Tag Archives: career development

Behind the Scenes, Employee Spotlights

Charlotte Water Employee Spotlight: Steve Wood

For most of us, when we begin the process of an annual review, it can sometimes be challenging to remember all the details of our accomplishments throughout the year. Wouldn’t it be great to have a system that keeps track of all our hard work? Well, that is what The Experience H2O Project will provide for our employees.

Steve Wood and Becky Kukowski at the SuccessConnect Conference in September 2019

What is The Experience H2O Project?

Training Specialist Steve Wood is the business analyst behind this new project, which has been in development for several months. The project will allow employees to efficiently market their skills, plan their development, and document their performance and feedback throughout the year.

Supervisors and leadership staff will manage and document their staff’s performance and development and allow for a more strategic approach to succession planning across the department. By leveraging existing technology, we can streamline our performance and staffing procedures while providing a product that is already familiar to our staff.

Project Roll-out

With any new product comes patience and training. The roll-out of this new program will be slow and methodical, knowing that there will likely be challenges and improvements made along the way. This software will be introduced to each division at a time so that Steve and the project team can incorporate feedback and questions along the way to improve user experience.

Steve shared that there has been a need for this project for quite some time, and the team is hoping to finalize the project and kick it off this winter or early in the new year. Steve also shared that managing this project has allowed him to expand his knowledge outside of his role, and learn more about procurement, I&T, Human Resources, and how to improve processes.

Thank You to the Team

Thanks to Steve and the Experience H2O Project Team’s hard work, we are excited about this new chapter for Charlotte Water. We’re confident that we will make it a success!

The Experience H2O Team Members:

Executive Sponsor
Shawn Coffman

Project Sponsors
Carolyn Ross
Demetria Butler
Doug Groce

Project Management
Trey Lanier
Angel Carter

Business/Functional Analyst
Steve Wood

Applications Development/Technical team
Gloria Bell
Rick White
Claudia Coello

Subject Matter Experts
Becky Kukowski
Meredith Ward
Jill White

Behind the Scenes, Employee Spotlights

Creating Utility Careers: Charlotte Water’s Employment Programs

“Trust the process.” That is what Training Specialist Sherri Jones says to participants of Charlotte Water’s employment programs. Beginning a new career is never easy, but with the right mindset and tools for success, anything is possible.

Earlier this year, Charlotte Water began developing programs that would provide participants with on-the-job experience, and a clear path for training and success. Those programs are the Pipeline Academy and the Apprenticeship Program. Both programs offer a foundation for a successful career with Charlotte Water. But the main difference is that one program is able to guarantee employment upon successful completion, while the other cannot make that same guarantee.

The Pipeline Academy is our internship program. This program operates like other internship programs, in the sense that companies do not always guarantee that they will be able to offer you a job at the end of your placement. But, if you thrive, and there is an opportunity available, then every effort would be made to hire that participant. The academy’s first cohort of 10 interns started in February of 2019; 9 of the 10 interns completed in August, and all 9 were hired as full-time employees for Charlotte Water.

The Apprenticeship Program is similar to the Pipeline Academy, but this year-long program guarantees a job to participants upon successful completion. The only requirements to apply are that you are 18 years old, have a valid drivers licence, have a high school degree or GED, and you have the ability and passion to work hard and learn. Through the program, participants will have the ability to attend trainings, obtain certifications, obtain all city benefits, and have opportunities to grow and develop within Charlotte Water. As the program continues to grow and develop, Charlotte Water’s training specialists are partnering with others in the community to be able to provide wraparound services to its program participants.

Charlotte Water’s employment programs have been so successful that the City of Charlotte began a program called Career Pathways. Their first group included 49 interns across seven city departments.

Be on the lookout for upcoming spotlight stories on our past and present program participants!