Interview on the Criticality of Trust in the current Mining Context

last week I had the amazing opportunity to be interviewed by Sarah Gordon , CEO of Satarla during the Responsible Raw Materials 2023 Conference which this year focused on Material Value Chains: The Criticality of Trust

Question 1: From your experience, what does trust actually look like?

Interesting that you bring up the conversation of trust in a world of fake news and algorithms pitting one side against another. Do we still trust each other? Can we trust anything any more?

Organisations like IWiM seek trust through inclusive participation and representation at all levels – from entry levels to executive.

We want to foster trust by making sure we are an advocate for equal pay and benefits in the sector. Trust can be enhanced when women feel safe and supported in their environment.

We advocate for policies and practices that address issues like violence and sexual harassment and discrimination.

Trust is strengthened when women have access to skill development programs and career advancement.

Trust is sharing the responsibility for the work, the organisation, the vision and the sought after outcome. When companies share the responsibility for the land, the livelihood of communities, the safety and well-being of every person involved and more, with the people and communities directly impacted by the operation, they are building trust-based relationships.?

Trust looks like open and honest dialogue, where the parties can admit fault or lack of knowledge, and be open to criticism and praise alike. Trust is when people bring their true authentic selves to the workplace, without having to modify their personalities to fit a predetermined mould. For women, this is may be when they can trust that their softer way of speaking and empathetic leadership and point of view is not seen as a fault, a weakness, or worse, a nuisance.?For a gay person it may be when they can speak freely about their weekend activities with their partner, without having to hide their partner's gender for example. For someone with a physical disability or someone who is deaf or blind it will be entering a changed work infrastructure prepared to receive them as talented workers. For an indigenous person it may be when permission is sought, land ancestry acknowledged and they feel listened to. We need to create the space and openness for everyone and no one to be left behind.

Question 2: Given your awesome background, and array of languages, does trust vary between different countries / regions?

Trust is expressed in different forms in different cultures and traditions. Our beliefs about what trust means and how that is conveyed to another can have a broad range of nuanced differences.?

You soon realise when working with people from different cultures that things get awkward or that you thought you got on well and then you never hear back, when to spend longer asking how the family is doing and when to go straight down to business, that in some countries you spend three hours at lunch and in others you keep working while you eat together a snack together in a hurry. All scenarios can be misinterpreted and seen as a lack of respect by the other person depending on where they are from.

People tend to develop trust in two ways: either by being confident in someone’s skills and experience which is developed from professional interactions and is intellectual in nature. I trust you because you are professional, reliable, deliver on time, knowledgeable etc. Or you develop trust via feelings of emotional closeness and empathy. You will have this relationship with family and friends. It comes from the heart and says because I sense mutual affection and love getting on together and feeling reciprocity, I trust you.

In many countries this last form of trust is not just for family and personal relationships but also for business whereas in other parts of the world mixing the two is seen as very unprofessional. In countries like India, Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia or Nigeria separating the two can indicate a lack of sincerity and therefore trust and for them business is personal. It is especially linked to the individual rather than the company or organisation and the relationship will continue regardless of the individual leaving the company. In contrast in North America and Northern Europe relationships are defined by functionality or practicality and you reduce emotional closeness in business as much as possible

If you work globally, it helps investing time in nourishing relationships to build trust regardless of what culture the person you deal with is from as it will always pay off or be a good investment. It is not necessary to be face to face to develop good relationships. By being too politically correct, polite or holding your personality back for many others you can come across as not authentic, not showing the real you and therefore you aren’t trustworthy. Accepting to go for dinner or join for drinks letting your guard down allows others to see who you really are and that helps build the trust. If you wonder if wining and dining is worth more than getting down to business it helps to know that in many cultures the relationship is your contract and that both are linked. As we are speaking in a mining context, as most producing countries are in emerging markets and many of them are relationship-based countries it helps to find out more where the country culture you work with sits on trust, feedback, hierarchy, negotiation etc. I can recommend an excellent book which goes into all this in detail, you may know it “The Culture map” by Erin Meyer

Being emotionally and culturally intelligent requires awareness and practice if it doesn’t come naturally to you or you are from countries at both extremes. Once you know more about a person and they about you, you can learn not to take offence at things that are cultural and not about content.

It is not because I speak several languages that I excel at this, far from it. I haven’t always got it right and made colossal faux pas along the way. I increased my knowledge and my awareness and I try to pay attention to it daily however it takes effort. I am a very fact-based introvert who is also neuro divergent and likes a two-dimensional lens so adding a third dimension of emotions, social and cultural construct and framework which differs depending on who you speak to is a challenge.

And this difference in trust building is not only true between different countries or regions. Within the same city or locality, there are varying means of establishing trust-based relationships. Any community relations practitioner will agree that every group and every person is a universe in themselves, and dialogue as a tool is a means to discover what trust means to them. This applies to employees as well of course, we cannot assume all engineers, metallurgists or geologists are the same type of person. And I'd like to greatly emphasize that there is an overgeneralisation of how we speak and consider women. We are not all the same.

Once you gain trust you also need to work at maintaining it and keeping it which requires regular exercise.

