PLAN: Commit and Align

Management commitment is crucial to the success of new programs like RP 1185, and research tells us that employees are more likely to participate in programs that are explicitly supported by the highest level of leadership in an organization.

We have also learned from safety culture assessments that employees and contractors will be prouder of, and more confident in, their engagement activities when they can see their leaders are engaging and, importantly, how they’re engaging with stakeholders.

In the context of RP 1185, a management commitment will help establish expectations for engagement and create—or strengthen—a workplace culture that seeks to build mutual trust with stakeholders.

The recognition of the power imbalance that can exist between a company and its stakeholders and fostering an environment where employees and contractors are receptive to, and can recognize and acknowledge the beliefs, objectives, values, and interests of individual stakeholders or stakeholder organizations is an important step in building and maintaining trust.

Although Section 4, Commit and Align, does not contain any specific process requirements, it does require top management and/or management to take certain actions. These include:

  • Demonstrating commitment to a stakeholder engagement program by establishing and maintaining policies, goals and objectives that align with the company’s vision and values and committing budget and resources to the program.
  • Making sure that processes are in place to enable the internal sharing of information among dependent and interrelated functions, across silos, within the organization.
  • Establishing high-level performance metrics for transparency and engagement.
  • Communicating and demonstrating their commitment to employees and stakeholders.
  • Supporting employees as they work to meet engagement objectives while performing their day job.
  • Integrating annual reviews of the engagement program into their PSMS management or company program reviews.
  • Aligning existing programs and actions that involve engagement, such as PSMS, public awareness, damage prevention, integrity management, and emergency response programs, or abandonment.
  • Sharing relevant non-confidential data, results, findings, and lessons learned.