First 100 Days as a Graduate on Site

Your first 100 days as a graduate mining engineer on a new mine site is crucial. Like any other role or profession, it is important to get an understanding on how to make the maximum impact in your new role. If you get it right from the beginning, you can continue to enjoy accelerated success in your career ambitions. The first 100 days or first three months is usually seen as ‘the settling in’ period. It is the time to demonstrate early actions, wins and tangible deliverables to relevant stakeholders. 

Continue reading “First 100 Days as a Graduate on Site”

Thinking of being a mining engineer? Here’s what to expect

You have read every prospectus for every engineering course in the country and in theory the job looks ok. You have looked into the various roles throughout the entire mining process from exploration and feasibility studies through to build, production and even mine closure and land rehabilitation.  But what is life actually like as a mining engineer? What should you realistically expect? 

Continue reading “Thinking of being a mining engineer? Here’s what to expect”

Being a resilient leader in the wake of COVID-19

Written by MEC Mining’s Technical Services Manager, Erin Sweeney

The human brain is an amazing thing, it is the central control of our bodies keeping us alive. It stores our memories and uses them helps us navigate and assign meaning to the complex world of interacting with other humans, things and events by linking emotions to the myriad of data coming in from our sensors all in an effort to keep us safe and alive. If we leave this process on auto-control our lives can quickly get overwhelming when we face times that are Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.

Continue reading “Being a resilient leader in the wake of COVID-19”

VUCA Planning: what does a resilient mine plan look like?

Many of us have entered 2020 with a great deal of trepidation. It seems the only thing we can rely on this year is taxes and death (too soon?). The world is becoming increasingly volatile and uncertainty reigns supreme, as such it is probably time we started to accept this as the new normal. If it isn’t the Coronavirus it will be a long drought, a flood, a supply chain disruption or a tech disruption that will cause us to have to suddenly change tack. But how do you plan for disruption when you have no idea what will cause it in the future.

Continue reading “VUCA Planning: what does a resilient mine plan look like?”

How can organisations learn from failure?

Ever heard of Chris Argyris? He spent most of his professional life contemplating how organisations could learn from failure.

An American business theorist, Chris Argyris (1923-2013) made a significant contribution to thinking about organisational learning and how people relate to organisations. The theories of single-loop and double-loop learning that he developed with Donald Schön back in the 1970s remain relevant – particularly as organisations globally are increasingly challenged by fast-paced and complex market forces.

Continue reading “How can organisations learn from failure?”