TEAMWORK - SNC

VOL. 23
EDITION
NO. 01
2014
QUARTERLY
MAGAZINE OF
SNC‑LAVALIN
TEAMWORK
IN ACTION
03
President’s Message
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
The Power
of Teamwork
04
Infrastructure’s
Winning Formula
Please send all correspondence to:
07
Spectrum
SNC‑Lavalin Inc.
455 René-Lévesque Blvd. West
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Z 1Z3
Coming Together
in a Time of Need
Tel.: 514-393-8000
Fax: 514-875-4877
E-mail: [email protected]
We invite you to visit our website
to learn more about SNC‑Lavalin:
08
PM+: Making a Great Tool
Even Better
10
The SNC-Lavalin Academy:
Investing in Our People to
Better Serve Our Clients
12
Employees Embrace
Reinforced Compliance
Framework
15
Top Three Keys to Global
Health & Safety Success
16
www.snclavalin.com
Spectrum is published
for SNC‑Lavalin Group Inc.
by Global Corporate Communications.
Spectrum est aussi disponible en français.
N.B.: All figures are in Canadian dollars
unless otherwise indicated.
Editor-in-Chief:
Véronique Richard-Charrier, Advisor
External Communications
Writing and coordination:
Noel Rieder, Senior Writer
Contributors:
Brett Gillis
Craig Segal
Copy editing:
Frédéric Bouchard
Éveline Chiasson
Monique James
Ginette Quintal
Sabrina Riaz
Copyright deposit:
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec.
Articles may be reproduced,
with attribution, upon request.
Design and production:
mosaic design
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Paragraph
Tailored and Targeted:
SNC-Lavalin’s One-on-One
Compliance Training
Since becoming President and CEO of SNC-Lavalin in
2012, I have been impressed by the broad skill set and
deep resources our company possesses. I have also
observed that we are at our best when focusing on
a single purpose. As we have demonstrated many
times, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome and
no challenge we cannot help our clients resolve when
we work together.
T
his issue of Spectrum looks at several areas where our teamwork is
yielding outstanding results.
The feature article highlights one of the company’s hallmarks: our integrated
approach to projects. Over the last 23 years, SNC-Lavalin’s business units have
teamed up to finance, design, build, operate and maintain world-class P3 infrastructure projects—frequently delivering them ahead of schedule and under
budget. This is a valuable track record in a market where clients are increasingly looking to control risks by working with firms that offer complete endto-end solutions. We are currently applying that expertise to several fantastic
projects, including the Highway 407 East extension in Toronto and the
Evergreen Line in Vancouver—both of which will enhance quality of life in
those cities.
This issue also contains an interview with our outgoing Chief Compliance
Officer (CCO), Andreas Pohlmann. Andreas, a leading international expert in
his field, worked tirelessly with his team to implement a world-class ethics
and compliance framework throughout the company. On June 1, we welcomed
David G. Wilkins, former Ethics & Compliance lead at the Dow Chemical
Company, as our new CCO. With David’s proven leadership, and the support of
our employees around the world, we will certainly attain our objective of
becoming a corporate governance benchmark in our sector.
Another article deals with one of my favourite subjects: building outstanding
client relationships. James Compston, the new Senior Vice-President of
Business Development and Client Relations for Resources, Environment &
Water (REW), has built a successful career by providing outstanding results to
Tier-1 organizations, such as BP. He will now help REW focus more effectively
on helping clients achieve their long-term business objectives by drawing on
the best capabilities at our disposal company-wide.
These examples of teamwork, only a few of a growing number, demonstrate
a healthy organization with a dynamic and motivated employee base. By continuing to integrate our considerable expertise, we will exceed our stakeholders’
expectations now and in the future.
18
Client Relationships: Adding
Value While Reducing Risk
ROBERT G. CARD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Paper made from
recycled material
XXXXXXX
“By continuing to integrate
our considerable
expertise, we will exceed
our stakeholders’
expectations now and
in the future.”
04
05
Feature Article
Feature Article
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Infrastructure’s Winning Formula
Infrastructure Concession
Investments (ICI)
Population growth, industrial development
and a rising quality of life around the world
are driving the demand to build and
rehabilitate infrastructure. SNC-Lavalin
offers solutions that cover the entire life
cycle of these vital projects. The company
can provide its financing, engineering,
construction, and operations and
maintenance services separately, or group
them together into one fully integrated,
value-added package.
