With a focus on collaboration, everything else becomes possible

By Kevin Neveu, 2025 IADC Chairman

We use the word “collaboration” a lot in this industry — and perhaps more often than even just a few years ago — but are we truly optimizing collaboration? As drilling contractors, our crews operate huge, unique, capital-intensive drilling rigs every day. Those crews, from the most experienced rig manager and driller down to the newest floorhand, all work together in a fully collaborative mode. We’re a service business that relies on these highly skilled, highly trained people working together to get the job done safely.

I understand and appreciate the value of competition driving innovation and performance, yet finding the appropriate balance between competition and collaboration can yield exceptional results. Internal company competition for capital, resources or even talent can drive isolation of best practices or lessons learned. Collaboration can bring down these barriers and lead to optimal results across organizations.

The question I raise is regarding the relationship between the oil and gas operators and the drilling contractors. Does this contractual relationship focus on cost, nonproductive time, safety, efficiency, price, ROP, KPIs, all the above, or some of the above? Certainly, the procurement phase leans toward price and rig specifications since it is, by nature, a competitive process.

Once the drilling order is signed, some level of collaboration between the operator and the contractor begins. Safety has been the most prevalent and industrywide area of collaboration and, over the past 20-25 years, industry’s massive improvement in safety is wholly a result of this collaboration.    

I believe our industry has a huge opportunity to elevate collaboration as the leadership priority. Often, we think of working together as an effective way to reach a goal, like saving money or drilling faster. There’s a subtle yet significant shift available to us when we reframe our mindset so collaboration is the goal, rather than just a means to some other end. 

The way I see it, collaboration is the touchstone from which all other objectives can be recognized and achieved. When teamwork, mutual respect and cooperation are the main objectives, everything else becomes easier, and success becomes more attainable. By prioritizing working as a team, with honest collaboration, we can weave in every other important outcome — safety, efficiency, less nonproductive time, KPIs, etc. 

It becomes nearly impossible to prioritize collaboration when the focus is put elsewhere, especially when it feels like you’re being told what to achieve. When attention gets tilted toward other objectives — even reasonable or worthy ones — the main goal inherently shifts to these areas of focus, and collaboration becomes less important. However, when working together is truly at the center of operations, everything else can then become a realistic, achievable outcome. 

A personal example of the power of collaboration comes from earlier in my career while supplying new technology to drilling contractors with National Oilwell. When deploying any new technology, there’s always the possibility that the end user will encounter flaws or defects along the way that need to be worked out. I had two different clients at that time experiencing the same issue with the new technology I had just sold them. 

One client approached me with frustration about the product not working well, telling me I needed to get out there to fix “my” top drive. The other client, however, called me up asking for help in learning how to use this new product. This approach was an invitation to collaborate and solve the problem together. Of course, I helped both customers with the same level of professionalism, but we were able to reach a resolution much faster with the client who was willing to work together instead of defaulting to blame.  

If collaboration isn’t at the core of our operations, certain situations can lend themselves to more finger pointing. When people are focused on who’s at fault, there is no room for learning from our mistakes. If we’re truly working together, that means we’re all on the same team and we all share responsibility. Without an emphasis placed on cooperation, people can slip into unhelpful thinking patterns of “me vs you” or “us vs them,” whether it is between individuals or parties within an organization, or on a much larger scale. 

I see this happening right now with people pitting renewables against hydrocarbons. At the heart of the matter, we all want the same thing — for people to have access to affordable, reliable energy while ensuring the care of our planet. Regardless of what energy sector we work in, we all have similar problems and are striving for similar goals. Think of what we could accomplish if we truly worked together across sectors and industries throughout the energy expansion. 

IADC is a fantastic example of collaboration for the benefit of all. This is an organization where individuals and companies that are business competitors come together to discuss challenges and innovate solutions that can serve the entire industry. Members work together to create technical resources, establish standards for safety training, organize conference programs and so much more. 

When we truly collaborate, we all win. Every organization is meant to be a collaborative vehicle, especially so in an industry as challenging and technically advanced as ours. I encourage you to consider what collaboration means to you. If it feels like a corporate platitude, I challenge you to explore how shifting your mindset could accelerate your career, your company and even your industry. Everyone benefits when we come together and work toward our common goals.  DC