Perth Winter is hitting us hard but that didn’t stop the Kuuwa team or the sold-out crowd braving the elements for last week’s Mining Club Young Professionals Networking function at the QT in Perth.
So what, you might ask, was good enough reason for us to stay out late on a blustery school night?
We are big fans of the WA Mining Club, you may have noticed since our launch earlier in the year we haven’t missed an event. We love the lunch time catch ups, hearing from the host of great speakers, crossing our fingers we might win the door prize and let’s face it, the lunch is considerably better than the salad we have sitting in the fridge back at the office.
When the last Mining Club’s Young Professionals event was announced we pondered it and decided we would chance our luck as passing for YP! We went, we loved it, we weren’t the oldest in the room and prior to popular belief that we were going to be hanging out with ‘kids’ – we certainly were not. So when the June event was announced we were first in line for tickets and come hail, rain or shine we were going to be there.
Thankfully our second attempt as YP did not let us down either.
The topic of the night – Culture, Our Most Precious Resource.
We heard from a panel of industry leaders with varying views and experience of working in mining and differing experiences of the evolution and varying levels of importance placed on culture within the workplace.
Top of the chain was Stuart Mathews, Gold Fields Australia, who was heavily involved in the implementation of the current values found at Gold Fields and he discussed how he has seen culture change significantly over the years.
The other end of the spectrum was Matt Thompson, Evolution Mining, who has been in the field for a far shorter time and values learning from those more experienced and learning from past mistakes.
Also on the panel was Yvonne Fahey, Alcoa, who believes culture is a learned behaviour and cannot be forced on individuals. She also talked about a collaborative approach and although it must be led from the top it must be embraced and supported by all levels.
Sam Retallack chaired the panel and was able to give her insight as Head of People and Culture at IGO on how workers adapt and adopt culture.
What we took away from the evening was that investing time and effort in your company’s culture will serve you well into the future. It isn’t as simple as surveying your staff, it is a feeling you get when you walk through a work area and gage the vibe.
Invest and you will have happy staff creating a buzz around your workplace that will have a flow on affect. You will have created something just as contagious as a yawn… a smile!