ERIAS Group’s Julie Crawford, Melanie Brown, and Luci David share their career experiences and how the APGA women’s leadership program has shaped them as leaders and inspired future trailblazers.
ERIAS is an environmental and social impact assessment consulting business that has recognised that diverse teams bring value to an organisation.
Fostering an inclusive work culture is a company imperative. As a result, ERIAS strives to empower and create an inclusive environment for all staff by promoting gender equality and respect across their workplaces.
Gender equality is something that is broadly recognised across ERIAS as a key to success and has been encouraged organically within the business.
In particular, the streams of environmental and social sciences embrace a sense of nurture and natural gender balance, which has resulted in a spread across the business of 57 per cent females and 43 per cent males.
The company has a number of senior female role models, providing its graduate and junior staff with the opportunity to work with female mentors and scientists who, in turn, foster the development of graduates.
The Australian Pipelines and Gas Association’s (APGA) Women’s Leadership Development Program (WLDP) provides a much-needed framework for developing female leadership within the pipeline industry. For ERIAS, it has provided an opportunity for women to network and develop skills that has enabled their continued development and success in their careers generally.
Shaping leaders
ERIAS has embraced the WLDP from the outset and enrolled several of its female leaders in the program, who have found useful tools in expanding their skillsets.
In addition, ERIAS has benefited from the career experience of their senior staff, such as ERIAS Principal Julie Crawford, who has extensive resource industry experience across multiple commodities.
She has led remote teams to deliver environment, health, safety, and community functional excellence. Much of Crawford’s experience has been working in remote locations in predominantly male industries.
Crawford first joined ERIAS in 2022 to lead the multi-disciplinary field teams for the Papua LNG export pipeline pre-construction surveys in the remote Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea.
Here, she leads teams of up to 30 local, environmental and social scientists.
Across her extensive career within the energy and resource sectors before joining ERIAS, Crawford has experienced many challenges with gender inequality.
“About eight years before joining ERIAS, as a member of a senior management team, male members of the team would exclude me from several social events,” she said.
“In the first instance they redirected me to another task in another location, subsequently, I found out about the event occurring and thereafter there was no attempt to conceal activities that were specifically designed for the men to enjoy.”
While this was not her only experience of gender inequality, Crawford said it has brought her a long way, to a more positive environment at ERIAS.
“I have 19 years’ experience working in remote areas which historically have had low female participation rates,” she said.
“ERIAS has a great gender balance, and I have received off-site support by talented women.”
In her role, Crawford manages the field survey programs, with each being a month long and involving significant jungle treks to collect scientific data.
“Upon commencing the role in PNG my family raised concerns for my safety based on media reports of kidnapping, remoteness, lack of females on site, and camp living,” Crawford said.
“Remote working in camps can feel like an extended family where the values of respect trust and genuine care are practiced.
“Such camps can be very protective of such culture and if this is threatened, those that disrupt the harmony are quickly called out.”
Crawford said this is how she views her current base, as it encompasses a diverse and accepting environment.
“I have never received (and voiced) so many daily ‘good mornings’ accompanied by a big smile,” Crawford said.
“When I return from break, the good mornings are replaced by ‘Hey Julie, welcome back!’ and fist bumps.
“It is a sense of belonging and every human has that need for belonging and purpose. I have conveyed this to my family and alleviated their concerns.”
Looking to the future
Seeing the positive outcomes of the program, ERIAS will continue to rely on the APGA WLDP and engage with staff to effectively listen and act to cultivate an inclusive and empowering work environment.
A positive experience taken from the program is through ERIAS Principal Melanie Brown, who praised the program’s tailored experience of growth.
“Unlike any other leadership course I’ve done, the WLDP really does go with the flow, which is its strength,” Brown said.
“The program has helped me grow into my own brand of leadership and find connections with other women who I know will continue to support each other beyond the program’s completion.”
ERIAS Principal Luci David attended the inaugural APGA WLPD and enjoyed learning from the experiences of other leaders.
“The program has helped me to reflect on the type of leader that I am, the type of leader that I want to be and how this affects the way I work,” David said.
“I have been able to draw on many aspects of the leadership program in my roles both within project teams and within ERIAS.
“I have really valued being part of an expanding network of women who have been involved in the program.”
Through these fruitful experiences, the ERIAS employees who attended the program have opened a constructive dialogue to engage with management on discussions to develop the careers of female employees of the company.
Like many businesses and organisations that make up the APGA membership, ERIAS will continue to work to foster an inclusive, respectful work environment that supports equality in all respects.
Key to this is fostering a culture that provides a safe workplace in all regards, where equality is fostered, such that we can look forward to a time when equality and respect are universal norms, and these conversations are a thing of the past.
This article featured in the July edition of The Australian Pipeliner.
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