SNC-Lavalin’s extensive experience in developing projects,
arranging financing, investing equity, undertaking complex financial modelling, and managing its existing investments complements the company’s world-class technical expertise, and allows
it to do what few engineering firms can. Whether the need is
for an advanced mass transit system, urban highway or ultra-­
efficient healthcare facility, SNC-Lavalin’s collective expertise
takes risk off the client’s balance sheet for the project life cycle
and places it where it is best controlled.
Infrastructure Engineering
With their understanding of the full project life cycle,
SNC-Lavalin’s Infrastructure Engineering team can also contribute to the success of all project execution phases. It has the
ability to integrate health and safety requirements at the design
phase, engineer around physical and technical challenges, and
create facilities that are generally more robust and efficient to
operate and maintain over the long term. “S
NC-Lavalin’s end-to-end expertise is phenomenal,”
said Hisham Mahmoud, who was recently named the
company’s Group President for Infrastructure. “Our
ability to address the full life cycle of infrastructure projects is a
true differentiator in the industry. We demonstrate that ability on
many projects, and we are focusing on making it a priority, not
just in Canada, but throughout the world.”
Infrastructure’s five business units have proven time and again
that their collective expertise combines to create remarkable
projects that generate sustainable value for all stakeholders.
Hisham Mahmoud was most recently
Group President, Growth Regions at AMEC,
where he implemented plans to expand
the global footprint of the business while
creating significant synergies with the
company’s other business units.
The Rideau Transit Group, of which
SNC-Lavalin is a partner, was mandated
to design, build, finance and maintain
Ottawa’s Confederation Line for 35 years.
The project is the city’s first ever light rail
transit system and a major component in
the plan to improve public transit in
Canada’s capital. The cost-saving and
innovative public-private partnership (P3)
structure for Confederation Line won a
Gold Award from the Canadian Council
for Public-Private Partnerships, and the
project was named North America P3
Deal of the Year for 2013 by Project
Finance magazine.
The Calgary West LRT Extension project,
which SNC-Lavalin financed, designed
and built with its joint-venture partners,
has been running reliably since
December 10, 2012, with a 25 percent
increase in ridership over initial projections.
The largest transportation infrastructure
project ever undertaken by the City of
Calgary, it integrates eight kilometres
of new rail line, bus routes, bike paths,
pedestrian bridges and regional pathways.
The project has won an Award of
Excellence from the Canadian Design-Build
Institute and two Awards of Excellence
from the Consulting Engineers of Alberta.
06
07
Feature Article
We Care
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Coming Together in a Time of Need
Transportation Construction
and General Construction
Operations and Maintenance
(O&M)
SNC-Lavalin can take on total construction responsibility
for infrastructure projects, regardless of their size, scope or
complexity. The company can also combine its construction
expertise with its engineering and operations and maintenance know-how to offer complete life-cycle solutions for
major infrastructure, including P3s. This end-to-end approach
allows cost and schedule efficiencies and facilitates a
streamlined process for project development and delivery.
SNC-Lavalin provides customized facilities management, realty,
defence and logistics services, and operates and maintains major
transportation, oil and gas, power and industrial facilities.
O&M’s ability to operate and maintain major P3 infrastructure
projects completes SNC‑Lavalin’s full life-cycle service offering.
By providing valuable input at the design phase and ensuring
timely capital rehabilitation during the operations period, O&M
is enhancing the operational efficiency and longevity of mass
transit systems, concert halls, hospitals, airports and bridges. Last summer, heavy rains flooded southern Alberta, Canada, resulting in one of the
worst natural disasters in the province’s history. The figures are staggering: the floods
displaced more than 100,000 people across 26 communities and cost the province
approximately $6 billion.
W
hen he received news of the floods, SNC-Lavalin’s
Chief Executive Officer, Robert G. Card, created an
SNC-Lavalin Emergency Response Team to assist
employees, customers and residents in the affected areas. Led
by Don Chynoweth, Senior Vice-President, Operations &
Maintenance, the team was made up of nine representatives from
SNC-Lavalin’s Oil & Gas, Environment & Water, Transmission &
Distribution, and Operations & Maintenance business units.
