Leadership in the mining sector
Mining industry leaders are responsible for diverse, skilled teams. They must be technically adept and have a high level of emotional intelligence.
Great leaders in the mining industry have the experience, confidence and courage to support and guide their teams to achieve success.
Explore our collection of tips, articles, and resources that will allow you to get the best out of yourself and your team.
Leadership lessons from mining greats
1. Mentors and experience
Stratum’s earlier research report, The Lost Leaders, revealed a haemorrhaging of leadership talent from our industry, because of either baby boomers hitting retirement age, reduced levels of loyalty, or mining companies taking a myopic (or in some cases desperate) decision to shed senior talent. The potential value of older leaders as mentors is often overlooked when such decisions are made.
2. Hard work
Those who have any illusions that the pathway to leadership success is easy would have been disabused of that notion by listening to any one of my conversations. The management cliché has it that we should all work smarter rather than harder. My personal observation is that to get truly established, it is necessary to do both.
3. Hands-on experience
The understanding of how the industry works that is developed in operations cannot be replaced in the classroom and can be critical in establishing leadership credibility.
4. Patience
The impatience to fast track into leadership and expect instant success was also seen as a great weakness in an industry where a change in cycles and fortunes can take a decade.
In my experience, the most successful mining professionals are those who use the quieter periods that come in any career to extend their network and develop their skills.
5. Mistakes
Experience tells us that any career will have its fair share of mistakes, and all the people I interviewed were open about their mistakes and positive about the learning they gained. The mining industry should inherently understand the need to explore, test and analyse success and failure and apply the learning.
6. Communication
Clarity of communication can help to secure opportunities that might otherwise pass you by. David Netherway’s clarity of vision and purpose not only impressed his employers, it also placed him firmly on the track to leadership.
7. Nurture talent
Leaders encourage and support talent as a way of ensuring their own success. Just as the participants in this research had benefited from mentors in their own careers, each one has been generous in helping the next generation of leaders to succeed.
Free resources for leaders
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TED Talks
Harvard Business Review
Australian Institute of Company Directors
Leadership in action
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