Page 17 - Suncor 360 - September 2014 - English

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SEPTEMBER 2014
360

“This is how Suncor has Communication is always critical during
established itself as such a times of change, John stresses. “Even if

dynamic and adaptable company – by
leadership doesn’t have all the answers,
recognizing the value in individual skill sets open communication makes it easier

and leveraging them in the best places and for people to understand the strategic
direction and their own roles in
the best ways.”
what’s occurring.”
Preparing for change

Adapting to change is a whole lot easier A cultural revolution
when you know what the change will look One big reason for the success of the

like. And why it’s happening. This fact merger, Doug Fingland believes, is that two
certainly eased the challenges for John different cultures came together to form a

Hoffman, GM EH&S OEMS enablement.
new and unique culture.

In 2009, John was director of the northern “It wasn’t just the swallowing up of one
asset team in Suncor’s natural gas business – culture by another. When you talk to legacy

one of the businesses that underwent Suncor people, they say Suncor today isn’t
signiicant change.
the same as pre-merger Suncor.

“I won’t pretend it wasn’t challenging, “Both legacy companies were strong.
but what helped me adapt was a clear Together, we’ve achieved a balanced

understanding of why the changes approach between rapid growth and
were happening.
careful reinement – and a company far

stronger than either predecessor. Even
“I was able to see a strategy coming though we’re getting so much bigger,

together, clearly focused on optimizing sharing capabilities has allowed us to get
Petro-Canada and Suncor’s combined
so much better.”
portfolio. Decisions about the ‘non-
strategic’ assets caused angst for some

people, but I understood the bigger
picture. Understanding why makes change

so much easier.”

From the top:
Rita Clark,
John Hoffman, Nick Dudley-Smith