SNC-Lavalin’s first priority during the cleanup was employee
safety. To prepare employees, the Emergency Response Team
organized briefings on electrical awareness; water contamination;
disease prevention; slip, trip and falls; and personal protection
equipment.
Hundreds of employees then hauled ruined household items out
of homes, ripped out carpets, tore out walls, and removed water
from basements. Employees also took care of other volunteers
by supplying them with food, water and sunscreen.
SNC-Lavalin arranged for pump trucks to be brought over from
Saskatchewan, Canada, to pump water out of employees’ homes
and customers’ facilities. The trucks also pumped water out of
the homes of many residents who, otherwise, would have waited
days for local pump trucks.
We are providing interim financing, design
and construction services for the
expansion of the Sainte-Justine
University Hospital Centre in Montreal,
the largest mother-child pediatric
teaching centre in Canada. The expansion
will strengthen the Centre’s leading
position in pediatric care and clinical
research, while creating a more humane
environment for its patients. Our
advanced health, safety and
environmental precautions are allowing
the vital healthcare facility to maintain its
activities while we build a new state-ofthe-art seven-storey extension and
research centre.
“Being covered in mud and soaked to the bone with flood water
and seeing everyone smiling while they were helping one another
was truly amazing,” said Chynoweth. “I believe that a lot of good
came out of this natural disaster. When I think about the power
of community and the teamwork demonstrated by SNC-Lavalin
employees, it makes me proud to be part of such a selfless team.”
“Despite all the damage, everyone was in good spirits,” said Craig
Martin, Contracts Administrator, Oil & Gas. “These are the types
of events that really bring a community together. We got through
this as a team because that is what we are.” “These are the types of events
that really bring a community
together. We got through this
as a team because that is what
we are.”
CRAIG MARTIN
Contracts Administrator, Oil & Gas
In 2005, we designed, built and financed
275 kilometres of the Trans-Canada
Highway in New Brunswick. Since then,
our work has won numerous awards for
environmental excellence and safety
innovation. In Calgary, we commenced
operations and maintenance of the
25-kilometre South East Stoney Trail, one
of the largest P3 highways in Alberta.
© Ryan L.C. Quan
08
09
PM+
PM+
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
PM+: Making a Great Tool Even Better
One of SNC-Lavalin’s most impressive service offerings has evolved.
S
ince it was introduced in the mid-1980s, SNC-Lavalin’s
proprietary project management software tool, PM+, has
continually evolved alongside the scope and complexity
of the projects the company carries out. Today, PM+ is a flexible
and practical software tool that allows project team members,
including clients, suppliers, and subcontractors, to access critical
project information rapidly and efficiently.
Landry adds that PM+ Lite also acts as the perfect onboarding
tool for new employees, providing them with training wheels for
the full version of PM+. Once they have mastered the Lite version,
upgrading to PM+ will feel like a natural progression in their project management learning experience.
“PM+ provides our teams with a clear strategic advantage when
bidding on and carrying out projects because clients know the
system saves time and money, while driving project delivery
excellence,” says Jacques Landry, SNC-Lavalin’s Senior VicePresident of Project Management Systems.
Landry is working with all business units to ensure that PM+ is
effectively aligned and widely adopted. With over 20 years of
experience working on project management solutions, Landry
knows an opportunity when he sees one. “Few companies within
the engineering, procurement and construction world have a
project management tool that they have actually developed
themselves, and that provides full control of a project from beginning to end,” says Landry. “It’s quite amazing. Our PM+ team is
helping to bring the company to the next level for the next
100 years.”
PM+ lightens up
SNC-Lavalin recently launched the new PM+ Lite initiative. Up
until now, PM+ has mainly been used for large projects—those
that typically require more than 5,000 work hours. Project
Managers heading up smaller mandates did not necessarily find
it advantageous as these projects involve fewer elements
to manage.
Landry and his team are changing this. They are extending the
use of PM+ to smaller projects. The new PM+ Lite version will
provide a framework that allows users to manage and control
the bare essentials on such projects, all in a new user-friendly
interface.
