A bad year in which to learn good lessons

Dr Kieren Moffat, CEO, Voconiq

The nature of relationships between communities and the companies that work alongside them continues to evolve at a rapid pace, no more so than in this year of upheaval, uncertainty and disruption. But rather than seeing 2020 as an aberration, this year could be viewed as a window into a future where uncertainty, change and the need to be resilient are dominant rather than exceptional circumstances.

Defining community resilience

So, let’s start this reflection with a look at what makes a community resilient. It’s complex, but there are several factors that underpin community resilience, according to research on the topic. They include qualities like economic vitality, preparedness for shocks and having solid institutions to help manage change. Strong local leadership to navigate through troubled waters is also important, as is the strength of social networks within communities, the capacity to communicate within and between these networks effectively, and the mental outlook of individual community members themselves.

The resources industry mostly operates in and around regional and remote areas of Australia, which adds additional complexity. While mining communities may be used to managing change – living alongside an industry where ‘boom and bust’ are part of its nature – regional and remote communities can also be impacted more sharply when upheaval comes. During a commodity price downturn, for example, workforce reductions mean that mining company employees who also play key leadership roles within community may leave, almost overnight. The capacity of these groups to support their members and the community more broadly is also diminished right at the moment when that cohesion is most needed.

Unique pandemic responses

This change has been different for regional and remote communities, however. The physical distance of communities from major urban centres has largely insulated them from the spread of COVID-19 while also reinforcing for some a sense of isolation.

In our work on community responses to the pandemic in mining communities through 2020, we’ve seen this complexity play out. Communities around the country have been largely confident in their ability to manage the challenges of the pandemic at a local level, but harbour deep concerns about the complex impacts that the virus has and will continue to bring. Specifically, Australian mining communities have consistently said that their two greatest concerns are the transmission of the COVID-19 virus to their communities via workforce movements and the local economic impacts of the pandemic on small businesses and those community groups that rely on events to raise critical funds. At the same time, ratings of trust in mining companies and government at state and federal levels improved, sometimes dramatically, through the early months of the pandemic emergency.

What we learned about trust and responsiveness

Together this paints an interesting picture of large parts of regional and remote Australia that is worth thinking about in the context of community resilience. During those early months, say March to June, uncertainty was highest, and life changed dramatically for all of us. Many mining companies initiated significant community funds or redirected sizeable economic resources to support communities, suppliers, workforce safety through roster changes and significant COVID-19 testing regimes and protocols. All this activity was initiated within weeks of the pandemic declaration,

with usual air travel stopped and interstate borders closed. To say that managing through that time was hectic for those companies is the understatement of the year. It would have been understandable if relationships with local communities had suffered at least in the short term. But trust in many companies improved. Our analysis of the community survey data that we were collecting through that time showed us why: the quality of interactions that community members were having with company personnel improved. This may seem strange, given community events were cancelled and face to face contact was stopped overnight for community engagement teams. But what this meant was that these teams were phoning community stakeholders, groups, individuals and other impacted people to check in and use those insights to guide the delivery of financial support locally. The great irony of lockdown was that mining companies, like all of us, were forced to think actively and differently about how we engage people and that led to deeper, more authentic interactions.

Higher levels of trust were also associated with the liberal and equitable distribution of significant economic resources during those early months – what we call distributional fairness in the relationship. It was also clear that while the movement of people (i.e. Fly-in, Fly-out and Drive-in, Drive-out) was a real and ongoing concern for community members, they also rated company safety protocols to manage these risks quite positively. Again, in a very real sense, community members could see the companies in their region hearing their concerns and responding effectively and quickly to mitigate the risk. Company responsiveness is always a strong driver of community trust and we saw that play out in many places.

Creating lasting resilience

So, what does this have to do with resilience? How do these examples and observations speak to the capacity of communities to continue to cope and to manage their way through future challenges? For me, the way that many mining companies responded to COVID-19 reflected some of the core qualities required in a mining companycommunity relationship for resilience to grow. From the company side, seeing and understanding the nature of the challenge through the eyes of community members is fundamental. This shift in perspective isn’t always easy, but when used to guide company communications, planning and responses, it is powerful. Sharing information and supporting local networks for its distribution contribute to this power. Distributing resources liberally and equitably in an emergency is a key resilience factor, as is demonstrating strong, decisive leadership. More than that, supporting local government institutions to support community was also evident in many places, coordinating action to protect and support community members. And engaging meaningfully and authentically with community members outside of formal meeting structures and processes was a powerful driver of trust in these companies. As usual structures for this engagement were unavailable, community engagement teams went ‘back to the future’ and worked systematically to connect in other ways – this had real, positive impact. What we also saw in our work was community viewing companies differently. COVID-19 changed almost everything very quickly, and we saw community members reevaluate, or perhaps see their relationships with companies operating alongside them in a new light. They were no longer just mining companies but sources of continuity and reassurance when most other economic activity halted. We saw the same kinds of improvements in ratings of agricultural industries through this same period, and for the same reason – industries that could continue operating, provide continued employment and generate economic activity when so much else was faltering – were seen as ‘essential’ where previously we may have taken them for granted, or not really thought about the value they add to our busy lives. And what then for the future? In my view, this crisis has several acts left to play out before any kind of normalcy returns; challenges yet to come for which we could meaningfully prepare, using 2020 to identify where our strengths and weaknesses lie, such as: • focusing on the foundations of relationships, and not just the functions of them, is where I think mining companies and communities really would get best value from energy invested. • hanging on to the benefits that authentic, personal interaction between company personnel and community members have in the relationship as companies return to a

‘business as usual’ mode. These foundations are what makes everything else more efficient and effective in a crisis or shock and allows for such turbulent times to create opportunities through change. Community resilience is complex, but 2020 has shown that when the chips are down, relationships matter. As we look forward to a new and hopefully more positive year, we would do well to reflect on how to deepen those between the mining industry and the communities they operate alongside. 