South Dakota-based Heartland Energy recently provided details on the joint action agency’s strategic plan.
In his Aug. 5 CEO’s Report, Russell Olson, Heartland Energy CEO, noted that Heartland Energy launched a strategic planning initiative back in March.
“With the help of a consultant, we sought to identify our company’s purpose through the development of long-term goals that would define accomplishment of our mission,” Olson noted.
Heartland Energy sought counsel from Mark McCain, executive consultant/strategic planning for Hometown Connections, Inc. (HCI).
The overall objectives of the strategic plan included defining a compelling purpose for the organization, identifying the most important strategies for success and unleashing our team’s talent on what matters most, Olson said.
Heartland Energy announced the completed plan at its Summer Conference on July 30.
“We worked through a four-phase process to complete our strategic plan, starting with staff brainstorming potential goals and strategies through an online survey developed by McCain. The survey allowed staff to provide input on what they felt Heartland’s priorities should be as well as what the company’s greatest strengths as well as weaknesses are,” Olson wrote.
McCain also reached out to a sampling of board members and customers to get their feedback.
“From there, all stakeholders had the opportunity to provide input through a ranking survey. Individuals could rank which goals they felt were most important to the overall success of the company and our customers,” Olson noted.
The survey “proved to be invaluable as McCain broke down which groups of stakeholders – board members, customers and staff – found which goals most important. It was incredibly helpful to see each group’s perspective as we laid out plans for the future,” Olson said.
Utilizing that feedback, staff created a shortlist of goals and strategies and then a two-day workshop was held with the board of directors where the plan was finalized.
The first step in establishing the plan “was to review our mission and vision statements. Overall, we felt these still rang true, so only made minor adjustments,” Olson said.
The following four goals, each of which fall under an operational arm of Heartland, were established:
- Finances: Maintain stable rates and a strong financial position.
- Operations: Increase power sales and strengthen operational efficiency for the best interest of Heartland.
- Services: Provide programs and services that add value and maintain strong relationships with customers
- Advocacy and innovation: proactively identify threats and opportunities and advocate to ensure continued stability, growth and customer satisfaction.
Under each goal, strategies were developed to outline activities required to achieve the objectives.
Heartland Energy provides wholesale power to public power communities across South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.
Based in Madison, SD, Heartland Energy also provides a suite of customer service programs including economic development, energy efficiency, cybersecurity and more.