“PM+ Lite is very useful on small projects, and it is equally useful
on larger projects during their early stages,” says Landry. “When
the team moves to a larger and more complex project phase,
they will be able to upgrade to the full version of PM+
seamlessly.”
High-value functionalities
While a new and lighter version of PM+ will expand the use of
the tool to smaller mandates, all projects can benefit from several high-value functionalities:
Project Performance Indicators System
PM+ now gives project managers direct access to project performance indicators by making the data available to them in real
time. Managers will be empowered to take quick action because
they no longer have to wait for periodic status reports.
Oracle interface
The PM+ team is working on interfaces that will make it possible
to transfer data from the company’s Oracle financial system
directly into PM+. A seamless interface between Oracle and PM+
will eliminate the need to enter the same information twice, and
eliminate potential errors from manual data reentry.
Automatic workflows
PM+ now includes automatic workflows which streamline processes. This greatly reduces time-consuming and cumbersome
manual tasks, and allows the project team to quickly identify
bottlenecks. “It’s quite amazing. Our PM+
team is helping to bring the
company to the next level
for the next 100 years.”
JACQUES LANDRY
Senior Vice-President, Project Management Systems
10
11
Human Resources
Human Resources
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
The SNC-Lavalin Academy: Investing in
Our People to Better Serve Our Clients
How do you ensure your company will have the qualified employees it requires to match its
growth potential? And how do you create a common business language that embodies your
company’s values and high-performance work standards?
W
ith the creation of the SNC-Lavalin Academy, the
103-year-old engineering and construction firm has
found a way to do just that—by offering employees
ambitious and innovative programs designed to improve their
core competencies and enabling SNC-Lavalin to better serve its
clients. The Academy is a means to instill the company’s DNA
into its projects, processes and people.
Creating development
opportunities
The company began work on the SNC-Lavalin Academy with the
goal of addressing corporate-wide development needs, enhancing
key competencies and creating an environment that promotes
networking and sharing of best practices, as well as creating
alignment across the organization.
“We want our people to know that we care and that we are committed to their development,” says Darleen Caron, Executive
Vice-President, Global Human Resources.
The Academy’s mandate includes creating curricula that are
linked to key corporate strategic priorities and shaped by internal
and external subject matter experts. Programs are pilot-tested
with target audiences to assess their impact and are continuously
evaluated to increase the satisfaction level of participants.
The Academy acts as a catalyst for communicating a consistent
corporate message about values and standards to employees
around the world. “To foster employees’ sense of belonging, one
of the most powerful tools we have developed is our new set of
training programs,” says Caron. “We have also added e-learning
to the mix, with hundreds of training modules that will soon be
available to all employees.”
SNC-LAVALIN ACADEMY’S FOUR STREAMS FLOW TO SUCCESS
The SNC-Lavalin Academy aims to support the company’s commitment to organizational transformation through personal
responsibility and performance-driven leadership. Programs are
divided into four streams: Project Management, Corporate
Excellence, Leadership Development and Accelerated
Development. Training can last from one week to several years,
and can take place anywhere in the world. Some programs
include e-learning modules and business cases, while others
provide unique coaching opportunities and are supported by top
universities, consultants, and well respected instructors
and professors.
Neil Bruce, President, Resources, Environment & Water, is a
strong proponent of the Academy: “It is a really important step
in terms of our ability to invest in our core people,” he says. “This
maximizes employee opportunity to progress throughout
the company.”
1
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
2
CORPORATE EXCELLENCE
3
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
4
ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT
Improves project execution and delivery through the competency development of project managers and provides
them with the knowledge needed to obtain their PMP®
Certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI).
The Project Management Development Program got underway this spring.
Addresses corporate priorities, such as ethics and compliance; health, safety, security and environment; and business
development; and helps to establish common practices and
processes across the organization.
Focuses on providing insight into human behaviour and
understanding what motivates success in order to drive topperforming teams. Nearly 800 leaders from Canada, the US,
Chile, Brazil, Algeria and the UK have completed the People
Leadership Development Program.
“It is noteworthy that many of
our senior leaders have had
the opportunity to personally
manage major projects, and
that was a key part of their
executive preparation.
We have some amazing talent
to help propel our growth.”
