Innovation Pathways Workshop for the Fortis Innovation Network

FUSE Facilitation co-founder Erkan Kadir designed and facilitated an Innovation Pathways workshop for the Fortis Innovation Network, bringing together leaders from Fortis utilities across Canada and the United States. The session focused on a question every regulated business eventually asks: how do we move faster without trading away safety and reliability?

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

Theme: "Moving faster in a regulated business, without compromising safety"

Approach: A working session rather than a presentation, built on the group's own experience of what slows good ideas down.

ACTIVITIES

• A conversational opener where each leader described a promising idea that took longer than it should have, then named what actually slowed it down.
• Case examples from utilities and other highly regulated organizations, used to build shared language for pilots, constraints, and leadership choices.
• A working discussion of the structural patterns behind delay, including the shift from directing how work is done to setting clear outcomes and boundaries.
• Small experiments each leader could run inside their own sphere of influence, without waiting for permission.

OUTCOMES ACHIEVED

• 83% overall agreement that the workshop delivered against its objectives, across 17 responses.
• 84% agreed the session clarified why moving faster matters in a regulated utility, without compromising safety.
• 85% agreed it surfaced structural lessons to reduce delays, handoffs, and bottlenecks.
• 80% agreed it explored practical pathways and safe-to-try experiments within their influence.
• Net Promoter Score of +41, with an average recommendation score of 8.2 out of 10.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAID