Nancy Ann Hart: a trailblazer on the path to diversity

Nancy Ann Hart

Nancy Ann Hart is one of the pioneers for women in non-traditional careers.

A Professional Engineer with an electrical background, she, like all trailblazers, has run into an occasional bump.

She was on her first road trip with Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Hydro, visiting an operations facility, when she discovered a lavatory conundrum.

“There was no bathroom for women,” Nancy said, in an interview. “I just went about fixing it, by working with the team to designate a women’s bathroom. There was no confrontation or anything. I’m a secure individual but, at the same time, I realized that a young woman who wasn’t as outspoken as I, probably wouldn’t have dealt with it as well.”

That was in 2004, but a lot has changed since then. Nancy earned her professional engineer status, rose to a management position, and started a family.  In the meantime, the Government of NL created a provincial energy corporation, Nalcor Energy, and Hydro became one its key lines of business along with Churchill Falls, Oil and Gas, Lower Churchill Project and Bull Arm Fabrication.

She started in a junior role with NL Hydro, but Nancy is now the Interim Operations Manager of the Bull Arm Fabrication facility, with Nalcor Energy. She has experienced enormous growth and change at the company, and is helping guide its gender diversity policies. Nancy will be bringing the benefit of her experience to the Fueling the Future Conference, in a presentation titled Diversity as a Critical Success Factor for Energy Companies.

“Since starting here in 2003, I became a mother of one and am currently expecting my second child. Being a young female growing up in this industry, the issues of diversity and how women play a role in a large energy company have played a big part in my career and career development,” Nancy said. “And my company has been amazingly supportive of just about every initiative that I ever brought forward. But a lot of times they just said, ‘Wow, we never thought of that’.”

During the 1990s, when gender diversity emerged as an issue, there was very little hiring within NL Hydro. The workforce was static with little turnover. “There were not a lot of new employees, including women, coming in so they didn’t have to deal with maternity leave and issues like that. All that started to change after 2000 and I just happened to be one of the women hired at that time, in a non-traditional role.  In my role I was able to help stimulate that change. So these issues were very real for me early in my career.”

Last year, Nalcor set about developing a diversity management plan, to implement across all five of its lines of business. At the same time, Nancy started researching best practices in diversity for her university studies. It was a perfect match.

“I was able to marry the research I was doing for my MBA with an initiative I was doing here at work,” she said. “That worked out really well! So I did a great deal of research, drawing upon a variety of sources, and found a lot of consistent themes. Many different people were saying similar things about best practices, so I was able to distill the 60 to70 articles I reviewed down to a handful of key themes. When I presented those findings to management, they recognized the same consistent messages from their own research, and it provided them with a good roadmap to proceed.”

Nancy performed a second piece of work for her employer, by recommending the best mechanism to put the diversity plan and resulting procedures into action.

“A large company like Nalcor has well established processes, policies and procedures they follow for corporate planning, accounting strategy, project management, and so on. So I suggested we apply that same process to embark on our diversity strategy. We aren’t reinventing the wheel; we’re using a process that is already familiar to most managers in the company. We’re integrating diversity into the corporate structure and making it another key aspect of what we do, and how we operate.”

In her presentation, Nancy will discuss the short list of best practices that she developed in her research, and the internal process that was used to recognize and address diversity issues. Following is the abstract for her presentation:

Strategic change occurs for a number of reasons - both initiated within the organization and as a result of external pressures. Industries such as financial services have had major change initiatives thrust upon them by corporate governance and financial reporting reforms such as Sarbanes-Oxley. The nature of these corporate governance reforms has been to force senior executives to assure that the financial statements they are presenting to regulators and other stakeholders are correct. Senior management gains comfort through process-mapping the systems and identifying critical factors needed to ensure accuracy and reliability in their financial reporting systems. There is much merit in energy companies applying the same type of rigour and process to diversity management. Too often, diversity is delegated and not owned by senior management. Without a full understanding on how diversity is approached from a process and critical success factor level, executives deal with diversity at too high a level to have real meaning or to effect lasting strategic change within their organization. This presentation will show how energy firms can tactically approach diversity within their organizations. Using their existing core competencies to plan, map and succeed in managing diversity, energy firms can move beyond talking about diversity and instead focus on managing inclusion within the organizations. This presentation will examine good practices towards managing diversity by analyzing the work of other companies and their relative successes, and then use this information to propose a process method to managing diversity. The presentation will also provide a number of strategic and tactical approaches to achieving diversity goals in the energy sector.

Fueling the Future: Women in Oil and Gas takes place March 8 and 9, 2011 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It is presented by the Harris Centre, of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Please visit the official conference site, for more information or to register.

Stilettos to Steel Toes: A contest with a difference

Michele Tesciuba.

High heels or bootlaces? This is the question that students at many American universities ponder, when they enter the Stilettos to Steel Toes contest.

Stilettos to Steel Toes is an essay contest that prompts young women to think about their full range of career choices. In a nutshell, students write a short essay – up to 350 words long – about the reasons why they might consider entering a non-traditional career.

According to the official web site, the contest encourages students to explore career options, chart their own course, contemplate where a non-traditional career might take them, and “dare to think about all the other possibilities.”

The contest was launched two years ago, by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) in the U.S., with sponsorship support from Schlumberger. It is open to all sophomore, junior or senior engineering majors who are members of a participating SWE section. Students can win cash prizes, including first, second and third prizes of $1000, $500 and $250 for their SWE section, and an overall best essay grand prize of $2000 along with an expense-paid trip to the SWE National Conference to receive the award.

Here, from the web site, is the topic outline, intended to get students thinking about their subject:

“What kind of footprints do you want to make? 
Does your idea of a non-traditional career include taking on some of the most complex engineering and technical challenges in the world, in the most demanding situations and extreme environments? Or do you have another vision of ‘not just another day in the office.’ In 100- 350 words, tell us where your non-traditional career will take you!”

“The idea is to get students thinking about why they would want to choose an unconventional or non-traditional career,” said Michele Tesciuba, North America Wireline Supply Manager with Schlumberger. “We want to get them thinking outside the ‘shoebox’. We are not trying to push them in one direction or another, just to get them thinking about all the possibilities.”

The contest was launched two years ago as a pilot project, with the participation of three schools. “There was good buy-in and participation in that first year, and schools were very receptive,” Michele explained. “So, in the second year, we expanded to 15 schools, and again, there was a very good response, both in the number and the quality of essays submitted.”

The competition has been such a success that Schlumberger is considering an expansion into Canada.

“We are working with various organizations here to explore how it might work,” Michele said. “We don’t have the equivalent of SWE in Canada, though there are several organizations that promote women in non-traditional careers, so we are looking into that now. The plan is to have it in place in Canada, in time for the next school year, in September. It will be the exact same program, with the same rules and objectives, but it will be administered and promoted in a different way.”

Schlumberger’s support as sponsor is altruistic, to be sure. But it is also more than that. Schlumberger has an interest in encouraging more people to enter the industry, Michele said.

“The oil and gas industry needs engineers: mechanical, chemical, petroleum, electrical engineers, among others, especially in the oil services,” she said. “This contest is definitely a means to raise awareness, but, at the end of the day, we want it to be beneficial to the company as well, in terms of name recognition, the awareness of the type of work the company can provide, and the numbers of talented women we can recruit.”

Michele will tell the story of Stilettos to Steel Toes at the Fueling the Future conference, in her role as Schlumberger-SWE Ambassador. Following is a brief summary of her presentation:

Following a thorough analysis of Schlumberger’s recruiting efforts, it became clear that a major bottleneck to achieving gender diversity in the oil and gas industry is our ability to reach out to enough potential women. This presentation will discuss the male vs. female recruiting trends uncovered and will challenge some of the preconceived notion that a fewer percentage of women who get offer letters will accept the Field Engineer position. During the course of this presentation, Schlumberger will also present how they are tackling this diversity challenge, associating themselves with key academic and non-profit partners in the USA & Canada, to entice female students to consider unconventional jobs and put aside their stilettos for some steel toes.

Women need to focus on 'Becoming Leaders'

For women in the oil and gas industry, leadership is not just laudable – it is essential. Especially when you see leadership from Carolyn J. Emerson’s perspective.

Emerson is Project Coordinator for the Canadian Centre for Women in Science, Engineering, Trades and Technology (WinSETT Centre). At Fueling the Future, she will co-deliver, with Susan Hollett of Hollett & Sons Inc., a presentation entitled “Developing Women’s Leadership to Increase Recruitment and Retention in the Oil and Gas Sector”.

Because female scientists and engineers are under-represented in oil and gas companies, and leave their fields at rates higher than males, few advance to senior leadership roles. One strategy then, is to develop women’s leadership skills, so that they can advance in management and leadership positions and become inspiration for others.

Carolyn J. Emerson.

“Successful women can be powerful role models, leading by example and showing other women that there is place for their talents,” Emerson said, in an interview. “Women who are successful in their careers can also serve as mentors and, as women are progressing through their careers, can serve as advocates and sponsors to help those individuals attain further success, as they define it. And the more that women are successful in their careers, the more that helps to not only attract but also to retain women, because they know there is a place for their contributions as well.”

It’s important that women’s voices be heard in all venues and all industries, Emerson said. “A lot of the issues facing society in general have a strong science and technology base, and it’s important to bring different voices, different perspectives, different values, and different interests to all of the tables at which decisions are made.”

And leadership need not be narrowly defined as reaching the top of the corporate hierarchy.

“Part of the message is that leadership is not everyone necessarily wanting to be the chief technical officer. No matter your level in an organization, you can be a leader. You can show new ways of doing things, you can show effective management skills, teams skills and so on. It’s very much about leadership in terms of how we define our own success within careers and being proactive in our career paths. But certainly leadership in the traditional sense is important, in terms of showing the way for other women, and also bringing benefit to organizations.  There is a strong business case that addresses increased innovation capacity and more effective governance among other benefits to women’s increased leadership, and the business case will also be featured at the conference.”

And Emerson knows a thing or two about leadership. You might even say she wrote the book on it. She is co-author, with Dr. Mary Williams, of “Becoming Leaders: A Practical Handbook for Women in Engineering, Science and Technology”. The book was originally published in 2002 by the NSERC/Petro-Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, Atlantic Region, and Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Newfoundland and Labrador. It has gone into several reprints, and a revamped, updated version was released in 2008 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Last year, working with Susan Hollett and Drs Williams and Moloney (both former NSERC/Petro-Canada Chairs), Emerson developed the “Becoming Leaders Workshop” derived from the handbook, and presented it to a St. John’s audience of early to mid-career female engineers, scientists and technologists from Suncor Energy. Emerson and Hollett will bring outcomes of that workshop and future plans to Fueling the Future participants.

“We’ve delivered the workshop a couple of times, and it’s been very positive, both in terms of what the women attending the workshops have said, but also for us, in helping to understanding more of the culture and some of the challenges and opportunities for women in the oil and gas sector,” Emerson said, adding that the workshop has a variety of objectives.

“We will talk about why women’s leadership is important, where women are in organizations, and what some of the factors are that affect career success for women in science, engineering and technology careers. We will then engage women in talking about the necessity to actually be a leader in your own life, and very proactive in thinking about your career; looking at how that fits into your own life. We lead not only in our workplace, but also in our personal lives, communities and other interests, so it’s a question of looking at what factors we need to be aware of, in terms of developing our leadership potential. And then we do some more specific work around what are the competencies within that particular organization that are leadership skills and so forth, and what are the specific strategies to help you look at your own career planning to work on those particular competencies.”

Emerson said there have been advances in gender diversity, since the International Conference on Women and Oil, which took place in 1985 in St. John’s, but there is still more work to do.

“I think there has been progress, but I think you just have to look at the continuing numbers of women in certain fields,” she said. “Overall, in Canada, women are still only about four percent of the construction trades sector, for example. We are still at about 10 percent of professional engineers, and, here in this province, about eight percent. So, while there have obviously been significant steps, it’s clear if we look at the numbers that we still have a ways to go.”

Emerson noted the positive role of community organizations such as WISE NL, WRDC and others, for not just identifying challenges, but following through with strategies and tactics to help overcome them. She also singled out the role of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, in promoting diversity.

“The role of the provincial government, in making women’s employment and gender diversity plans part of the requirements for large scale natural resource developments, and allocating units within their organizations to look at how they can be proactive in attracting and retaining women in these fields, is truly impressive. I think Newfoundland and Labrador in many ways is a leader in this field, certainly within North America. Norway again has a different culture and series of priorities and requirements, so part of the benefit of this conference will be to look at different jurisdictions, and learn from each other about what has worked elsewhere.” 

If you have an opinion or experience to share regarding the role of leadership, as it relates to women in the oil and gas industry, please offer a comment below.

25 Years Later: An interview with Mark Shrimpton

Mark Shrimpton.

Fueling the Future is not the first conference to focus exclusively on the employment of women in Newfoundland and Labrador’s oil and gas industry.

There was a similarly-themed conference, just over 25 years ago, called the International Conference on Women and Oil.

Not coincidentally, Mark Shrimpton had a key role in organizing both events, behind the scenes.

“I helped put together the original event, back in 1985, and I’ve been watching developments in gender diversity since then,” Shrimpton said, in an interview with this blog. “Last year, I set up a small committee to explore the idea of a new conference, and the Harris Centre at Memorial University was eager to participate as host organization. They were a great fit, due to Memorial’s extensive involvement in the 1985 conference.”

The 1985 conference was no small event, said Shrimpton, who is a Senior Associate at Stantec.

“There were about 200 registrants for that event, which is a substantial number. We had speakers from Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. It was quite a large event, though it was more of an academic-driven exercise, as opposed to the latest conference, which is very much industry-driven.”

The Fueling the Future Blog spoke with Shrimpton, to get his perspective on what has changed since 1985, and what challenges remain.

Fueling the Future: How far have we come since 1985?

Mark Shrimpton: I think we’ve come a tremendous way, in terms of people being aware of this issue, and recognizing it as being important and seeking to do something about it. I think there has been a cultural change in the industry, where this is being taken seriously, rather than receiving lip service. The industry has expanded dramatically since 1985, when we were engaged only in exploration, and there is far greater awareness among employers about gender diversity. And we have made some important progress with operators, who generally are trying to be more proactive in hiring women. In fact, Husky Energy is the first operator to include a Diversity Plan as part of its overall operational plan. So, we’ve come a long way, but still have a lot of distance to cover yet.

Fueling the Future: Has there been an increase, in the numbers of women working in the industry?

Mark Shrimpton: Only a modest increase. There have been small gains in some key areas – for example, there are more women engineers now, compared to 1985 – but there is still enormous room for growth. In all skilled trades and technology occupations, women still comprise less than 10 percent of the workforce.

Fueling the Future: What are we striving for, then? Are there specific targets in mind?

Mark Shrimpton: No. At least, not hard numerical targets. What we want is an equal opportunity for women to participate in the industry. We want businesses and employers to remove barriers and create an environment that welcomes women, and to work hard at building gender diversity in the workplace. We want to encourage and support and facilitate women being in the industry. And we want women to have impressions of the industry that are based on reality, not old misperceptions. If a woman decides that she does or doesn’t want to enter the industry, that’s okay, as long as that decision is based on solid facts.

Fueling the Future: What are some of the obstacles keeping women out?

Mark Shrimpton: One is a lack of awareness for girls and women that there are opportunities for them in the industry, so they don’t get appropriate training. Many girls drop certain courses in junior high and high school, which are necessary foundations for skilled trades and occupations, because a non-traditional career choice was not even on their radar screen. There may be social pressures or expectations to pursue other career paths, from friends and family. There are misperceptions, for example, that oil and gas jobs require working on an offshore rig or platform when, in fact, the majority of oil industry jobs are onshore. There have been and maybe still are cases where the culture of the industry has not welcomed women and made them feel comfortable, so that some who entered the industry ended up leaving, because they did not feel welcome. There are still a few instances of men who don’t want women working with them, or for them. Some aren’t comfortable having women as their boss. But it must be emphasized that these sorts of individuals are becoming increasingly rare. There are other issues, no doubt, but those are some of the key ones.

Fueling the Future: How do we encourage women to enter the industry?

Mark Shrimpton: There has been a great deal of discussion about that, and action is being taken on a number of fronts. Industry operators and suppliers are required to develop diversity plans, which set out specific measures to make their corporate culture more welcoming to women. We need to encourage and celebrate the success of women who are already in the industry. At every opportunity, the industry needs to highlight women as role models, whether they appear in corporate advertising, brochures and on web sites. There is a great deal of outreach to schools, where awareness is raised about opportunities for women in the industry. Even  statements at the bottom of job advertisements, emphasizing that the company is striving for a diverse workplace, can make a difference. All communications have to make clear that the industry not just accepts women, but welcomes them and encourages them.

Fueling the Future: How important is education?

Mark Shrimpton: Tremendously important, of course, because math and science courses are critical to entering many skilled, technical occupations. You have to reach girls while they are still in school, through outreach programs, to make them aware of the many diverse opportunities in oil and gas, through outreach, and even career counselors. Again, young women have to make career choices based on genuine awareness, not on misperceptions.

Fueling the Future: Will there be recommendations coming out of this conference?

Mark Shrimpton: No list of formal recommendations will be generated by the conference. However, we do think that many managers and senior executive will come away from the conference with their own list of best practices, along with resources they can use to increase gender diversity. And we want people to come away with an even greater appreciation for and understanding of this issue, which will serve to increase momentum and carry things forward to a new level.

Fueling the Future: Assuming an employer is committed to gender diversity, how does it find women to hire?

Mark Shrimpton: First of all, it’s not just the job of the human resources lead. It’s much broader than that. What we are talking about here is an organizational culture. So it is everybody, from the most senior to most junior, who has a role to play to make sure women are comfortable in the workplace, and there is a respectful and welcoming work environment. I think it is a mistake to ascribe that responsibility to the HR lead. If you look, for instance, at the White Rose Diversity Plan, you will see these kinds of principles espoused over and over. Husky Energy also has regular diversity forums with their suppliers, and expects them to make diversity a priority as well. And it is working. If you look at White Rose, something like 25 percent of their engineers are women, which is very good, considering that 20 percent of engineering students are women. The theory is that, if you make a workplace that is welcoming and inviting and respectful toward women, gradually you will bring more women into the organization… and into the industry.