GEOVIA – WHO THEY ARE

At GEOVIA, the mine management and geologic modelling software division of French multinational, Dassault Systèmes/3DS, CEO Michelle Ash and the GEOVIA team are at the forefront of the innovation drive that is en route to creating a sustainable smart mining sector of the future.

“GEOVIA's brand promise, what we do effectively is model the planet. Most of what we have done thus far is in the geosphere, in the area of earth sciences, geology, geostatistics, mine design, and mine optimisation. Mining is undoubtedly our core focus as a business, but we do also apply many of those same techniques for clients in the construction space, and more recently insurance. A lot of what we are doing at the moment is to really help create a digital transformation within the mining industry,” Michelle explained.

By harnessing the multi-spectrum capability of its parent company, which for decades has developed industry-first software solutions for the aerospace, car manufacturing and pharmaceuticals sectors, GEOVIA has developed products which for 15-years have been the go-to choice for mining companies looking to optimise their operations.

Take GEOVIA Whittle, Minesched, and Surpac – the world’s most popular geology and mine planning software – for example; through these, miners can value a project before breaking ground and design and optimise an entire project before construction work begins; identify safety hazards before they materialise and model surface and sub-surface environments to quantify deposits and plan for mineral extraction.

“We’ve created these new enhanced capabilities, bringing parametric design, simulation techniques and other process optimisations we've created for other industries and brought those into mining with the intention that what we want to develop within mining a 'virtual-twin' experience - virtual, in that the computer models and simulates; twin in terms of it mimicking identically what happens in the real world. The benefit of this is that it removes risk by allowing users to try things virtually before they have to try things in reality. In mining, 'trying things in reality' can cost billions of dollars, and then there are the safety implications and the impact on communities and the environment to factor in, et cetera.

One of the things that we fundamentally believe is that it's through human experience that we learn and we develop and we can change things. Nowadays, with some of the fantastic capabilities we have in technology, we can create virtual realities, we can create augmented realities, and in so doing, really help fast-track innovation, and fast-track collaboration. So, you know, we're very much about bringing an experience to people. That’s why Dassault Systemes calls its platform 3DEXPERIENCE. It's that old adage, I guess, that a picture paints a thousand words - interestingly enough, a video or a shared virtual experience can paint many more than that. We think through doing that, we can overcome many of the challenges in the mining industry.”

CONSULTATIVE, DECISIVE LEADERSHIP

A CEO of one of the world’s dominant mining tech brands and a mining veteran of 25-years, Michelle, who entered the industry as an engineer, cut her leadership teeth as Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Barrick Gold and Acacia respectively, and also held the Head of Alliance Planning position for a successful BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi JV. The experience gained over the course of what has been a long and successful career has seen her develop a reputation as an innovation specialist amongst her industry peers, and as a collaborative yet decisive leader to the GEOVIA team.

On this, she said: “From a moving forward perspective, the emphasis is on collaboration skills, communication skills, the ability to use the virtual environment effectively, to communicate, to connect, to collaborate, to create solutions, to create plans, to get things done.

Like anybody as a leader, I'm constantly learning and I ensure that I am able to listen to people around me, understand what's working, what's not working. Broadly speaking, the sorts of strategies I engage when I start with a new team is to spend the time to try to understand each of the team members, what are their strengths, their weaknesses, how they work together, how they collaborate, and I involve people in the conversation, bringing them to the fore, so that we can ultimately get the best outcome by using the skills of all team members. Being a consultative leader can sometimes put pressure on people because it often means that they're attending more meetings than maybe other leaders would expect. But equally, it is one thing to consult, then you actually have to take a position - I'm consulted. I decide.

I make sure our people are super clear about their role, what they bring to the team and what their role within that team and then really hold people to account to deliver that, but also be prepared to give coaching and guidance. So, you know, I spend a lot of time also one on one discussing with people what challenges they are experiencing. As a leader your whole job is to find the sweet spot between pushing people performance-wise to achieve that little bit more, driving change, and seeking growth and improvement with making sure it's not too one-sided, to ensure they are not overly stressed, not moving too quickly.

CHALLENGING PEOPLE’S THINKING TO DRIVE PERFORMANCE

As a market leader that delivers solutions to over 4,000 mine sites in more than 135 countries, GEOVIA is in an enviable position. However, as history has shown us time and time again, success cannot be taken for granted. In business, reaching the top is the second toughest objective behind managing to stay there - doubly so for a tech company operating in a fast-paced environment where rapid change comes as standard.

For a company in GEOVIA’s position, fostering a championship winning mentality that pushes your team to achieve the highest levels of performance possible is imperative, believes Michelle, but so too is ensuring that you know how far to push:

“I really get excited when people turn around and go, 'wow, I never thought I would be able to do that.' In a sense, I am quite a challenging leader, I do challenge people. I push them for additional performance, whether that be as a general manager of a site and saying, 'look, I think you can do better than that. Let's work through how we can get 10%, maybe 15% better.' I think because of that tendency and always I think we can do better even if we think we are the best. There's always somebody out there who's doing things a better way, a way that's used out there in other industries we could adopt that allows us to improve our own performance and processes. I guess because of that drive to find better ways to do things and drive improvement, I've been very much involved in change and change management and change leadership now for at least 15 years, possibly 20 years or so.

However, when people get too stressed or too upset, they either leave the organisation, in which case you lose their fantastic contribution to the team, or sometimes worse. It is very much a fine balance and you have to be there as a leader to support your team.”

STRATEGIC VISION FOR SUCCESS

With the GEOVIA team at her side, Michelle believes that by working with customers to realise the incredible potential the virtual twin experience offers for customers, it is possible to accelerate the pace of change in the mining industry further still. Studies predict that, as things stand, the world’s population will grow from 7.8 billion today to 9.8 billion in 2050, 70% of which will live in urban areas. Accelerating change and therefore the rate of value delivery into mining matters, as does expanding into construction and other industries matters for business reasons, but more so it matters because it’s the right thing to do for the planet:

“The mining industry touches everybody - every single person, every single day, whether it be through the what you eat, the items you use, the clothing you wear, the way you get to where you're going. If we can make that industry not only significantly more sustainable, so that it focuses on people, planet, profit - all of those three comings together to support governments and communities – we can help the industry to become closer to the industry most of us expect it and need it to be. No matter how fast the rate of change has been historically, there is that gap between community expectation and societal expectation and the industry's achievements.

We need to harness new trends that are emerging, particularly by focusing on sustainability and building resilience, two areas I think have come out of the COVID crisis favourably – of course, this must be built on the back of our work to continue pushing the boundaries of innovation. Also, whilst it has proved a challenge for leaders, who have had to learn how to manage, support and communicate with their teams in a decentralised workspace, the emergence of remote working allows people to work where it is most suitable and most appropriate and comfortable for them to work.

Remote working is highly collaborative and gives us the opportunity to bring a diverse group of people into the conversation, including experts who are out of the country. That's broadly my vision for the industry at large, for my leadership and the teams that I work with.”