Change is the only constant in the clean energy sector. And in speaking with three clean energy leaders in the US and Europe, growth and leadership coach Anna Oakes is convinced that all the regulatory changes, supply chain shifts, and tech disruptions make it especially difficult and essential to manage change well. So, what works?
According to a study by Prosci, a leading change management consultancy, a staggering 73% of organizations struggle with change implementation. Successfully navigating turbulent waters requires a strategic approach.
Enter the ADKAR model by Prosci, a trusty compass for navigating change. This model breaks down change management into five key steps: building awareness, creating desire, instilling knowledge, building ability, and the all important reinforcement. This process has helped me help leaders manage change — whether it’s a new policy or a new way of working — and I believe that every leader and employee should be upskilled in managing change for themselves, their teams, and the companies they work for.
To learn more about the change management issues that clean energy leaders are facing right now — and if the ADKRA model can help — I spoke with three founders in home electrification and hydrokinetic energy.
Awareness: Shining a Light on the Need for Change
“The renewable energy sector has the potential to create millions of new jobs worldwide in the coming decades."
Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, former Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The first step in our ADKAR journey is awareness. We've heard the dire warnings about climate change, we know about the dwindling fossil fuel reserves, and we see the ever-increasing energy demands of our modern world. It's time to wake up and smell the renewable coffee, folks!
In practice, this is hard. Very hard! From managing incentive programs and rebates to tracking moving targets, the rules of engagement to get a clean energy business off the ground and grow are always changing. And with the predicted growth of this industry comes rapid fire growing pains, including attracting, developing, and retaining excited and skilled talent.
There’s a lot of talk about shortages in the workforce and less talk about how to actually bridge the gap: not by generalizing the trades or betting on Good Feelings™, but intentionally cultivating unique people with specific skills to do impactful work.
Take electrification contractors, for example. In 2023, 49% of contractors told EnergySage that lack of experience and industry knowledge among candidates was making hiring difficult. It’s easy to say that this is a marketing or messaging obstacle, but the hard truth is that like many clean energy careers, it takes a special person to do this job!
“They have to be good on a ladder and not afraid of bees,” says Brian LaMorte, CEO of Ithaca, NY-based home electrification provider LaMorte Electric Heating and Cooling. “And good at math, science, and construction. And reasonably strong to lift compressors,” he continues. “And squeeze into tight spots. And work in the rain and the cold. It's a tough job.”
Hiring for roles in sales, design, and administration also poses challenges. Scaling the business to a point where hiring dedicated administrators makes sense is tough. “You can’t do that with a handful of people. We need to be more like 10 or 12 people and have individual departments. Probably need to be a minimum $4 million-a-year business,” LaMorte explains.
We shouldn’t expect the skilled labor pool to start overflowing overnight. But according to LaMorte, there’s reason to be hopeful. “Recently, there’s a big push among Gen Z. Trades are looking appealing to them. They didn’t grow up with the stigma that trades are for people who couldn’t cut it in other areas,” says LaMorte.
Róisín Mc Cormack, COO and co-founder of County Limerick, Ireland-based GKinetic Energy Ltd, echoes his optimism about building a driven workforce. “We get high-caliber people. Their motivation was to work for a positive impact company — they're really concerned about a sustainable future.”
Desire: Kindling the Flame of Motivation
Alright. We’re becoming more aware of the gaps. Now it’s time to fill them. That’s why the next step in the ADKAR model is desire. Renewable energy leaders can find their motivational mojo by deepening their understanding of the holistic benefits of clean energy and the change it brings, then setting out to change our communal desires, starting with their team.
The companies leading this revolution must model what it means to change our desires.
It’s not enough that we can imagine a world where the air is crisp and clean, where our children can breathe freely without fear of pollution, where we're no longer beholden to the whims of volatile fossil fuel markets: we have to actively desire it.
The companies leading this revolution must model what it means to change our individual desires — and new individual desires need new motivational models.
We need clean energy workers to drive the change necessary within our companies and for that we’ll need to provide ecosystems where change is openly desired and thoughtfully practiced. Company leadership can help paint that picture of hope and promise, but they must also model what it means to do things differently for the greater good — whether that’s making good on promises of improved accountability or providing incentives for team members to reduce their carbon footprint.