ROBERT G. CARD
President and CEO
Neil Bruce, President, Resources, Environment & Water; Darleen Caron, Executive Vice-President, Global Human Resources; and Lyne Desrochers, Director, SNC-Lavalin Academy.
Develops the company’s pipeline of future leaders through
development opportunities and intensive leadership training.
As the company sets its sights on becoming a true global
leader, senior management roles have become a top priority.
The Senior Management Program focuses not only on career
development, but also on the more subtle aspects of leadership, such as personal mastery. 12
13
Ethics & Compliance
Ethics & Compliance
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
INTERVIEW WITH
ANDREAS POHLMANN
CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER
Employees Embrace Reinforced
Compliance Framework
Over the last two years, SNC-Lavalin has
made tremendous efforts to reinforce its
ethics and compliance framework across its
global operations with the goal of becoming
an industry leader in good governance.
T
he company is off to a good start. Under the guidance of
President and CEO, Robert G. Card, and Chief Compliance
Officer, Andreas Pohlmann, SNC-Lavalin has implemented a host of remedial measures which have served to
greatly reinforce the company’s compliance procedures in a short
period of time.
Under Pohlmann’s leadership, SNC-Lavalin successfully created
and implemented a best-in-class Ethics & Compliance Program
to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to any potential ethicsrelated issues throughout all levels of the organization. The program has already led to several positive outcomes, including
authorization from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) to
contract with public authorities in the province of Quebec in
early 2014.
With this first phase of the company’s ethics and compliance
initiative complete, Pohlmann will soon move into a consulting
role, with a strategic focus on ongoing World Bank compliance
initiatives. He is succeeded by David G. Wilkins, former Ethics &
Compliance lead at the Dow Chemical Company. Wilkins’ experience at Dow makes him an excellent fit for a company of
SNC-Lavalin’s size and ambitions.
Spectrum (S): What has stood out the most for you in
the important work you carried out at SNC-Lavalin?
Andreas Pohlmann (AP): What has stood out for me is how
quickly employees embraced the restructuring of our ethics and
compliance framework at every level of the organization. Our
employees want to see the implementation of robust compliance
management processes which will enable them to live up to the
uncompromising standards we have set. I have also had discussions with SNC-Lavalin’s senior leaders, and it is clear that they
are fully behind our goal of becoming the ethics and compliance
leader in the engineering and construction industry.
Spectrum recently sat down with Pohlmann to discuss his tenure
at SNC-Lavalin, and how the company plans to use its reinforced
ethics and compliance framework as a springboard for achieving
excellence in corporate governance.
2012
CREATION OF THE ETHICS
AND COMPLIANCE
COMMITTEE
S: You and your team have implemented a host of
new ethics and compliance initiatives. What are
some of the highlights?
AP: The last year was particularly productive for us on the ethics
and compliance front and I am proud of how much we have
accomplished.
We created an Anti-Corruption Manual for our employees, which
supplements our newly updated Code of Ethics and Business
Conduct and provides concrete and useful advice on how to
behave ethically in difficult situations. We have implemented
Personal Compliance Training for all employees, with a special
focus on those working in functions known to expose employees
to a higher level of corruption risk. We drafted a new policy governing engagements with business partners, which sets out principles and due diligence procedures to be observed before
entering into an agreement with any and all parties who act on
the company’s behalf. We launched an Amnesty Program which
provided employees with an opportunity to come forward regarding ethical violations so that any remaining issues could be dealt
with and rapidly resolved. We also appointed Compliance Officers
to all business units and regional hubs around the world to assist
employees with their ethics-related questions. These measures
follow others in 2012, including the creation of an Ethics and
Compliance Committee, and, of course, the renewal of the company’s senior management.
S: Have you noticed an ethics and compliance shift in
the company?
AP: Definitely. Since he joined SNC-Lavalin, Mr. Card has been
very clear about his desire to see the company become a benchmark for ethics and compliance in our sector, and his vision
applies to all of our operations around the world, without exception. I have sometimes seen a different tone from the top with
other companies. They were saying, “Of course we want compliance, but bring us the business.” If you consider the second part
of that sentence, you already know what is meant—that business
is really the focus. So it is certain in those cases that ethics and
compliance will be compromised. Mr. Card, on the other hand,
has been very clear that no projects should be pursued if they
must be obtained using anything less that the most ethical standards of business conduct. That has been his consistent message
from the start. 14
15
Ethics & Compliance
Health & Safety
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Top Three Keys to Global
Health & Safety Success
S: The company’s excellent reputation was affected
by these ethics-related issues. With recent project
announcements and strong new hires, things seem
to be moving in the right direction. What more needs
to be done?
