Allen Robbins – Sevier County Electric System
Can one class or one instructor change the course of a person’s life and career? It may have for Allen Robbins, then a new customer service representative at Sevier County Electric System in Sevierville, Tenn. Today, Robbins, General Manager and CEO of Sevier County Electric System (SCES), is a beloved member of the community, and civic-minded volunteer, who joined SCES in 1991, starting out as a drive-through cashier.
He credits a 1992 TVPPA Education & Training (E&T) customer service certificate course held in Knoxville with opening his eyes to the important role public power plays in communities all across the Tennessee Valley. “That first class was a catalyst for understanding public power, what our role is and how I, as an individual, interact with customers and employees. What I learned then has actually helped me persevere during the hard times. During snowstorms, when customers are very unhappy with you or whatever… that first class taught me how to talk to them and understand as much as possible the role public power companies play in the lives of the people they serve.”
His next words underscore the critical relationship between local power companies and the communities they serve. “Obviously our customers have one source to provide electricity to them. That TVPPA class taught me how to communicate with our customers in a way that makes them feel like they have 10 choices.”
It’s a lesson he instills in new employees today. “We understand that we are their sole source provider, but it’s important that we learn to interact with them in a way that makes them feel like they have choices. ‘If you can do that, then you will have a successful career in public power and at Sevier County Electric System.’”
Of course, that’s not the only lesson from that first class Robbins has passed on to his employees. “The instructor pushed us out of our comfort zone to interact with individuals from other LPCs instead of staying with the people we knew. I’m still friends with some of the people I met in that class today. Many of the lessons I took from that instructor and what he had us do in his class, I have in turn brought that back here. With each new employee we hire, in their career, we try to put them into areas where they have a chance to grow and to learn. Hopefully, we help them get out of their comfort zone so they can face challenges and be prepared for adversity and have some learning experiences that can be applicable to the real world.”
Throughout his career, Robbins has continued learning through TVPPA’s Education & Training offerings, taking classes in accounting, auditing, and ethics and achieving TVPPA’s Certified Power Executive status.
Robbins’s experience with TVPPA’s Education & Training programs has created a legacy of learning within SCES. “I try to impress upon all of our employees there’s always an opportunity to learn something new. I see myself in some of these younger employees. I try to keep them as challenged as possible knowing what that early class did for me in my career, being 25-years old at the time. I try to put our employees in situations where they can have an opportunity to express themselves where they may not even realize they have it in them. That’s what that first TVPPA customer service class did for me – it helped me transition into the role of Programs Administrator in 1997, working more in the field with customers, then having working relationships with TVA. From there, I began serving on committees that also included TVPPA staff. And then that really brought me out of that shell, to where I could speak more comfortably in public. It really added such a substantial foundation for me to move forward in my career to where I am today … and it started with one class.”