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Women in Water – Profiling Leading Women in the Water IndustrylefttopKarla TeasleyKarla is the current Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer at American Water. Are you self-employed or are you an ownership partner in the company?I work for American Water, which is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The Company employs more than 6,800 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and other related services to an estimated 15 million people in 47 states and Ontario, Canada. As a leader of the company, I own a stock ownership interest in its performance.What are your primary job duties?My primary job duties are to lead and inspire Customer Experience management teams including Customer Service and Customer Relations staff to deliver industry-leading service and value to all customers of American Water. I also drive the organization to work together for optimal customer experiences and support business leaders in their role driving culture change in the customer transformation journey. Another key accountability is leadership for major account management in partnership with key Customer Experience staff, and partnering with state leadership teams for ongoing personalized service and periodic surveys to ensure satisfaction with program goals.Do you currently hold a leadership position within your company?Yes. As the Chief Customer Experience Officer, I report to the President of Regulated Operations and COO and participate with his team of state presidents and other functional leaders who drive the business results for the company. We provide leadership to staff at all levels of the organization, as we interact with them on critical issues of safety, customer satisfaction, and other key strategic objectives.What certifications or college degrees you hold?I hold a B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School. I also am licensed to practice law in Florida and Minnesota, currently on inactive status. What organizations have you worked with in a volunteering capacity?I currently serve on the Board of Directors, Lewis & Clark Community College Foundation. I have served on the Board of the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois. I previously served on the Board as Treasurer and Executive Committee Member of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, and was a member of the Board of Executive Committee of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce; served as a member of the Resource Board of the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Illinois Business Roundtable.I have been a member of the American Water Works Association for more than 25 years and spent significant amounts of time during my career, particularly in Kentucky volunteering for the Kentucky-Tennessee Section of AWWA. My efforts resulted in my election to Board Chair as well as Chair of the Water Utility Council. I was also a recipient of the George Warren Fuller Award from the Kentucky-Tennessee Section in 2003.What professional experiences, in chronological order, have lead you to this point in your career?Staff Attorney, Minnesota Power, Duluth, MN (1983-1989)Vice President, General Counsel and Director, Florida Water Services, Orlando, FL (1989-1997)Vice President, Serving Customers, Louisville Water Company, Louisville, KY (1997-2001)Vice President, Serving Customers & Business Development, Louisville Water Company, Louisville, KY (2002-2007)President, Illinois American Water, Belleville, IL (2007-2014)Vice President of Customer Service, American Water, Alton, IL (2015-2016)Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer, American Water, Alton, IL (2016-Present)What is unique about your job as compared with other similar jobs?The water industry has been a bit slower to focus on customer satisfaction and the customer experience than some other industries like electric utilities or other service providers. Therefore, there are not as many Chief Customer Experience Officers or similar roles in the water industry. So not only do we lack similar jobs, but the water industry is behind the “eight ball” in the Customer Experience (CX) area compared to other service providers in the United States. According to the latest J.D. Power rankings, the water industry is in the bottom quartile of the services industry in customer satisfaction. Therefore, the challenges that we have in our industry are quite different from some of the other service providers and the needs of Customer Experience Officers are unique. I help the organization to understand the value of focus on the Customer Experience from more of a starting point. This involves communication, persistence, influence and patience. Our Company also lacks a lot of the foundational infrastructure which is required to operate in the digital world and make it easy to do business with us. Therefore, I spend significant time justifying resources for this work versus spending that money on infrastructure replacement. Also, working with our Information Technology staff to prioritize competing demands, even with the Customer Experience budget, can be challenging as needs can change very quickly. Finally, getting business leadership to understand why they should take money from other critical initiatives and spend it on increased customer communication as well as new technology is not always easy. Even getting support to have front-line workers spend more time with customers to explain issues or fully resolve a problem rather than moving on to the next customer can be tricky. These are some of the things that make the role of a water industry Customer Experience Officer unique.Describe one of the toughest situations you have faced in this job.After being in the job for about nine months and just getting somewhat settled in the role, I experienced some unusual health symptoms. I quickly sought medical attention. After about a month, I received gripping news: I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Colon Cancer. As a person who has felt quite healthy all my life, this came as a huge shock! How could I have missed the warning signs, if there were any? I had followed all the recommended tests for my age and gender. Needless to say, I started asking many questions about treatment, options, diet and exercise, prognosis, etc., etc. But this life-changing situation really made me come to grips with the current status of my life and my real priorities. For example, if I have a short time to live, what do I want to do/accomplish with that precious time? How do I prioritize my work along with family, friends, community, and a “bucket list” that is unfinished? After communicating my situation to my family, friends, co-workers and organization leadership, I was blown away by the outpouring of love, caring, prayers and support from so many. This caring and support