Energised by new challenges
Shannan Hargreaves is plugged in to the power industry and relishing her role in the innovative company called Flick.
THE CO-FOUNDER of the country’s newest independent electricity retailer brings more than 15 years’ experience with her but it’s an industry she’s fallen into quite by accident.
Flick Electric’s Shannan Hargreaves clearly recalls that day.
‘‘I got an interview with [the then energy retailer] TransAlta but I thought I was applying to work for TranzRail and read up all about trains and the rail industry,’’ she laughs.
‘‘I was so proud of myself, I’d done my research and I felt so prepared for that interview, but after talking about trains and getting some really perplexed looks, I quickly realised I actually wasn’t interviewing for trains,’’ she says.
Still, the former army recruit managed to impress and was offered a job as a customer service representative within the business team’s call centre.
‘‘That was the beginning of my career in the energy sector and I’ve never looked back.’’
Ironically, Hargreaves has come full circle – as Flick’s customer experience and operations general manager she now heads the call centre of her own company.
‘‘Starting in a call centre myself gave me a good foundation, so now when I’m recruiting in my customer services team I’m the one looking for other skills, abilities and aptitudes, because the contact centre really is the incubator for the rest of an organisation.’’
Hargreaves and the team that started Flick in 2013 have clocked up more than 60 years collective experience between them in the electricity industry across innovation, systems and customer experience.
In a nutshell, Flick is thought to be the only power company that gives Kiwis access to the wholesale price of electricity direct from the spot market.
The Wellington-based firm passes on all of the costs of getting power to households without any mark-up, including generation, distribution, transmission and metering, and charges separately for being the retailer.
‘‘It means customers can relax knowing that they are not paying a cent more than they need to, and it means they are always paying the true cost of power and get complete transparency about who they are paying, for what,’’ says Hargreaves.
The Wairarapa-raised woman says her latest venture epitomises everything she believes in.
‘‘It’s building a business with the customer at the centre and giving customers empowerment, it’s about fairness and transparency,’’ she says.
At Flick, it’s Hargreaves’s job to manage the day-to-day operation of the customer-facing teams and the behind-the-scenes power house which is the operations team.
It means she can be doing anything from providing training to her nine staff, monitoring inbound phone calls and looking at call escalations through to looking at new developments and tools that will help customers better interact with Flick and its services.
‘‘It’s all about delivering a great service,’’ says Hargreaves.
‘‘I’m not a sales person, to me it’s building relationships, the human side of what we do and that is making a difference to people’s lives.’’
Hargreaves gives the example of calls she might make to someone moving house.
‘‘We’d call them a couple days beforehand to make sure they’ve got power, it’s the last thing on their mind when they’re going through logistics of moving house, but the last thing we want is for someone moving into a new property, who have mostly likely got kids, to not have a warm home.’’
Resolving hot water faults that result in big bills is another satisfying part of the job.
‘‘It sounds like a little thing but to someone who’s trying to make a choice between whether to heat their home in winter or pay a massive power bill because their hot water cylinder is leaking, that conversation is a great one to have.’’
Hargreaves is in daily contact with not only customers but also organisations and other networks as she builds relationships with them. Coming from an account management and relationship background at corporate and strategic level mostly within the energy sector, it’s her forte.
Her stint in TransAlta’s call centre didn’t last long, within four months she’d moved into her first business account management role.
Her love for the industry saw her continue on to other customer relations and business account management roles for the likes of On Energy, Genesis Energy, Meridian Energy and Unison Networks in Hawke’s Bay.
Hargreaves also spent two years as a senior advisor for the Energy Efficiency and Conversation Authority (EECA) delivering the demand response and renewable energy initiatives designed to help and empower Kiwis and businesses to change their behaviour with electricity consumption.
That led to another venture as part of a company that installed insulation in residential properties throughout the country, mostly for free due to Government funding.
‘‘I’d come from a corporate background where the sole driver was making money, so to provide a free service to benefit people and change their lives and their health, was so rewarding.’’
Then came an approach by excolleague and now Flick chief executive Steve O’Connor with the idea of starting a new electricity retail business.
At first Hargreaves was hesitant but when she realised Flick would be game-changing she was in.
There have been many challenges along the way with plenty of work needed to put together, build and launch a retail model, brand and platform.
But what has kept Hargreaves in the industry and excites her most is the constant change, and teaching staff and customers alike about the fundamentals of the industry.
‘‘Because this industry is everchanging, you’re constantly learning – the ever-evolving nature of this business is that if you’re up for learning and up for a challenge then this is the one for you.’’
Hargreaves puts her success to date down to her desire to learn, her work ethic and her inquisitive nature.
‘‘It’s not enough for me to be told something and take it as gospel, I need to know why I’m doing something so that I can improve on it for next time, and just because you always do something one way doesn’t mean it’s the right way.’’
Hargreaves has always been fascinated with how things work – as a child she remembers pulling apart clocks, TVs and radios and attempt to put them back together.
Her work ethic and drive, she says, come from her family.
Raised by her uncle and aunt in the Wairarapa, her uncle worked for a construction company that he went on to own. He also had a milk run to complete every day.
Hargreaves too worked hard, taking on numerous after-school jobs, with aspirations of joining the police upon leaving college, where she was head girl.
At 17 though she was too young to apply and instead joined the army, one of 15 female trainee officers of about 130 at Waiouru Military Camp.
‘‘It was incredibly challenging, in a male-dominated environment the females had to work harder as we had to endure the same physical tests and capabilities as the males.’’
She was selected to undertake a degree programme at Massey University, so a move to Palmerston North followed.
Eighteen months into her training Hargreaves decided army life wasn’t for her, but she continued on her with Bachelor of Business Psychology which she completed with top grades while also working fulltime for Telecom doing national assistance and 111 emergency calls.
Despite not going down the army route, she believes her training has had a huge impact and helped cement where she is today.
‘‘I’ve always been full of energy, self-motived and disciplined, but the army honed certain aspects of my personality, making me even more disciplined, focused, determined and a real team player, and I’m thankful for that.’’