AP: Today, successful business is clean business. We must continue to develop and execute solid strategies to ensure projects
are delivered successfully, and we have to ensure we have the
right people on board. So recruiting the right employees is key if
we are going to develop leaders who will set the right tone at the
top.
It comes down to the fact that ethics and compliance is ultimately
about people and about doing what is right. And I have no doubt
that our employees want to do what is right.
S: Do you believe our clients feel reassured by the
great efforts the company has been making?
AP: From the conversations that I and other senior executives
have had with many of them, I believe they do. There is no question that they regard us as one of the world’s leading engineering
and construction firms from a technical capability standpoint.
But I also believe they now see how committed we are to moving
past our ethics and compliance issues and becoming a model for
ethics excellence.
They should be further reassured by the fact that a monitor was
appointed by the World Bank in order to review the progress of
our compliance program implementation and provide external
validation of our efforts to ensure they are sustainable. In my new
role, I will be working closely with the World Bank to ensure we
meet every requirement.
1
“The StepBack hazard assessment process encourages
employees to step back two metres and take two minutes
to examine what they’re doing at any given moment,
whether they’re lifting heavy boxes in the office, heading
out to a project site, meeting with a client, or even crossing
the street with their kids. We’re starting projects with this
StepBack methodology and mindset, and our hope is that
it will transcend into people’s homes and personal lives.
StepBack now has an interactive app developed for smart
phones and tablets, making it more readily available
than ever.”
S: As you transition to your new consulting role
following the successful completion of the first
phase of our ethics and compliance plan, what is
your message to SNC-Lavalin employees?
AP: We cannot change the past, but we can create a future where
our reputation has been restored and we become the most compliant, ethical and therefore successful engineering and
construction firm in the world. I have truly enjoyed my tenure as
CCO at SNC-Lavalin and have been incredibly impressed by
employees’ willingness to help strengthen our ethics and compliance framework as well as all the amazing work they have
accomplished. On June 1, 2014, David G. Wilkins steps
in as SNC-Lavalin’s Chief Compliance
Officer. Since 2008, he has led the
Ethics & Compliance function at the
Dow Chemical Company. Prior to that,
he served as General Counsel of Union
Carbide Corporation, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Dow, and as Vice-President
and Chief Diversity Officer of the American
Red Cross.
“Having witnessed the rapid progress
SNC-Lavalin has made over the past
year to strengthen its ethics and
compliance framework, I am thrilled to
be on board,” said Wilkins. “SNC-Lavalin’s
employees have shown the world that
they have turned the page. I want to
help this remarkable company reach
its true potential.”
STEPBACK
Tim Van Wieren, Senior Vice-President, Global Health & Safety
SNC-Lavalin has been busy instilling a One
Company approach to health and safety
(H&S) throughout the firm. Thanks to the
efforts of its employees, the company’s
total recordable incident frequency fell
by 32 percent in 2013, putting it in the top
tier of health and safety performance in
its industry.
“T
he company’s 30,000 employees—from Group
Presidents to Project Managers and front-line
­workers—are working in a unified way to take care
of one another,” said Tim Van Wieren, Senior Vice-President,
Global Health & Safety. “Health and safety success requires
100 percent dedication by each of us—because any harm to an
employee is unacceptable. That’s why we’re focusing on further
reductions in 2014. In order to get there, we must be even more
vigilant and work that much harder to create a safe environment,
every day, everywhere.”
Van Wieren talked to us about three of the tools that are helping
SNC-Lavalin attain strong health and safety performance across
its operations.
2
CRITICAL RISK
CONTROL PROTOCOLS
“Another essential key to our success is our Critical Risk
Control Protocols. They highlight the top eight identified
areas where we know safety risks are more elevated, from
vehicles and mobile equipment to lifting operations and
working in confined spaces. We showcase the Protocols
with 4 x 8 posters that we proudly post at every SNC-Lavalin
work site in the world. Every year we update the Protocols
based on our incident experience, new insights, and industry
best practices, so we can better protect our employees. We
also offer Internet-based e-learning modules, an interactive
video that complements our Critical Risk Protocols. Over
20,000 employees have already completed this training.”
