For organizations operating in complex, highly regulated environments such as mining, articulating what they do and measuring what they do make up a significant allocation of time, capital and resources. Boards, stakeholders, executives, managers, and front-line operations all have roles and responsibilities in the expression of intent and the execution of that intent. The difference between the expression and execution is typically represented as value, premium, integrity, or "drift."

Stakeholder expectations come in many forms - regulations, permits, standards, and obligations. Collectively, these make up the requirements an organization must meet. To link back to Mr. Campbell’s advice, requirements represent what an organization says it does.

To meet these requirements and deliver the products and services the market demands, organizations build operating systems. An operating system is made up of policies, standards, procedures, work instructions, and tools, each designed with the aim of complying with an individual or set of requirements. The operating system is the organization's formal answer to stakeholder expectations.  

Boards and executives require assurance that what they do aligns as closely as possible to what it says it does. The application of the three lines of assurance is how an organization understands whether those requirements are being met.

1. Front-line operations is the first line. It owns and manages performance day-to-day. It is also responsible for understanding whether controls are working and where gaps exist between what was designed and what is actually happening on the ground.  

2. Functions - made up of relevant subject matter experts - are the second line of assurance. It provides expertise, oversight, and support to operations. Its purpose is not to identify failure, but to help the organization understand why performance is falling short and what needs to change.  

3. Audit, both internal and external, is the third line of assurance. Its purpose is to validate good performance, rather than discovering failure through periodic testing.

This model works effectively when the organization has a clear understanding of operational performance. When performance is well understood from front-line systems, resources can be allocated appropriately to areas of under-performance and audits scoped out for areas of good performance.  

Any asset leader will say that they don't want:

• Incidents to identify failed controls

• Audits to identify non-compliance, and  

• Investors to identify that an operation is a bad bet

Mr. Campbell would no doubt agree. If an operating system cannot clearly articulate what an organization does, what chance does it have to safely, repeatably and sustainably deliver on the many contracts – financial, social and otherwise – it has with its stakeholders?

Before an operation can solely focus on optimizing what it does, it should be able to provide assurance that what it intends to do is worthy of the trust its partners have placed upon it.  

How does your organization express its intent? How are individual requirements satisfied across your operating system? How confident are you after reading the numerous policies, standards etc. that your organization is adequately resources to deliver on those stakeholder contracts safely, reliably and sustainably.  

Saying what you do can be much more difficult than it sounds.  

IK-CADDI helps mining operators work through these challenges to scale industrial compliance. We map out the expectations and requirements your operation is judged upon, analyze the operating systems that deliver these requirements and improve where gaps are discovered.

To see how it works in your context, reach out to arrange a working session.