Safe, Socially Acceptable, and Responsible
These have been the demands of mining, with increasing pressure over the last decade. Without this, mining proponents either fail to gain approvals, or experience extended permitting delays and significant rework of the proposed plans and designs. In response, most mining companies have been adding more oversight, more controls and management systems, all in the name of improving environmental performance and social engagement.
adding more rigour to the wrong thing doesn’t make it right
We are not spending the necessary time to step back and look at our entire operations to eliminate systemic risks, where managing systems collide, and the roots of our problems lie. Our industry has built itself into a meca of organized silos, and current efforts to improve performance are still focusing on specific parts of the puzzle with each part being managed by a different silo in the system.
What our mining systems need is a helicopter view, a way to break down operating silos, to dig in and assess practices from multiple viewpoints, to find where problems arise within the system, and then to solve them quickly. The best part about that?
Your Teams have most of the answers
The Greatest Barriers to Change
The challenge with change has never been with what can be done.
Your teams, your personnel, with their wealth of knowledge and diverse expertise, really do have most of the answers you are looking for. Rather, getting everyone aligned and working together, and gaining that much-needed support and buy-in from your internal stakeholders can be a difficult thing.
Your teams see change as extra work, a passing initiative that might be replaced with another in a few years, and often they can't see how they can contribute to achieving these bigger goals, so they won't put much effort into it. You need to get into their mindset, empathize and listen to them, and help them see how everything works together, and how important their ideas and their efforts really are. They need to know that they do makes a difference.
Through our experiences, we’ve come to understand that when you start working on big problems involving many players, it can be tough to get all your stakeholders on the same page, particularly when everyone (typically) works in silos. We’ve done a lot of work, and continue to develop efficient and effective ways to bring diverse minds together to collaboratively figure things out!
We help give your people their voice and step up to own the problems that need solving.
Enviro Integration Strategies aims to facilitate rapid problem solving and change adoption by placing focus on:
Breaking down silos, and engaging a diverse network of stakeholders for alignment on & understanding of challenges with existing systems, and then buy-in to change
Discovery and elimination of barriers to communications and collaborative problem solving, leading to overall, higher performance
Collaborative ideation & problem solving, co-designing solutions in & co-developing proactive implementation plans
Recognizing and building in-house capabilities and motivation with engaged employees, to find and implement solutions
Integration and sustainment of altered processes and systems
“Karen supported site with numerous environmental projects, including facilitating a team to clarify the direction for a project to reclaim the existing above ground tailings facility.
Karen’s management helped unite managers and experts from various internal and external sources toward a clear objective, and to keep our desired trust with our community and regulatory agencies. Her proposed options helped us to do this with lowest cost possible and avoided us spending potentially millions of dollars if this project was not managed well while delivering results for our stakeholders and caring for the environment.”
Our Processes
We apply a unique approach to facilitate and expedite your objectives for improvement of environmental performance, targeted where it matters the most - corporate strategy, business integration, front-end project planning, and change implementation. We can help your teams develop an iterative sequence founded on Lean principles to work through your list of challenges, including both the technical and the personal aspects of change.
This sounds simplistic, but the sequence involves all of the stages described below including problem identification, situational analysis, gaining alignment and buy-in to change, options identification and comparison, solution selection, and implementation planning through to business integration.
Strategic Direction
At the strategic level, we help organizations discover potential risks within their operating and management systems, and to better understand the scope and complexity of any improvement challenges that are taken on.
Systems Gap Analysis
Alignment & Prioritization
Operational Advancement
If your organization already has its goals set out, we help to engage your workforce and gain momentum to move those initiatives forward.
Situational Analysis: Scope & Stakeholder Clarification, System Deep Dive, Risks & Opportunities
Align & Engage Workforce: Setting Goals and Metrics, Clarify Interdependencies & Constraints
Options Analyses: Collaborative Ideation, Comparative Analyses, Recommendations
Selection & Planning: Alignment, Co-Development of Plans, De-risk Complexities
We note that when you are working towards broader improvement targets, there may be a variety of opportunities that will contribute to achieving these goals. At both the strategic and operational levels, we can help your teams prioritize opportunities and plans based on greatest gains for the least cost and effort first. We also recognize that for every technical or technological change, or shift in techniques, there may be requirements for programmatic and procedural updates, training, and other behavioural shifts. We can help identify those needs, according to your unique program.
These are all taken into account when developing plans for changes, and we work with all relevant stakeholders who might be impacted throughout the planning process, to ensure that the chances of success for transition and adoption are that much stronger.
“Karen and I worked on 2 multibillion dollar company-critical projects necessary for keeping our doors open.
1. Our first project was at Syncrude Canada. Karen defined the trusted strategic plan, helping us secure our budget with Senior Management. With 270,000 barrels/day of oil on the line, failure would have cost us billions. She got her hands dirty to go into the field and execute on the plan until we succeeded!
2. In our second project, we supported the largest mining operation of Cameco worth $400 Million dollars annually. Karen and I secured regulatory agencies trust and approval for licensing needed to safely continue our operations.
Karen’s greatest strengths were in her ability to leave no stone unturned to show due diligence for trusted research. Karen’s genuine care for the environment shows at every level!
She is passionate, and has an incredible ability to logically put together the trusted plan for Senior Management to easily approve projects. Extremely organized, I can always trust her management of a project.”
Early Stage Projects
We have practiced similar processes as above on projects at their earlier conceptual stages, to help minimize impacts and support proactive development of sustainable mines. Through this process, we help you streamline and integrate Sustainability aspects, Lean principles, Environmental Assessment processes and requirements, and any external stakeholder requirements into future development designs and schedules. Working with us at such early stages will:
Improve scope definition & requirements gathering
Avoid or reduce environmental risks and long term liabilities
Streamline project and approval schedules
We'd love the opportunity to shape and influence future projects through early involvement and education of planners and designers.
We’re Committed to Bring:
A fresh perspective on improvement opportunities, stemming from a broad environmental knowledge base,
A strategic, systems thinking approach, aligning project objectives with the big picture,
A consistent and preferential practice of inquiry, inclusion and collaboration in goal setting, planning and problem solving,
Positive facilitation of workshops, with the ability to bring alignment and collaboration to teams derived from typically-siloed operations and departments, and
Ease in working with all levels of an organization, with both corporate and site experience.
We speak frequently on the topic of sustainability integration, team development, the power of collaboration, diversity of thought, and the benefits of applying Lean processes to projects.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Reducing Project Risks: Sustainability & Systems Integration, University of Saskatchewan 2019-2021
A Practical Approach to Implementing Sustainable Engineering, co-presented with Donna Beneteau from University of Saskatchewan (accompanying paper published in CIM Journal), CIM Academy 2020
Culture Shifts Required for Success: Breaking Silos, Building Inclusivity & Collaboration, CIM Convention 2019
Strategic Collaboration: Reducing Project & Lifecycle Risks, CIM Conference 2018
Pulling Together, Toronto Change Days 2018: Agility: Boundaries: Curiosity 2018
Success in Change...Set it up Right!, Innovation Place Sustainability Series 2018
The Lean Project Advantage, Saskatoon Construction Association 2018
Improving Projects & Team Dynamics, IEEE SK Women in Engineering 2018
A Taste of Target Value Design, Interior Designers of Saskatchewan 2018
Design to Engage & Align, Spark the Change India Conference 2018
The Necessary Culture for Soaring Performance, PMI Global Conference 2017
5 Strategies to Improve Your Project Outcomes, APEGS, Annual General Meeting 2016
Improving Project Outcomes through Sustainability Integration, PMI North Saskatchewan Chapter 2015