3
HEALTH & SAFETY
BLUE BOOK
“This is our H&S bible. It contains everything we expect to
see at project sites and offices, and I’m happy to be able to
say that our sites are operating according to the Blue Book.
Among other important H&S guidance, the Blue Book also
contains the Visible Safety Leadership Card, which offers
specific cues to help leaders and managers engage in proactive and valuable safety conversations. These cards can
be used anywhere and essentially help demonstrate visible
safety leadership throughout the company.” 16
17
Ethics & Compliance
Ethics & Compliance
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
INTERVIEW WITH
JOANNE THOMPSON
HEAD OF COMPLIANCE TRAINING AND CONSULTATION
Tailored and Targeted:
SNC-Lavalin’s One-on-One
Compliance Training
Training is an essential part of SNC-Lavalin’s
ethics and compliance framework. Spectrum
interviewed JoAnne Thompson, Head of
Compliance Training and Consultation, to
learn how a recently launched in-person
compliance training program will help
SNC-Lavalin achieve outstanding ethics
and compliance performance across and
at all levels of the company.
“As part of its commitment to ethics excellence, SNC-Lavalin
encourages all of its business partners to implement a code of
conduct that is equivalent to SNC-Lavalin’s Code of Ethics and
Business Conduct, and to adopt a firm commitment to prevent,
detect, investigate, and remediate misconduct within their
organizations. It is the policy of SNC-Lavalin to ensure that its
business partners reflect and uphold the company’s standards
for integrity and compliance.”
FROM SNC-LAVALIN’S BUSINESS PARTNERS POLICY
APPROXIMATELY
3,000
EMPLOYEES
HAVE BEEN SELECTED
FOR THIS TRAINING
Spectrum (S): What is the objective of the newly
launched in-person compliance training?
S: What are the specific functions that require
training?
JoAnne Thompson (JT): Cooperation with third parties—such
as consultants, subcontractors and other intermediaries—is a
daily part of our company’s operations, allowing us to reach certain areas of the market and execute projects. Under certain
circumstances, however, even though they are not SNC-Lavalin
employees, we may be held liable for the actions of these third
parties. So before entering into a relationship with a business
partner, we must complete a due diligence process to ensure the
proposed relationship is evaluated and managed as outlined in
our Business Partners Policy.
JT: There are approximately 3,000 employees globally across
all business units who have been selected for this training. The
training specifically targets those employees who work in general
management, procurement, government relations, business
development, construction management and project management—all areas where dealings with business partners are
common.
In order to equip those employees who hold positions which may
directly or indirectly be affected by the Business Partners Policy
or who, due to the nature of their role, require awareness in anticorruption practices, in-person training sessions are being scheduled across the company. The training will ensure participants
clearly understand the requirements of the business partner due
diligence process, while giving them an overview of anti–corruption
practices in areas such as gifts and hospitality, bribery, sponsorships and charitable donations.
S: Where will the training take place?
JT: Training will be provided in four languages and will take place
at 29 international offices and 23 offices in North America over
the next six months. Sessions have already taken place in Tunisia,
Algeria, Brazil, South Africa and Canada. The participation was
very encouraging: the teams were engaged, shared openly and
had many questions and comments.
S: Have you found employees are generally
enthusiastic about the opportunity to learn more
about the best practices in ethics and compliance?
JT: Absolutely. You know, SNC-Lavalin has taken a great many
steps toward ethics and compliance excellence and continues to
push forward—and our employees have played a very important
role in that. Employees at every level of the organization are
embracing these efforts and really want SNC-Lavalin to become
a leader in this area. With this level of desire and enthusiasm, we
are sure to reach our ethics and compliance goals. 18
19
Business Development
Business Development
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
Spectrum Edition No. 1 | 2014
INTERVIEW WITH
JAMES COMPSTON
SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT, CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
FOR THE RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT & WATER GROUP
Client Relationships: Adding Value
While Reducing Risk
In June 2013, James Compston was named
SNC-Lavalin’s Senior Vice-President, Client
Relationships and Business Development
(BD) for the Resources, Environment &
Water (REW) group. His priority is to develop
strategic customer partnerships and ensure
consistency of BD activities across REW.
