Welcome

JCLoewer Consulting offers compliance services in support of the Electric Reliability Organization Enterprise, which is comprised of The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the six Regional Entities.

My approach to all project management is to find synergy within a team. I have found that organizational silos can form in companies large and small, where departments and individuals focus on just what they are working on and forget to think about the bigger picture. I look for ways to bring these two disparate, and perhaps even argumentative groups together.

Business organizational charts often depict the reporting structure between departments with solid lines showing which individuals report to which team manager. Sometimes, these drawings will also include dotted lines to represent an association between systems or departments that are not necessarily a ‘direct’ connection, but instead represent two parties that should and must work together to accomplish an end goal.

I received some advice from a mentor early in my career that inspired the way I manage a project. He said to “be the dotted line.”  To me, this has meant looking for the connection between two departments or organizations that will help move a project forward.

One committee in particular I was a member of, struggled to find a solution – balancing the federal agency directives with the practical real-world operations personnel goals – those who would ultimately be responsible for putting these new rules and regulations into action. Was there a common ground to be found?

Through numerous committee member debates and industry feedback, I would always look for a solution that would bring us all to an agreeable end goal. Additionally, as part of this project, I proposed developing an Implementation Guidance (IG) document that was originally drafted by myself and one other team member and then further updated and enhanced with additional industry members. This IG is now with a trade organization for their approval and then will be forwarded to NERC for final approval.