Mining for fresh perspectives

Andrew Telburn, Partner, Reddin Consulting Group

In the face of our greatest challenges, it takes diversity of thought and perspective to keep the world moving forward through the toughest of times. If 2020 taught us anything - it was this.

A diverse industry brings with it many benefits including fresh and even disruptive perspectives that propel us into the future.

This year we saw industries everywhere pivoting, doing things differently, finding new ways not only to survive, but to grow and thrive. The mining industry is one of the most innovative industries in the world, but more of the same will only get us so far. A diverse industry brings with it many benefits including fresh and even disruptive perspectives that propel us into the future.

The benefits of diversity and inclusion

Building a strong diverse workforce means difference in all its forms, including gender, age, cultural background, disability, religion, and sexual orientation. What follows are fresh ideas and new problemsolving skills that come with different life experiences. The flow effect is reputational benefits and the ability to attract, engage and retain top talent right through the value chain. All this sounds wonderfully sensible until we look at the reality of diversity in many mining organisations today.

Avoiding ‘more of the same’

While there are some large companies leading the way, the majority employ few women in top jobs. Most senior executives are mining engineers and very few people with a disability are employed. This means that the succession plans are simply ‘more of the same,’ raising the question; ‘how are we going to foster fresh thinking to move us into the future?’ and more importantly, ‘how do we safeguard ourselves from being left behind?’

This can seem like an impossible task, but the answer isn’t a light bulb moment or a dramatic shift in the way we currently do things. Rather, it’s small iterations and creative actions consistently over time that chip away at the old and usher in the new. It is the cumulative effect of many actions that lead to real and lasting change. The key is to continue to develop and roll out many things to build a diverse workplace; some big, some small, some successful, some not – and that’s okay. It’s all part of the journey. Remember, this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Small steps that can make a difference, but you must be willing to start somewhere. Ask these questions: • are we missing a whole spectrum of potential talent, including the graduate pool, by failing to look outside our industry? • are we missing out on top talent due to workplace inflexibility? (Ever heard of a Job Share?) • what would it take to make the mining industry an attractive prospect for top talent outside our normal and established recruitment pools? By asking some basic questions from the outset, you’ve already started that small iteration towards change. You’ve put a toe in the water.

Finding the ‘fit’

When it comes to recruiting we’ve all heard that ‘fit’ is key to a winning team, but many managers view ‘fit’ in terms of their immediate team, forgetting the bigger picture and often ending up with people who are so like-minded that there is very little diversity of thought, resulting in compliance rather than challenge and therefore progress. While it may certainly seem to work in the short-term, research conducted by by the Saratogo Institute (now part

Photo: Josh Kelly

of PWC) indicates that this approach sees fewer than 50% of hires having the necessary skills and attributes to become future company leaders. It also shows that 45% of hires could be considered ‘easy way out hires’ because, although they they have the skills and experience needed, they lack the ‘fit’ factors that underpin change and drive fresh thinking. In this instance employers miss a good 20% of prospective talent that have the qualities needed to drive change, but get missed in the shortlist process because they haven’t gained specific industry experience.

Defining Critical Success Factors

The same research shows that in any one organisation there are typically somewhere between four and six Critical Success Factors that set their highest achievers apart from the pack. These factors are not necessarily common across a range of organisations, but truly reflect the culture of the specific business. If they are present in a candidate, they can predict a tremendously successful long-term fit. The closer the fit with your Critical Success Factors, the more successful the hire is likely to be. The key here is not to recruit solely on skills, but on organisation-wide cultural fit based on your defined Critical Success Factors - and then investing in technical training skills for that hire. This begins to break down traditional recruitment barriers and opens the organisation to new prospects from a diverse talent pool. One of the most important points that many mining companies miss when recruiting for diversity is promoting the broader appeal of the industry. Putting aside pay, there is the opportunity to travel and live in places many never thought was an option to them. It is critical that we do not underestimate the value of this to the right candidate. Another industry that has been constrained by traditional thinking is the maritime sector. This industry has been seriously hamstrung by a strong preference for Master Mariners, for which there just aren’t enough graduates. Maritime is essentially logistics and supply chain across the world’s oceans, but it is shipping that supplies our coal mines from Port Hedland on one coast of Australia to Hay Point on the other. Is it not reasonable that any leaders in the maritime industry should have an implicit understanding of the dynamics of mining? By removing the blinkers, a whole new talent pool emerges bilaterally. We can apply these same principles to the challenges the mining industry now faces. With COVID-19 travel restrictions still in place in many Australian states and the industry generally moving away from FIFO as the costs mount, we are already seeing mining houses seeking to hire exclusively from the state in which its operations reside. The result - an even smaller and, of course, rapidly shrinking talent pool as everyone looks to fish from the same pond.

Start with the first steps

Now is the time to start the change iterations, to dip your toe in the water. To invest in strong on-boarding and skills transfer, and not in the higher salaries of a shrinking talent pool. Develop a broad talent pipeline and a new assessment model. Define the Critical Success Factors that reflect the values and culture of your organisation and the highest achievers within it. Put in place strong diversity policies, embed them through the organisation and most importantly, look after your people and lead by example. Only then can we reap the benefits of a truly diverse workforce. The need for change in our industry is clear, not just because it’s good for business, but because it’s the right thing to do for future generations of Australians that will carry on our industry’s important legacy both within this country and across the globe. 