Chris Cordner started his journey with Impact in Fall 2017 as a Remote Confined Space Monitoring (RCSM) Technician. In 2020 he became Regional Business Manager for the Region of Wood Buffalo. In this article, you can read how Chris took the opportunities that were presented to him and what he recommends you can do to maximize your opportunities for career development with Impact.

Chris sees opportunities when they arise: “I was unsatisfied with the way my prior employer delivered RCSM services and I knew there was great potential if properly deployed. I liked that Impact focused on the client’s needs first and provided flexible solutions to accommodate various requests.”

Chris decided to start a new journey with Impact Safety in an entry-level role of an RCSM Technician, regardless of his previous Superintendent and Supervisor experience. Chris saw this as a chance to learn the daily tasks of a Technician without having the big responsibility of managing a team at the same time.

“I think it is important for every leader to spend at least some time in the shoes of their subordinates in order to fully understand their roles and responsibilities as well as their challenges to gain a better appreciation of their perspective.” – Chris Cordner

It only took him one project to be back in the Superintendent role. He immediately seized the opportunity to actively improve aspects within the day-to-day field-level operations that he noticed during his time as an RCSM Technician. “During my time as a Superintendent, I was able to build and retain a strong team that has achieved impressive results while also building relationships within Impact and Syncrude that has opened up opportunities for us to work together in new ways.”  

Impact’s management team noticed his drive and ability to create new relationships with clients and offered him the role of Site Manager for Syncrude the following year. In the role of Site Manager, Chris was able to strengthen his relationship with Syncrude.

“I really enjoyed building relationships within Syncrude and I believe as these relationships grow exponentially so will our opportunities.”

Chris states that learning the way clients like Syncrude organize themselves and their contractors is an essential part of providing customized services to them. 

The following year Impact Safety made personnel changes to accommodate our growth in Eastern Canada, this opened up the opportunity for Chris to become Regional Business Manager for the region of Wood Buffalo. He has been working in that position ever since, growing with every challenge that may arise.

“The downturn in the past year due to Covid-19 provided us with a lot of time to fine-tune all of our processes from recruiting to the demobilization of projects. In my new role, I focus on coaching and ensuring the process is followed rather than personally performing the leg-work. I really enjoy having influence over decisions that affect all of our employees and the company as a whole.

It is rewarding to work with our operations team, align my own thoughts with their feedback, and then use this information to push the company in the best possible direction which continues to create great results.” 

But Chris not only grew throughout the four years: “Our leadership has also grown into their roles tremendously. Because we have been able to retain the majority of our leadership team they have matured within their roles and within the Syncrude Turnaround organization and are now able to manage the majority of the site level operations independently.” 

You may wonder – what is the recipe for development like this? Chris believes especially a growing company like Impact Safety encounters occasional growing pains that can be prevented with resourceful employees who work hard with tenacity and do it with a smile. 

“Obviously, every company wants experienced, sharp, strong, keen employees but even if an employee holds all these traits, first and foremost they must be able to show up each and every day ready to go. It sounds simple but perfect attendance is the first building block that every Technician needs to build off of.

Technicians that succeed go the extra mile up front when required. It is important that Technicians trust that value provided will be reciprocated back and even more important that we as a company honor and deliver on this trust.” – Chris Cordner

By supporting the Impact team wherever he can, Chris empowered his clients, colleagues, and subordinates. We are grateful to have Chris as part of our Impact Team!

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