Managing Change
“The times they are a changing”, so wrote Bob Dylan in 1963. Skip forward 52 years and change is most definitely upon us in our exploration business. Whether it be improving the cost effectiveness of acquiring data or setting more rigorous HSE targets we all are required to change how we do things. While this can be daunting, it usually is not the Change that is difficult but the Transition to the new way of working. To make the transition a little easier it is good to break the big changes down into small blocks and use the S.M.A.R.T. way of approaching it.
So, instead of “we need to reduce cost of dynamite source survey”, target a subset of the issues affecting that aspiration such as:
Specific – “reduce the number of misfires”
Measurable – we can measure the number of lost shots before and after the improvement
Achievable – set a realistic improvement level e.g. 50 %
Responsible – someone is given responsibility for managing the change
Time – set the change to happen within three months
All Verif-i consultants in the field or office who work with a seismic contractor can use this approach to get tangible results to improve performance. Ticking off these more frequent smaller improvements increases morale of the crew and helps the process of continuous improvement.
Simon Hill – Managing Director
