How a System Matters to Create the Right Culture (Suncor Executive Leading by Example in the Oil and Gas Industry)

Raymond Floyd gave this amazing presentation (as Suncor Energy's Senior Vice President) at an Industry Week Forum years ago.  Industrial leaders still have a lot to learn from his teachings on culture, strategic alignment, engagement, and the importance of systems thinking.

This video summary below gives you the key takeaways in different sections in his speech, and it contains time stamped links for you to listen to any section to get the full picture if desired.

Look out for and click on any links (in green text) that can help you.

[00:16] 🌱 Creating a Culture of High Performance

- Culture is an extension of successful teams.
- Scaling up from successful teams to a high-performing culture involves understanding examples of success, theory, and practice.
- Culture comprises values, beliefs, behaviors, and rituals, forming the basis of social cohesion.

[02:18] 📊 Understanding Systems Thinking

- Systems thinking involves analyzing data to understand patterns and behaviors within a system.
- Statistical models help predict system behavior, aiding decision-making.
- Recognizing trends and deviations from the model helps in managing and improving the system.

[08:14] 🛠️ Creating and Managing Systems

- Managers play a crucial role in creating and managing systems within organizations.
- Establishing clear goals, providing necessary skills, resources, and boundaries are essential for system creation.
- Managing routine operations, exceptions, compliance, and non-compliance ensures system effectiveness and alignment with organizational goals.

[16:01] 🔄 Managing Routine Operation and Exceptions

- Routine tasks should happen autonomously within predefined boundaries to ensure efficiency.
- Exceptions to the system must be promptly addressed through leader standard work and cross-functional teams.
- Managing non-compliance is critical to maintaining consistency and effectiveness within the system.

[23:17] 🌱 Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement

- Continuous improvement requires proactive identification and rectification of issues before they escalate.

- Management must lead improvement initiatives by setting clear goals, providing necessary skills, and enabling employees to contribute.

- Strategies like reducing capital expenditure through refurbishing existing equipment can drive significant improvement.

[25:53] 📊 Goal Translation and Horizontal Alignment

- Successful organizations ensure clear vertical and horizontal transmission of goals throughout the hierarchy.

- Misalignment in goal translation can lead to suboptimal outcomes and conflicts between departments.

- Understanding and aligning with the goals and aspirations of colleagues foster collaboration and synergy.

Learn more about Strategic Planning here!

[27:27] 🚀 Practicing Engagement for Organizational Success

- Engagement from all levels, not just management and professionals, is crucial for driving improvement.

- Companies that solely rely on managers and engineers for improvement struggle to remain competitive.

- Promoting engagement fosters a culture of innovation and drives continuous improvement.

Learn more about why and how to engage employees in continuous improvement teams here!

[28:40] 📈 Focus on Continuous Improvement for Future Success

- Monitoring current performance metrics is essential, but focusing on the pace of improvement is key for future success.

- Involving more employees in improvement efforts leads to significant performance enhancements.

- Continuous introduction of tools like Lean and Six Sigma empowers frontline workers to drive meaningful change.

[30:02] 🎯 Setting Ambitious Improvement Goals

- Emphasizing continuous improvement allows organizations to surpass current performance levels.

- Managers and engineers play a pivotal role in initiating significant improvement initiatives.

- Self-directed work teams can contribute to steady improvement but may not achieve dramatic performance shifts alone.

[33:04] 🛠️ Implementing Improvement Tools and Techniques

- Practical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of improvement tools like SMED, 5S, and opportunity radar.

- Empowering employees with improvement skills and tools enhances operational efficiency and reduces downtime.

- Cultivating a culture of improvement leads to sustained performance enhancements and organizational growth.