A CubeNorth perspective from Manon Hagen, Communications Manager

Leaders don’t create performance alone

Before working with CubeNorth, I assumed most mining and operational leaders cared about one thing above all else: numbers – targets, output, revenue, performance metrics…

And while those things absolutely matter, what surprised me most was how much the best leaders talk about people. 

Not simply referring to them as a “business's greatest asset”, but in a much more practical sense: the leaders I have been exposed to through CubeNorth genuinely understand that sustainable performance depends on the people closest to the work.

They understand that no leader, no matter how capable, can create performance alone.

From silos to value chains

Many organisations naturally organise themselves into departments: marketing, sales, operations, finance, maintenance, planning, production. Each department has its own team, goals, priorities and responsibilities.

But the challenge is that businesses don't create value in silos… They create value through the connections between them.

As someone working in marketing, I see this all the time. Marketing can create campaigns, content and messaging, but when marketing and sales operate independently, opportunities are lost… When the two functions work together, however, the results are significantly stronger. Sales teams gain the tools and insights they need to have better conversations. Marketing gains a deeper understanding of customer needs and challenges. The message becomes more relevant and more effective.

The same principle applies across an entire organisation: performance improves when teams stop focusing solely on their part of the business and start understanding how their work contributes to the whole.

That is what value chain thinking is all about.

Sustainable performance isn't a moment

Too often, organisations view performance as a destination, a project to complete, a program to implement, a target to hit.

But sustainable performance is not a one-off initiative that can be switched on and forgotten about (and it cannot be solved through a single audit or improvement program).

Sustainable performance needs to be continually developed. It is a condition that is built through systems, habits, behaviours and ways of working that evolve over time.

And that condition depends on creating an environment where people can continuously contribute, learn, improve and collaborate.

The importance of the people on the ground 

Before being exposed to CubeNorth, I probably underestimated just how much knowledge exists within operational teams. Today, I see things differently.

The people performing the work every day understand the realities of the business in ways leaders often cannot. They see inefficiencies. They identify challenges. They understand the practical implications of decisions. They often recognise opportunities long before they appear in reports or dashboards.

Yet many organisations unintentionally create barriers between decision-makers and the people closest to the work. This is an issue for two reasons: 

When communication only flows one way, valuable knowledge stays untapped.

And when people feel unheard, engagement declines, and performance follows.

So the organisations that perform best are the ones that actively create opportunities for people to contribute, share ideas and help shape outcomes. Not because it is the right thing to do but because it is the smart thing to do.

Leadership needs followership

We spend a lot of time talking about leaders, and much less time talking about followers… Yet leaders cannot succeed without them.

What I find interesting is that followers want to contribute to something bigger than themselves and to understand how their work matters. 

And when leaders understand that, they put things in place, listen, create clarity, and foster an environment where people feel valued and empowered to contribute, making them more likely to engage and go the extra mile.

On the other hand, followers provide leaders with something incredibly valuable: loyalty, trust, commitment and knowledge.

Those things are earned through the conditions leaders choose to create.

Creating the conditions for performance

Leadership is about much more than making decisions. It exists within a broader ecosystem: culture, structure, processes, communication, and collaboration.

And the most powerful lesson I have learned is that sustainable performance is not built by leaders alone. It is built when leaders create the conditions for people across the entire value chain to contribute, collaborate and continuously improve.

If there is one message I would share with every leader, it is simple: listen to your people (because the answers you are looking for are often closer to the work than you think).