Compston comes to SNC-Lavalin from
PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he played
a leading role in growing global strategic
accounts in the oil and gas sector over the
past 13 years, particularly with BP plc.
Spectrum sat down with Compston to see
how he plans to help SNC-Lavalin enhance
its approaches to BD and build strong client
relationships. We learned that he is devising
a system based on an increased understanding
of the client’s needs and a collaborative
approach to BD. We also discovered that this
is just the first step in a plan to develop a
powerful company-wide approach to serving
clients that will allow SNC-Lavalin to build
more sustainable client relationships.
S: How do you acquire that enhanced
understanding?
JC: We have to get to know the people who are responsible for
dealing with the issues of the day in those organizations. Not just
at the project level, but at the functional and corporate leadership
levels as well. We have to gain their trust by demonstrating that
we have the best interests of their organization at heart, and the
expertise to help them realize both their short- and long-term
strategic objectives. We have some great value propositions, such
as our sustainable mining development capability, but we could
be better at demonstrating how that expertise can benefit specific
clients at a fundamental level.
S: What do you hope to achieve through gaining that
deeper understanding of our clients’ realities?
Spectrum (S): What do you hope to accomplish
on the BD front with REW?
James Compston (JC): We would like to grow our business and
our margin with a select number of clients who are advocates
for SNC-Lavalin and will help us cement our reputation for Tier-1
excellence. To do that, we will need to create conditions that
encourage our people to think more about our clients’ business
objectives and drivers, rather than focusing mainly on the projects
they plan to develop and tasks we have to complete to win and
execute them. By understanding what motivations and business
strategies lie behind our clients’ projects, we can do more than
just win and design great facilities for them; we can more effectively contribute to the success and long-term viability of
their business.
JC: We want to deliver a powerful client experience. One indication we are succeeding would be an increase in long-term master
service contracts with major Tier-1 clients, such as the work we
are currently doing with Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil and BHP
Billiton. These include agreements to provide planning, engineering and project management expertise for new facilities and the
expansion or maintenance of existing ones. These kinds of agreements are exciting because they allow us to become a valued
partner for major clients while enhancing our own performance
in a cyclical sector. We could also be more ambitious with the
organizations that we currently have these agreements with,
targeting new levels of client satisfaction and finding innovative
ways to improve their businesses.
S: BD is essential, but it is also a main source of
SG&A expenditure. Do you think you will be able to
implement an enhanced BD approach without
increasing overhead?
JC: I’m talking about building BD muscle, rather than BD overhead. I think it’s a mistake for any professional organization to
limit BD strictly to those who perform that function. Companies
that do that are focused on what I would call selling, not real BD.
A better approach is to maximize the broad spectrum of talents
and capabilities across the organization to support the BD effort.
Of course, we will always have a BD function of some kind, but
it isn’t now, nor will it be, the sole responsibility of that function
to deliver on all these activities. The effort will be supported by
BD, with BD individuals in the lead in many cases, but it will
“We could provide an even
greater value to our clients by
thinking more about the larger
context within which projects
get carried out. Our clients
should want to hire us, in part,
because we are thinking
through strategic issues with
them, and because we have
a deep understanding of their
market reality.”
ROBERT G. CARD
President and CEO, SNC-Lavalin
involve experts from the different parts of the firm, building relationships appropriate to the needs and wants of our clients. It’s
all about client and team, knowledge and networks.
S: So you would like to see more people within the
organization develop a BD mindset?
JC: That’s how it has to be in a truly client-focused organization:
everyone must be focused first and foremost on serving clients
and helping them achieve their business objectives. We have to
see our clients’ success as our success because ultimately they
are one and the same. The clients we want to work with see it
that way too! Printed in Canada, June 2014
As a partner in this world-class
construction project, SNC-Lavalin congratulates
Rio Tinto Alcan on the inauguration
of a technology centre that is the first
of its kind in the industry. We also proudly salute
the creation of an aluminium smelter
in the Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean region
that will help build a more sustainable future.