has truly made the difference for me in my attitude and the way I have approached this challenging situation in my life. Because of these amazing people, I have had the freedom and motivation to work on my attitude, my diet, exercise and other things I can do to fight this disease. I also have worked on my interpersonal relationships; to treat family, friends and co-workers in a more loving, caring way. The real learning opportunity is that I didn’t need to get a life-threatening disease to realize that these changes would make a big difference…. in the way I am approaching life, how it benefits my relationships with others and my effectiveness as a person. Even without such an imminent threat, I would encourage you to consider focusing more effort on these areas of your work and personal life. I believe it will make a measurable difference in your success and happiness. And, work on getting some adventures checked off that bucket list!What skills or talents do you believe are most essential to be effective in your job? How did you learn these skills?*A strong focus on safety so employees can go home at night to their families in the same condition that they left in the morning*Great communication skills, particularly listening skills*Influencing and motivating others*Passion for the job and the outcomes we are trying to achieve*People skills, which include the ability to listen and connect with people so they feel valued*Problem-solving and decision-makingI believe I learned these skills in many ways over many years and am still learning and trying to hone my skills. Although I have always had a strong safety mindset and focus, I learned a more unwavering focus that safety is always first, from our current CEO, Susan Story. Susan has such a personal passion for safety that everyone she touches immediately becomes committed.My communication, listening and influencing skills are an area of constant focus and improvement. In my opinion, you can never finish your work in these areas. I am learning new ways on a regular basis to be a better communicator and listener. Those skills in turn help my ability to influence and motivate people to drive toward meeting the objectives of the Customer Experience Team and the goals of the company. Passion is not something you learn. I think it comes more from personal drive and what you believe. I have personally had a passion for the water business and the fact that what we do is a critical, life-sustaining service for our customers ever since I worked in water and wastewater in Florida many years ago. I have carried that same passion into each position I have held since then and it is critical for success in my current job that people see and feel that passion to join in meeting our objectives.In the area of people skills one of the most important things is connecting with people on that interpersonal level so they feel valued. Asking about their life in a genuine way and finding ways to encourage, help, or recognize them in some way creates that sense of value. Really listening to people without distractions or a separate agenda goes a long way. I have also found that sharing something personal about myself helps to create a bond and connection. The ability to quickly analyze problems and come to timely decisions is also key in my role. In a large organization, there are always a myriad of challenges that require resolution on a regular basis to keep processes and projects moving. The ability to quickly analyze a problem comes partially from my legal background, as it helps to ask the right questions. Timely decision-making is something I have learned over time, as too often I have observed the failure of leaders to make a decision, particularly when they don’t have 100% of the relevant information. However, the delay or failure to decide does much more harm to the organization than making a timely decision with 80% of the related data or information.What are the goals you most want to accomplish in your work? (Not the goals that are defined by your job description, but the goals that you personally hold). My organization is at a very exciting time in our Customer Experience journey. I believe I have contributed to developing the foundation for that journey and I would like to help the organization meet some of our key objectives over the next few years. Some of these include being the best water utility in the country as measured by customer satisfaction scores. We also have certain key projects that we would like to see through to completion on communicating digitally with our customers for alerts and notifications, as well as a bill redesign project. I would like to have a significant role in the successful completion of these important projects that will propel us in a major way along our customer experience journey. I also personally would like to help change the culture of the Company to be much more customer-centric. This means helping to remove current barriers to providing the best customer experience. It also means giving our front-line employees the right tools, technology and information they need to provide that optimal customer experience. For me, that is one of the most rewarding goals that I could help to accomplish.Did you have any key mentors or people that deeply influenced who you are, what you believe in and what you’re committed to in your work and life? Tell me about them. What made them such a special mentor?One of the key mentors in my career is a gentleman by the name of John Huber, who was the President of Louisville Water Company. He was my boss for 10 years. John is one of those people that everyone likes and respects. During his tenure at Louisville Water, he was known throughout the water industry as a great leader and led one of the best-operated water companies in the country. John conducted business with the utmost integrity, and his ethics were without question. When I have an ethical dilemma, I often think about what John would have done to help me resolve it. He had tremendous passion for the water industry and I believe that much of my passion has been influenced by John. He also believed in always using the best practices available in the way we carried out our work. At a time when few used total quality management in the industry, he was an avid supporter of those approaches for our company, which contributed significantly to our status as an industry leader. He frequently would talk to employees about whether they were focusing on completing “tasks” or working toward results. My drive for results has been influenced greatly by John. He is also the consummate gentleman and has a great sense of humor; another reason he is so well liked. He brought humor and some fun to the workplace, which I believe are so important to have the right balance of work and play for success. ................
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