Albert Einstein famously said, "The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.
It cannot be changed without changing our thinking." Einstein was correct then, and he is still correct.
One of the most prolific challenges facing the oil and gas and petrochemical industry is change management. As technology advances, bringing with it profound transition, workers often have the tendency to fall back on old habits and fears to resist that transition.
Andy Woods, plant manager for Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP, said if leaders allow people to stay in their comfort zone and resist positive change, the result will be performance mediocrity.
"Leadership has to set the tone of why we're making a change, why we are using new technology, and what's in it for the employee that will make his life easier, faster, stronger and better," Woods said. "If leadership is not willing to make the case for change, then you can't expect the employee to leave his comfort zone."
Some workers hesitate to embrace change from their tried-and-true processes by claiming they are too busy to learn a new process.
"People need to understand that the goal as a team is to move the ball up the field faster than we used to," said Robert Perry, turnaround and capital project subject matter expert at Delek US. "If that means that one person is a little slower so that the other teammates are collectively a little faster, I think that's important."
Daniel Goulet, director of customer success with Mobideo, said it can be helpful to determine if these workers are "working smart" or just "working busy."
"A lot of people have the tendency to work hard, not smart, and they are rewarded for working hard," Goulet said. "To make the transition, you have to reward people for working smart and using technology."
Woods said he agrees that working smarter is the goal.
"There is a tendency for people to fill up their day with working harder rather than smarter," Woods said. "They may think 'if I do this, but I don't do that,' they are not going to be valuable. They think that if they're busy, they must be valued."
Woods recommended leaders respond by instructing workers to start with one task in the new procedure, or to shrink the change to something smaller.
Training, trusting the data
Perry suggested that if workers resist upgrading to digital tools, managers can address obstacles with a more hands-on approach to training.
"Nobody wants to stand up and do training using PowerPoint slides," he said. "What we do is actually put the device in somebody's hands. If people know they're going to be tested, they may invest their time in doing a little research because they want to be more knowledgeable and make a good impression on their peers."
"What I have seen in a lot of my experiences is that people want to use their old paper process like a security blanket," Goulet said. "It's an identity thing."
Goulet noted that managers often have a propensity to downplay digitization efforts by saying, "Oh, this is going to be so easy and intuitive."
"A lot of time, that is just not true," he argued. "It all depends on the situation you're in. For some people, it's going to be second nature and they don't have to think about it."
As an example, Goulet shared that his wife has an iPhone that he doesn't know how to unlock, because he is accustomed to using his Android device.
"So, what may be intuitive for one person is not necessarily intuitive for somebody else," Goulet said. "As leaders, we need to keep that in mind."
Workers might also push back on management by asking, "How many times have you done my job?"
"If you have been doing scheduling for 25 years, you might dismiss the data entry part as being stupid," Woods said. "We are asking people to stop accepting the status quo."
"When you tweak the technology, there may be some data missing, but there is nobody out there who would not trust their GPS," Perry said. "If it tells you to change direction, you change direction. The only way you can trust the data is to collect more data, and create artificial intelligence to drive you in the direction of changing the environment."
