CLIENT
Mitchell Services
SECTOR
Drilling services, surface and underground.
ENGAGEMENT
HSE & Operational Learning, 1 day workshop
RESULT
Applied within days, complete roll out within two weeks
I literally got off the plane at this site, discussed what I'd learnt at the training.
Josh Bryant
General Manager People, Risk and Sustainability, Mitchell Services
Day 1
Workshop with On Target
Day 2-3
Learning applied underground at Tanami
Day 4-14
Application to briefing process company-wide
The challenge: influence at the point of work
Josh Bryant went into the first conversation with On Target thinking about team building. But his six-person HSE team already worked well together. Trust was not the problem.
The real challenge was now each person showed up with supervisors and crews in the field - and how effectively they could influence decisions at the point of work without holding line authority.
Less about polishing internal team dynamics, more about sharpening how each of them operates and influences outward, at the point of work.
Josh Bryant
General Manager People, Risk and Sustainability, Mitchell Services
The intervention: experience first, theory second
On Target worked with the HSE and Operational Learning team for one day in Brisbane. The group worked through realistic simulations under pressure: planning, briefing, executing and debriefing, then going again.
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Human Factors concepts were introduced after the experience rather than before it, so the the theory gave language and structure to problems the group had already encountered.
4 IDEAS STAYED WITH THEM
1. Situational awareness as capacity
Where does the team have capacity today? Who has spare? Where is it most likely to be consumed?
2. Better briefing questions
Use questions that help people anticipate what may happen rather than simply repeat the plan.
3. Debrief the days that go well
Learning should not only happen after something goes wrong.
4. Close the learning loop
A lesson identified only becomes useful when it changes what people do next.
Within days, the learning was being used underground
Josh flew directly from the workshop to Tanami Underground Operations. Mitchell Services had to use the client's existing meeting format. It was a standard process across the client's sites and was not Mitchell's to redesign. So they didn't redesign it. They added two questions:
1. "Was there anything that surprised us?"
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2. "What is the most likely thing that can go wrong?"
Two additions. No new systems. No new meeting. Just two questions inside a process the crews were already required to use.
The crews identified the contingencies themselves
The day's activities can invole drilling, surveying, site setups, rig moves
and changes in drilling angle. Once the crews had worked through the days activities, they answered the second question rig by rig.
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Spare batteries for rig controllers.
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Downhole fishing tools in case rods could not be recovered.
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Spare drilling bits in case those in use were worn.
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Water and electrolytes when the day involved more manual handling.
The contingencies were generated by the people doing the work, before they needed them.
THE RESULT
The crews were ready when the plan changed
A number of the contingencies the crews had identified did play out during that shift. They were prepared for them. By asking the question out loud, they had also created a shared picture across rigs that had not existed the day before.
Why it mattered operationally
Underground operations do not allow for quick turnarounds. If a crew travels to a rig and discovers something has not gone to plan, returning to the surface can mean close to an hour of lost time. Better planning means less frustration, fewer unnecessary journeys and fewer avoidable delays.
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The change transferred quickly because of simplicity. The value of the two questions is just this - simplicity. Mitchell Services did not need to introduce a new management system or redesign an existing process.
"Planning for the 'most likely thing' was effective. Removes frustration, minimises delays. All this was prompted by the training we completed with you guys"
Josh Bryant
General Manager, Risk and Sustainability, Mitchell Services
THE IDEA SPREAD BEYOND THE ORIGINAL TEAM
1. Tanami underground crews
The two questions were incorporated into a briefing format the crews were already using.
2. Mitchell's CEO and leadership team
The CEO saw value in the approach and took it to the leadership team.
3. The client
A senior representative saw the approach being used on site.
4. A second drilling business
After hearing what had happened at Tanami, Matt, General Manager Operations at Deepcore Drilling, recognised his teams had drifted away from the Thinking Ahead element of START. He is now looking to reintegrate that behaviour across the business.
