People and Leadership
SSE’s vision is to be a leading energy company in a net-zero world. As one of the UK and Ireland’s leading generators of renewable energy (SSE Renewables) and one of the largest electricity network companies in the UK (SSEN), sustainability and climate action are at the core of SSE’s business strategy.
We develop, own, and operate infrastructure to support the net-zero transition. This includes onshore and offshore wind, hydro power, electricity transmission, and distribution grids, alongside providing energy products and services for businesses.
We are UK-listed in the FTSE100 and will invest £20.5bn by the end of March 2027 (on average over £11m a day) in low-carbon energy and electricity infrastructure in our Net Zero Acceleration Programme Plus. The Finance function is a key enabler for this growth; from protecting SSE’s financial health through controls, to generating insight which underpins investment decisions, to providing a world class service to its customers.
SSE partnered with KPMG to deliver a Finance Transformation programme, setting the foundations for a strengthened Finance function to meet the growth ambitions of the business. The cornerstone of our programme was crystalising a people centric culture of growth and excellence across Finance, providing a consistent base for the future.
At the start of the transformation journey, the programme developed and deployed a unified change management and stakeholder approach. In recognition of the capability of the existing Finance team, the approach was business led; a Change Agent Network was stood up with Finance representatives from across the function.
A compelling vision and transformation journey of SSE’s Finance function were socialised, custom branding was designed for the programme to build an identity, and a bespoke communications approach was set up with the tone and messaging coming from the Finance Leadership Team.
With a significant number of Finance colleagues having been with SSE for over 10 years, the long tenure of many of its colleagues meant that change has been more challenging for this function. Finance has a deep understanding of the business, but much of this knowledge had been accumulated through experience which had led to disparate data sources and processes that were sometimes informally documented and did not have the benefit of external perspectives.
Throughout the transformation, the programme team worked with Finance to formalise this knowledge base: documenting controls, enhancing policies, detailing process maps, and key performance indicators. The new knowledge bank hosted in SSE’s SharePoint has benefited new joiners and experienced team members alike, giving them a central location to upskill on SSE’s ways of working.
Empowering SSE’s Finance community to adopt the changes, the programme rolled out training to over 85% of the 350+ Finance community, using a blend of face-to-face experiential learning, train the trainer, change champions, and eLearning modules to upskill the teams and give them the confidence to embrace with the new ways of working. The programme also provided feedback forums to continually improve the experience for Finance.
One of SSE’s Business Unit Finance Directors stated…
“Through close collaboration between my Finance team and the Finance Transformation team, known pain points are being fixed across various areas of our team which will enhance our day-to-day role.”
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