Director of Compliance Eric Wilson believes his job isn’t about enforcing rules, but sharing points of view.
“Compliance” is one of the most important topics in the oil and gas industry. However, it’s also the one that nobody likes to talk about.
Director of Compliance Eric Wilson understands this, which is what makes him so good at his job.
“My job is to educate people and ensure the company is adhering to compliance regulations,” says Eric. “And then get people to buy into our compliance needs.” Eric says every day is different, and not just because the landscape of compliance and regulations is constantly changing.
“Some days I’m an educator, some days I’m a learner,” says Eric. “Some days I’m a salesperson trying to get people to buy in, some days I’m just a fly on the wall who is getting a feel for things. But every day, and every moment, I’m wearing a different hat.” However, many hats he has to wear, Eric is proud to be serving H&P’s compliance needs. In fact, he helped create the department.
“I’ve been here for ten years and I was here in the infancy of our compliance department,” says Eric. “As my career has grown, the compliance program has grown, so I’m passionate because I helped build and design it. I’m also passionate because I want to help people do the right thing and succeed.”
Eric’s task isn’t easy in normal circumstances. It’s even more challenging when you have an international workforce of thousands of employees, across different cultures and time zones.
“The biggest challenges are the size of our organization, the number of locations and the culture within those different places,” says Eric. “Getting everyone on the same page and helping them understand ‘The Why?’.”
In his ten years with H&P, Eric has learned the best way to show employees “The Why” behind decisions isn’t through training manuals, spreadsheets or presentations. It’s through one-on-one conversations where both sides can share their points of view. “One of my favorite parts of the job is seeing light bulbs go off when people see what the Company is asking them to do,” says Eric. “Or when I was butting heads with someone, and seeing them come along with the journey of what we’re trying to do.”
Every time Eric travels to one of H&P’s offices outside of Tulsa, he makes a point to share a meal with his fellow H&P employees to understand their perspective and culture.
“I’ve been to most of our domestic locations and all of our international locations, including Argentina, France, Scotland, India, UAE, Bahrain and Colombia. Whenever I visit a new location I talk to my colleagues after work and say: ‘Hey, let’s go grab a drink or have a meal.’ We won’t talk about work, we’ll just talk about life. That’s how I’ve gotten people to understand who I am. That way when we have to have a difficult conversation, they know more about my personal background and understand where I’m coming from.”
Not surprisingly, Eric’s favorite people to work with are the ones who embody H&P’s core values, wherever they call home.
“In my opinion, the ideal H&P employee is vulnerable, willing to listen, willing to learn,” says Eric. “And willing to go the extra mile to help others.”