The Challenge: To become one of the world’s leading producers of Grade A copper cathodes while making a major evolution from the classic management style found in most mining operations to being an organization guided by ethics, respect, initiative, creativity, and professional integrity.

The Solution: To involve 100 percent of the workforce and many of the company’s contractors in the transformation to a Gung Ho! culture based on managing by values.

The Results: By the fourth year, production levels were 29 percent over design capacity (75,000 tons) and accident levels had diminished significantly in the last two years. In addition, the company was ranked as one of the 10 Best Companies according to Chile’s Great Places to Work Institute, and reached second place in return on investment according to the National Mining Society.

Antofagasta Minerals, the parent company of Minera El Tesoro, decided to spike production levels from 70,000 tons of copper per year to 400,000 tons per year, in the next five years, through the construction of two new projects.

This would be no small feat under any circumstance, but it was certainly a daunting challenge considering the El Tesoro project was initiated in the middle of a global recession and that 70 percent of the employees lacked previous experience in the industry. In addition, El Tesoro’s leadership wanted to make these transitions using management techniques that differed from those traditionally found in the mining industry.

The company looked for a management system that represented its ideal environment- developing people and managing the company on a strong values basis. “That is not an easy venture!” says Ignacio Cruz, General Manager. “We saw different alternatives and different models. Gung Ho! is the one that best fit the idea we had of how we must manage our company. It fit best with our interpretation of what it is to manage based on values,” says Cruz. “That is a key element: the match between what we thought we ought to do and what the model proposes.”

Minera El Tesoro started its operation with the strong conviction that through its people and their values the organization would achieve consistent behavior-and that is the way the company wanted to move its business forward. The first step was aligning the executive team with these two concepts and integrating them into the company’s strategic plan.

The second crucial phase was implementing the Gung Ho! model with 100 percent of El Tesoro’s people and some of its contractors. Supervisors were trained in The Ken Blanchard Companies^® Situational Leadership^® II Model, and El Tesoro’s teams were given a boost with the Blanchard High Performing Teams methodology. “All this, along with four basic policies: recognition, communication, recruitment and selection, and development of individuals and teams moved us toward goal accomplishment,” says Human Resource Manger, Fuad Majluf.

The result? High levels of enthusiasm energized the company to accomplish and face all those challenges, says Majluf. “Measures of organizational climate and interpersonal day-to-day relationships in the company are evidence of that, too. We are well known for that!” In addition, Minera El Tesoro met its production goals earlier than anticipated and with the desired quality and production costs. Accidents were reduced by 40% and production levels rose 29% over design capacity, in its fourth year of operations. In addition, the company was recognized as one of the ten ‘best place to work’ in Chile, according to the Best Place to Work Institute and was ranked second in return on investment.