With challenge comes reward, catching up with Iain

A decorated 13 year-year career at Monadelphous, a passion for sport, a family man with a country spirit, Electrical and Instrumentation (E&I) Construction Manager, Iain Hannant has experienced many challenges along the way which for Iain have been his biggest learning curves. This month we sat down with Iain to chat about his journey to date.

“When you work anywhere for more than 13 years you will see changes, and the changes I’ve seen here have been very progressive. I think people hang around because they believe in Monadelphous. and the people within the business. Working here you know that teamwork, safety and innovation are always a priority - something you want to be part of! 

I started out at Monadelphous in 2008 working at the Boddington Gold mine and just a few years later found myself working on the first integrated structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation (SMPE&I) package at Rio Tinto’s Brockman 4. I can safely say, this project along with Worsley, was a dawn of a new day for our teams and has been the source of many lessons learned since.  

The Brockman 4 project was an opportunity to provide a unique service offering for the customer, the first of its kind. By collaborating as one integrated SMPE&I team, we were able to share resources and create significant time efficiencies. A landmark project and one that allowed us to iron out any challenges we may face in the future with our fully integrated service offering.

Whilst working on the SMPE&I packages in Australia was an exciting challenge for me, a role came up to join the team in Malaysia in 2013 to work on the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal (WICET) ship loader project that would be barged back to Australia upon completion. I was keen to get involved as this was something very different to the work I had been doing. Little did I know what I was in for.  

Landing onsite was a shock to the system but at the same time exciting. Climate, culture, language barriers, humidity, health and safety, just to name a few of the challenges I faced on day one of boots on the ground. Located in Port Klang, 50 minutes out of Kuala Lumpur, this project’s environment was worlds apart to anything I was used to, and required a significant adjustment on my part, especially containing my frustration.

I quickly learned that my leadership style would be the first thing to change. I was hitting brick walls in meetings and learned it was the small things that were lost in translation. Something as simple as body language became a challenge. I would give instructions to the team and they would just smile! No words just smile! It was when a local explained to me that smiling meant they were simply nervous, which was far from what I thought. I realised I had things wrong and needed to change if we were ever going to deliver this project safely and on time.

Being in a situation where your complete leadership style was challenged, made the job more rewarding when delivered. I took the time to understand what was motivating the team, this helped me to better understand the team and implement a safe workplace. My goal was to leave a legacy of how we do things safely and at the same time, deliver a high-quality product.

Whilst working abroad was a great adventure, at home I had my very pregnant wife concerned about me returning home in time for the arrival of our first baby. As the due date got closer, I had created this spreadsheet that would include every combination of how I could get home. Every contingency was accounted for and had five other possibilities for travel back to Australia (in a pre-COVID-19 world). Thankfully I can say I made it home in time without a hitch to welcome our first little boy.

The journey from there took me around the country where I was fortunate enough to bring my family with me until recently settling down in Western Australia.

One of the greatest satisfactions of my career with Monadelphous, was the recent completion of the South Flank Outflow Project where I became SMPE&I Construction Manager and was able to implement all the hard lessons I’ve learnt over the years working on integrated packages. To be able to lead the team to a successful outcome was very gratifying especially through the challenging times of COVID.

In my time off, I hang out with my wife and our two boys on our hobby farm in Denmark. We love giving the boys plenty of room to roam as well as the neighbours some distance away from them. I love to be outdoors, whether it’s sports, plodding around on our block, or simply taking the fishing rods down to the beach with the kids.

Sports, well that’s my other true love in life. Growing up I think I tried every sport on offer. I loved to be either playing sports or watching sports. Mostly watching these days with a few ‘sherbets’ as I hit my peak condition many years ago.

Something that I reflected on over the years was the benefit of playing team sport as a kid, which laid the foundation early on in life to develop teamwork. I firmly believe it is beneficial to every child to learn this along with staying fit and healthy. At the end of the day it’s about the people you are with, whether it is sport, work or family.

When you work in this industry for long enough, you do begin to mentor newbies much like I do with my two boys. Fundamentally you are a leader in both instances and you just want the next generation to succeed. I think the advice I would give to any new starter is to lead by example, don’t give up, find the balance and enjoy the ride,” shared Iain Hannant, Construction Manager.