Knowledge: Equipping Ourselves for the Journey
“We're creating a job that doesn't exist today. We're struggling to build a whole training program for that and the materials didn't exist. We had to create all those things.”
The third step of the ADKAR model is knowledge. You desire change: now you’re ready to ask questions, identify you knowledge gaps, and explore uncharted territory.
Scaling a business isn’t easy. Scaling a clean energy business right now verges on the sci-fi. Take, for example, training new workers. This comes with high upfront costs, but a fully trained worker can generate substantial revenue for a clean energy business. LaMorte notes, “A worker who’s up to speed can produce $2 million of your gross revenue.”
Grant Gunnison, founder at home electrification marketplace Zero Homes, is no stranger to this quagmire. “My team went from one to ten in a year. Hiring is hard, and attracting talent as a startup is challenging.” But the “unique challenge” of hiring his company faces, he says, has everything to do with the vanguard nature of it all.
“We're creating a job that doesn't exist today. We're struggling to build a whole training program for that and the materials didn't exist. We had to create all those things.” Gunnison also has concerns about the small size of the talent pool they’re pulling from, as the skill sets might not be there and therefore extensive training might be needed.
Obtaining new knowledge to weather change in clean energy doesn’t stop with rank-and-file. For Gunnison, the role of a CEO in clean energy is constantly evolving. “My role changes quickly. What it was six months ago isn’t what it is now. I need to have the self-awareness to embrace that and plan for it. Sometimes, that means seeking help to upskill myself.”
He also stresses the importance of mental health and coaching. “One of the first things I did after raising money was get a therapist. I also joined a CEO group and sought informal coaching.”
Ability: Putting Our Knowledge into Action
Knowledge is power, but without action, it can disempower. That’s where the fourth step of the ADKAR model comes in: ability. This is where we move beyond the knowledge of what’s needed and we start practicing to cooperate with the changes. If there’s a change in process, this involves allowing time for the workers to practice the new process and handoffs. If you’re automating a task through the use of technology, you must also allow your talent time to put the new procedures in place and trouble-shoot initial hiccups.
As businesses grow, they face new challenges and need to hire for new abilities. Gunnison sees the writing on the wall and knows that more talent and infrastructure is needed to succeed. “We’ll probably need an in-house recruiter and a new office. We need to hire and double our team size when we’re ready. It’s a wild ride.”
To ensure his company has the abilities they need to grow, LaMorte is considering going union. “I want to become signatory with the local IBEW. It means making a big cash deposit for benefits and buying more tools, but it would give us access to trained labor.”
Union workers come with more training, which can maintain high-quality operations. “They may be more expensive, but if we’re 50% more efficient and labor costs go up 50%, it’s a net even. We can scale without compromising quality,” says LaMorte.
Reinforcement: Sustaining the Momentum
“It’s about executing at the right speed and in the right order. There’s a constant need to improve communication and ensure everyone is aligned.”
Change is a marathon, not a sprint, and sustaining momentum is crucial. The final step of the ADKAR model is reinforcement. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the initial stages, but consistency over the long haul is where the real work happens.
Creating well-documented processes is key to reinforcing the change. LaMorte emphasizes, “We need processes that allow us to delegate and maintain our reputation and high level of customer service.” Many small businesses have to be very intentional about scaling their sales and customer service processes.
Gunnison stresses that business fundamentals must be rock solid. “To make a dent in the climate space, the business has to be extremely profitable.” For many that means their people need to figure out how to do more with less — at least while they’re growing.
Balancing growth, quality, and profitability is a tightrope walk. Mc Cormack sums it up: “It’s about executing at the right speed and in the right order. There’s a constant need to improve communication and ensure everyone is aligned.”
Those who embrace change with open arms — in the office and at scale—will be most prepared to shape the future of the clean energy industry. And by following a model like ADKAR and staying agile, companies can take advantage of turbulence and emerge stronger, more resilient, and better equipped to tackle the challenges that we know lie ahead.
According to a McKinsey study, only 26% of transformation efforts are successful in sustaining gains over time.
Anna Oakes is CEO of Oakes Co. where they help clean energy leaders increase workforce productivity so they can scale with intention and increase company value. Raised by hippies to believe she can change the world (without a cape!), she leverages over 17 years in organizational effectiveness and 8 years as a workforce and culture consultancy. Her massive transformative purpose is to restore humanity into our work and workplaces.