It takes more than manufacturing products and creating profit for a company to be considered successful; myriad factors must be present and properly executed to achieve success.
In the oil and gas business, chief among those factors is a high regard for leadership not only within the company's self-contained community, but also in that company's alignment with the greater community beyond its fence lines.
"We all recognize that we are the community - ourselves, families, friends and employees. We make up an important piece of the overall community. We live here, work here and play here, so it's important we give back to our community," said Tom Yura, COO for Cornerstone Chemical.
Yura considers community engagement from a leadership perspective as not only a responsibility, but also as a challenge in the face of negative safety and ecological perceptions of the industry.
"Why would you ever shrink away from a large challenge? You just have to be more creative to figure it out, and that can start a greater discussion," he said. "I think we all have these moments where we take a step back and say, 'Well, if it's not me, who is going to handle this [challenge]?' What you do as a leader is connect the dots to figure things out. When it comes to leaders connecting and coming together, remember that there is nothing that can't be solved."
Joining Yura as a panelist at the Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance's (GBRIA's) 2022 Annual Meeting, Plant Leadership Conference and Quarterly Plant Managers Meeting, Westlake Plant Manager John Scroggins noted that while it's important to participate in solving problems in the community, "we also have a purpose in understanding our facility and its products in the communities where they operate."
Scroggins emphasized the importance of leadership's involvement outside the facility's gates to ensure all is well in the community at large, removing outside obstacles that can affect plant life. He continued, stating that when problems occur at a site that may impact the greater community, it is essential to confront those problems head-on. "Working with the local communities and officials and networking with them is critical to what we do as an industry," Scroggins said.
Danny Cedotal, vice president of manufacturing for Shintech, remarked that community engagement starts by ensuring leaders develop "the most outstanding human resource professionals you can find in your organization." Cedotal explained that leaders must also find new flexibility in how they supervise and engage with their employees. The attitude that a worker must be on-site and constantly monitored by supervisors in order to be successful is now not only impractical, but also counter-productive. Cedotal encouraged leaders to "establish new norms."
"That takes a different style of leadership," Cedotal observed. "Leadership is still evolving, but there are pluses: We now have access to more people than ever before, and you don't have to be at the site every single day doing every single thing. We have access to incredible people who may live in different areas and have different time schedules."
Cedotal emphasized that leaders would be wise to "embrace the fact that just one solution can't solve it all."
At the same time, he said, the "human connection" that occurs with face-to-face meetings and in-person interaction is invaluable and must continue.
"You can meet somebody online, but when you meet them in person for the first time, you may be surprised," he said. "From a work perspective, in a 24/7 ongoing manufacturing environment, you've got to be present. We're just going to have to find the balance in this new norm, and it's going to be an ongoing thing."
