy-in" from everyone involved, from elected officials to the field staff, and including your customers. In this chapter, we will look at some of the most important considerations involving communication, knowledge management, training, leadership, and community involvement. This discussion is designed to help you achieve the kind of "big view" that will help your efforts succeed beyond just gathering data and implementing programs.

It requires a culture change.. You need to be ready to focus on the people aspects of it. --Kevin Campanella, Columbus, OH

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