Crossing Industries

commits to their individual part through projects
and work activities. Starting with the CEO, the corporation
uses cascading individual conversations
between leaders and their employees, engaging
every direct report, each of them engaging each of
their employees in turn - identifying priorities, projects,
activities and performance measurements for
their departments and individual work. Accountability
is reinforced by integrating work planning
with the annual performance review process.
Use of a “risk matrix” is a common requirement for
O&G employees - at all levels, in the field and office
alike - to systematically analyze their actions for: 1)
possible consequences (e.g. financial, health, safety
and environmental) and their likelihood, and 2)
what they should do and who they should involve
to reduce or manage the identified risks. Focused
conversations among the employee, subject matter
experts and leaders at any level may be necessary
to plan next steps.
Having your whole staff aligning
strategies presents a golden
opportunity to make the most of
our strategic plans and increase
probability of our success by
aligning the work of everyone in our
organizations.
Assessing Risk
O&G is a risky industry – locating, extracting and
processing the resources are all hazardous, as are
the refined end products themselves, so O&G people
must understand and manage myriad risks
daily. O&G’s historically free-wheeling “wildcatter”
culture has mostly been displaced by modern shareholders’
expectations that their companies carefully
assess risks and put plans in place to reduce or
manage them.
This is a useful model; while museums are riskaverse,
we are in the “forever business”, still take
risks and need to be conscious of them, no matter
how innocuous our work environment may seem.
We have an opportunity in our day-to-day work to
stop and ensure we systematically assess risk and
take well-planned actions for the benefit of our fellow
employees, our visitors, our objects, and our
institutions.
Developing Organizational
Culture
A simple working definition of “Organizational Culture”
is “the way people think and act” (Connors
and Smith). Both scholarly and popular research
over decades have shown that organizations with
robust, ethical cultures consistently out-perform
those with weak ones, including in attracting and
retaining people.
Below: Oil industry worker.
Photo credit: Pixabay