How Hitachi Energy Grew Headcount by 5X While Slashing Turnover

Providing Supervisors with Skills to Drive Growth

Hitachi Energy’s North American Transformer business was expanding rapidly. To continue growing, they needed to keep employees engaged and reduce turnover in order to deliver on their book of business and customer expectations.

Hitachi Energy knew that leaders directly impact engagement and turnover. They could improve both by equipping leaders with core skills to grow and retain strong teams. But many of their supervisors and frontline leaders lacked the experience and foundational skills to be effective. Ninety percent had been with the organization for fewer than two years. Many were first-time leaders, and had never fostered collaboration, innovation, and growth in a formal leadership role.

So, Hitachi Energy partnered with DDI to create targeted development for supervisors and frontline leaders in North America. The program focused on providing leaders with the core skills and standard operating procedures (SOP) for all human interactions to impact key metrics like absenteeism, attrition, engagement, and their Employer of Choice Index.

A Common Leadership Language Based on Core Skills

Mike Von Bargen, Global Operations Training Manager at Hitachi Energy Transformers, led the training and development team. He envisioned building a common leadership culture across all transformer sites in North America. DDI has partnered with Hitachi Academy, the company’s global learning and development university, and other Hitachi businesses worldwide for nearly two decades. So Mike knew there was no better partner for the job.

Using DDI’s Leadership Development Subscription, Hitachi Energy and DDI built a development program that would teach frontline leaders core skills. Courses include skill practice and industry- and role-specific examples to ensure supervisors could connect new behaviors to common, on-the-job situations.

The program develops skills in what Hitachi calls The 3C’s: Communication, Coaching, and Conflict. Materials characterize behaviors as an “SOP for human interactions” on the plant floor—a structural framework familiar to supervisors from lean and safety procedures. Participants discover how models like the Interaction Essentials^SM and Key Principles create more effective interpersonal interactions while also establishing a common leadership language between supervisors and seniors across the business.

The program also kept development going outside of the classroom. Participants could use self-paced digital tools, such as My Pathway: Leadership Core, to access personalized learning recommendations that refresh and reinforce key concepts as well as develop additional leadership skills.

You can have all the latest technology and state-of-the-art equipment available, but still without trained and motivated people to operate it, it will be just a piece of steel.

Bartek Wielebnowski, Global Operations Manager, Hitachi Energy

Real, Measurable Results

To measure the success of the program, Hitachi completed an Impact Evaluation following the training of more than 750 plant supervisors across North America. More than two-thirds of supervisors reported that the program increased their engagement and the engagement of their teams, and 92% said they were engaged in their jobs.

Participants also said:

• “I felt challenged to think about my future and what I can do to better myself.”
• “The tools, techniques, and principles were super relevant. I can start applying them NOW!”
• “It showed me that the company is interested in helping develop future leaders.”
• “I felt emotionally safe to share my own experiences.”

Critical business metrics escalated post-launch as well. The Hitachi Energy Employer of Choice Index score almost doubled in just over a year—jumping from 45 to 85 (out of 100) and turnover dropped 80% for salaried and 25% for hourly employees. Hitachi Energy estimates they saved $20M over the 18 months following the launch of the leadership development program through this turnover reduction and significantly increased the number of engaged employees.

The positivity of the team members was palpable as I toured the factory. I can tell that investing in our people’s development is encouraging our employees and building trust in the organization.

CP Vyas, Head of Global Operations, Hitachi Energy

What’s Next?

With the success of The 3C’s program, Hitachi Energy is continuing with quarterly development offerings, based on the needs of each site.

Next, they are planning their expansion globally, not only with the supervisory program, but with programs for all leader levels across the Hitachi Energy Transformer business. They aim to create a common leadership language and culture around the globe that will drive successful business results.

Learn more about DDI’s Leadership Development Subscriptions.