Monday Morning Mojo

Your Biggest Asset and Challenge is... Your Mindset

A client of mine discovered how difficult it can be to cut through the mindset that prevents inflection points. Yet, as you will see, turning a potential negative into a positive inflection point can be done.

I had been hired to work with a large oil and gas operation in the Americas to determine the value of new technology that had been mandated by headquarters (outside the country). This was the 2000s and every major exploration and production company was putting technology down hole, deep in the ground, to better monitor and model what could be extracted.

The technology was a major innovation, a breakthrough in how oil and gas was identified and existing oil wells and gas fields were optimized for production. Further, this breakthrough was generating a global inflection point. As underground digital technology became available around the world, oil and gas operations that adopted it gained a financial edge – my client’s competitors among them.

Yet some of the folks in the Americas remained unconvinced of the utility, and as the top-producing division of the company’s global operations, their resistance was significant. If they denied the inflection point, not only would they lose the value of the innovation at the cash register, they could stall the enterprise’s progress around the world putting them at a major disadvantage in the industry.

On the other hand, if they saw the inflection point and jumped on it, the new technology had the power to propel significant increases in the amount of oil and gas they retrieved from existing wells and fields, with great impact for the financial success of the entire enterprise, propelling them forward as a global leader.
The inflection point had been identified at headquarters, but the folks in the Americas did not see it yet. To them, it seemed like just another mandate from above.

Everything came to a head in a meeting I called, bringing the two groups together. We assembled in New Orleans. Major players were present. The first two hours were civil even though it was clear that there was a rift. Slowly the two sides engaged and argued until finally we reached a point where the tension was palpable.

I thought the guy from the Gulf of Mexico was going to jump out of his chair and throttle the analyst from head quarters. “You expect me to believe those numbers? I don’t trust those numbers and I don’t trust you because you gave me those numbers. There is no way in hell that you can tell me you know what this technology will do. There are just too many variables at play. Is that what you believe? I mean do you believe these numbers?”

The room was dead quiet. Everyone waited to see what the analyst from headquarters would say.
It had been two years since headquarters had mandated the new technology that could produce exceptional results. But, it had been announced with flashy brochures loaded with propaganda and unsubstantiated claims. The guys in the Gulf didn’t like it then and they didn’t like it now. They had reluctantly agreed to do a pilot but made damn sure the rig they tested it on would demonstrate the new technology’s utter lack of utility. I had seen that before.

Sure enough, their trial proved the technology was not cost justified on that oil platform. Then Katrina hit. The whole issue was shelved, pushed to the back burner for well over a year while other more pressing decisions were made, and while New Orleans began to recover.

But headquarters overseas did not forget. They believed in the technology. It was already up and running in Africa. Indonesia and the North Sea were testing it on platforms where it would do well. But the Gulf of Mexico still rejected the mandate. This was the single most profitable region and they were not about to be told how to run their business. They had clout because they generated so much profit. But was it worth maintaining their independence, if it meant missing the inflection point that could carry them forward or leave them behind?

The analyst from headquarters caved. “You are right. We cannot say this technology is solely responsible for those results.” But, he was quick to add, “In my gut I just know this is the right thing to do; this is going to change the whole industry and we have to be there, too!” The guy from the Gulf joined him, “You know, I can respect that. Let’s take a closer look and see what this can do for us.”

What brought them to agreement was the guy from headquarters saying that he knew in his gut that an inflection point was on them. Down-hole technology was changing the oil business. With that admission the polarization broke down and both sides joined each other to figure out the way forward.

I ended up taking a lead consulting position with the Americas division as they implemented the new technology. Two years later there was a futuristic room in the Gulf of Mexico’s main office that looked like the bridge on Star Trek. But it was not its looks that made it innovative – it was the value it brought to operations and the hydrocarbon they took to the bank as a result. This company used the inflection point created by down-hole technology and rode it to increase its position as one of the most profitable oil producers in the world.

Is there an inflection point you or your staff members are fighting? Is there a new way of working that it is time you embraced? Now is the time to get on the right side of the change and figure the way forward.

Come visit me on Facebook where over 3,000 people have liked the page for my new book: Facebook.com/GettingInnovationRight.

I was

fortunate my first book became a bestseller. That was Getting Change Right: How Leaders Transform Organizations from the Inside Out. You can order it now from Amazon.com.

In March 2013 my next book, Getting Innovation Right, will be released. I.

If you book conferences, contact me for a special deal in 2013 - I will be offering copies of the book for your audience. All arrangements to take place through my representative, Tom Neilssen.

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