Question 3:Through your experience with a multitude of WIM groups = any hints and tips re. creating trust?

The reason there are so many WIM organisations across the world, and more being founded all the time, you could say may be down to trust or the lack of trust. Many female professionals come to realise that their skills and intellects are underutilised, they do not receive equitable pay, they aren’t safe, they don’t have the infrastructure nor the equipment or tools to work as comfortably as everyone, and generally be treated as a person and not an object, or as less than.?

?At IWiM we always say that we wish to work ourselves out a job. We hope to be made redundant, for the industry to not require a specialised organisation to standardise the way organisations include women into their mining operations and the decision-making processes. Until then, we will be here to provide support wherever needed.

Tips I would give to leaders of WIM organisations to establish trust in stakeholders

·??Develop relationships and persevere. When you are authentic to your purpose and message day in day out it helps create trust. People realise you are for real

·??Focus on evidence to build and present your case as that will assist your message and resonate. Data speaks louder and can be more easily understood and absorbed by any stakeholder. Share how “not doing” will affect their bottom line.

·??Storytelling helps too, make it personal and bring it back to things we all have in common, a joint passion for the mining industry for example, having family, wanting the best opportunities for our children.

·??Develop relationships with a wide range of stakeholders from different areas of the sector

More boradly speaking, you could say that ESG is a tool to establish trust and hold companies accountable. ESG debates highlight the need for companies and organisations to consider the broader impact of their actions beyond simply generating profits for their stakeholders and checks and balances. We now have an increased importance of accountability for environmental impact, social responsibility, and governance practices. Without ESG debates we would not have the push for greater transparency and accountability in companies' social and environmental impacts, including their carbon emissions, labour practices, and supply chain sustainability.

1.??????We now have reporting standards we need to uphold.

2.??????We now have an increased awareness about the importance of sustainability and the need for organizations to take a long-term perspective in their decision-making.

ESG has become an essential component of business strategy and is expected to play an increasingly important role in shaping the future of the corporate world.

Question 4: What can women bring to the table?

I don’t see men getting asked what they bring to the table. We need to stop asking these questions to change the dynamic. Don’t ask permission to be here, take the space. Everyone be they green pink or purple tall or short, old or young can bring valuable contributions.

As mentioned before, people trust others when they share a common purpose and values, when there is honesty and authenticity. Women are people. They bring the same talents, perspectives, know-how and insight as men and everyone else.?

Mixing genders and intersectionality within, brings diversity of thought leading to better decisions, creativity and innovation which is not possible when there is group think. What we’ve been discussing:?long-term sustainability, climate change, responsible mining and supply chains, energy transition, decarbonisation and other challenges mining faces will be solved with the best talent. And the best talent is diverse. It is not doing the same thing with the same people and the same tools. Mining needs to innovate and needs to be bold to do things differently and with different people than it has done in the past.

Question 5: Given your experience in the international sphere, what is going on at the moment that should / will help to increase trust between different stakeholders?

several things come to mind

Talking at cross purposes/less judgement

The Global North is so focused on energy transition it is struggling to understand the Global South is not against it however its main objective may be energy security. While some of the advanced nations in the world briskly move towards clean energy, the transition in low- and mid-income countries is a complex process with several social and economic considerations.?

For developing countries, what seems a singular emphasis on reducing emissions needs to be balanced against other urgent priorities—health, poverty, and economic growth. Billions of people still cook with wood and waste exclusively in poor countries in the global south, resulting in indoor pollution and poor health. Many of these countries are looking to increased use of hydrocarbons as integral to raising standards of living.

For the Global North, the energy transition is about the question of replacement, whereas there are over 400 new coal mine developments and expansion projects announced or under development worldwide, mostly in China, Australia, India, and Russia. The Global North wants to succeed on decarbonisation and reducing climate change however it is dependent on the metals and minerals coming from mining producing countries in the Global South.

Mutual understanding of these differences between all parties will be essential.

More scrutiny is a good thing

More reporting, audits and certifications allow for greater transparency and therefore greater trust and stakeholders’ interests being respected. This will hopefully be seen as a positive impact balancing out the extra cost and bemoaning ESG standards soup.

Invest in digital education and provision of internet in the Global South to allow for mining communities to have better access to education and information and be able to keep mining companies and suppliers accountable via apps.

Multi-stakeholder initiatives may take longer but its results or outcomes are built on trust, solid foundations and are therefore longer-lasting. More collaborations and partnerships in mining will be key to solve the issues the sector faces at present.

Be prepared to be uncomfortable

Own up to not knowing everything and not hold all truths. Be aware of your unconscious biases or simply that you have some. We all make assumptions about other cultures and people in general. Don’t be led by stereotypes and find out more to build good relationships. Be curious, ask questions and believe in the goodness of people. That includes not over generalising. Every mining community is different, every woman is different.

Don’t speak for those who aren’t in the room and don’t write policy without consulting those it is for. If you really want to bring in different voices make an effort. For example, define earlier which contributor from emerging markets you want speaking at a panel at a conference ideally 4-5 months before to ensure ample time for that person to get a visa.

Things shift all the time and what was true in January may no longer be in July. Don’t be surprised by it.