Meet the Speaker: Chuck Tooman, Director, Navigant Consulting

Meet Charles (Chuck) Tooman, Director for Navigant Consulting. Learn how he enjoys running marathons and staying in shape.

Meet him in person September 17-20, 2018 in Palm Springs, California, where he will co-present at both the Change Management for Utilities Conference and the Process Excellence for Utilities Conference with Golden State Water.

Question: Name, title, company?
Charles (Chuck) Tooman, Director, Navigant Consulting

Question: Family, hometown, where you live?
Two teenage boys (yikes) – I live near Boulder, CO.

Question: What is your utility/change management experience?
Although I started my career in commodity and enterprise risk management, the areas of process excellence, organizational transformation, and change management have been the primary focus of my career.

Question: What do you like to do when you’re not working? Hobbies?
I am a Sherpa for my kids’ lacrosse shenanigans, which take us all over the
US and Canada. Also, I (try to) stay in-shape (despite my gimpy knee). Music has always been an interest (and was nearly my academic focus very early
on).

Question: Notable achievements?
Over-educated and under-skilled (two MAs); I’ve run a few marathons; I am
doing my part to raise two productive citizens.

Question: Where do you see Change Management in utilities in two years?
Change management will continue to be integrated into a wide variety of
initiatives – from strategic planning, to process excellence (among others). Continuous Improvement programs will grow (but only in those utilities with strong and consistent leadership). Awareness – if not expertise – in change concepts will also grow, which will result in the idea that “everyone” owns part of successful change. In terms of process excellence, the pressure to transform – and also “do more with less” – will continue. Achieving measurable process improvement in more rapid timeframes will become the norm as Agile and other methods are utilized.

Question: What is your biggest challenge?
Typically, we encounter the “usual suspects” – resistance to change,
resistance to lead change, limited stamina for change efforts, shifting
priorities, etc.

Question: What did you do prior to working in your current role?
I have been in consulting for over 15 years, focusing on strategic planning, process excellence, and organizational change. However, I started my career in risk management (a discipline that still informs all of my work).

Question: Who are a couple of your role models (and why)?
I have had the good fortune of working alongside many leaders who bring a
variety of important perspectives to the table. Too many to list here.

Question: What is one of your biggest goals (in life or business)?
To continue to coach leaders through complex and challenging change efforts – and smile along the way.

Question: What’s the biggest misconception you run into in your role (or what people seem to think about Change Management)?
The idea that change management is entirely soft and fuzzy, that Lean is
cost reduction, and that process excellence is a book of Visio maps.