Koch Vice President, Environmental, Health and Safety Sheryl Corrigan shares the lessons she has learned by applying stewardship.
In my role at Koch, I get to connect with teams from across the globe and learn about the successes, challenges and innovations happening at their sites every day. One of the most common requests I get when I’m visiting is to spend some time talking through our stewardship principle, which is about acting with proper regard for the rights of others. Lately, I’ve focused these conversations on insights that might be helpful for others as they apply stewardship in their work and in their lives.
For me, applying stewardship starts with curiosity. What are the priorities and strategies for my business? Who are our preferred partners, and how can I contribute to achieving outcomes and results that are good for them and for my business? How can I move forward and take action? How can my supervisor help me create roles, responsibilities and expectations (RREs) that reflect these concepts?
The key here is that stewardship is not a project or an initiative, or something that I do in my spare time. It’s a principle — one of many — that constantly guides how I think and act at work and in my life. If I’m applying stewardship well in my role, my efforts lead to benefits for me, my business and our partners. The work environment I strive to create every day is one where all can work safely, share their knowledge and insights, and experiment so our business can use fewer resources than our competitors as we deliver the products and processes our customers want.
So what can get in the way? Here are some simple questions I ask myself to ensure my actions are consistent with our principle of stewardship.
- Am I connected to my business’s results and priorities? How do I contribute?
- Am I challenging how I do my work? Is there a better way that is mutually beneficial for Koch, our customers and our communities?
- Am I creating an environment where all can freely contribute ideas, insights and experiments?
- Am I helping others be successful?
One thought I keep coming back to in every conversation about stewardship is this: It takes courage to challenge the status quo. Applying principles in a world that increasingly gravitates to rules is difficult. But our words and commitments matter, and we will stick to the proven principles to help people improve their lives and assure long-term success for our businesses. When we do this, we get safer. We get stronger. And we contribute to a future where people, communities and businesses can thrive together.
Sheryl Corrigan is vice president of Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) at Koch. In this role, Sheryl has responsibility for helping Koch employees apply stewardship and compliance in their work and communities. Additionally, she helps Koch companies continuously improve the capabilities and systems that support these efforts. She serves on the board of directors for Flint Hills Resources, Georgia-Pacific, INVISTA and Guardian.
