Energy Crue

Four Cs For A Flat Market

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We share a practical playbook to outperform in a flat oil and gas year by leaning into culture, communication, collaboration, and conversation. Expect clear examples, candid prompts, and simple steps to build transparency, speak to value, and align partners before problems hit.

• the four Cs framework for 2026 success
• culture as transparency and psychological safety
• communication that drives outcomes and clarity
• replacing features and buzzwords with results
• collaboration that starts before kickoff and continues
• aligning drilling, completions, and production goals
• using service partners’ field insights
• shifting from reactive emails to proactive talks
• planning and executing crucial conversations
• networking and skill building before you need them

If you’re looking for more access to operators around Crew Club Roundtables, be sure to head over to www.connectioncrew, C-R-U-E, kind of spelt like energycrew.com. Register there and you’ll be updated on all the events that are happening


SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Energy Crew Podcast. I'm your host, JP Warren. Today we're going to talk about what's going to set you apart in 2026 moving forward as we navigate this flat, it's predicted to be flat year in the oil and gas space. And this is directly from my the crew club operator roundtables we host. And this year alone, we've had about 20 events, over 220 EMP operators, with 60% being direct or above. So what does out of all these conversations that are that are happening around the table, what are some key things that are going to help companies and individuals move forward throughout this year? This is your four C's to success in 2026 in the oil and gas space. All right. And I've written them down here. It's culture, communication, collaboration, and conversation. So we're going to dive into each one of what those mean real briefly in this podcast right now. So thanks for tuning in. And let's kind of dive in right now. I got my notes right here. I'm going to be bouncing off from because just because there's a lot of key things that I want to bring up that can help you and your teams navigate these uncertain times. All right. Number one, we're going to kind of go over culture right now. Culture to me is a lot like attitude with a person, right? It's something that you really can't see. It's just there, right? You notice when someone with a good attitude walks in the room, you like dealing with that person. Someone with a bad attitude walks in, you just don't want them anywhere around your team, right? One bad apple can spoil all. So when it comes to your company culture, I'm seeing right now in this industry with a lot of workforce reductions, a lot of uh people not be able to get to uh meetings or networking events and connect with the right customers. Um, and also there's a lot of uncertainty in this industry right now. There's a lot of uncertainty, not just in the industry, but everywhere. So, what can you do? And is your culture in line to ensure that you can navigate these waves of uncertainty, right? So the first thing is culture is extremely important. And it's one of those things that you really can't put your finger on, you really can't define. It's such a general feel of what it's like to be kind of on your team, to work uh with you. So let's kind of talk about culture right now and why it's gonna be so important to move forward. Number one, I'm seeing a lot of companies right now not communicating uh what's going on in an industry with the with their teammates. And I get why. Because number one, they might not have the answers, okay? And if you don't have the answers, you want to communicate bad information to your team, all right? But just because if you don't know the answers moving forward, that should not hold you back from having these conversations with your team, all right? So when it comes to culture, you really need to kind of ask yourself, how transparent are we? All right. And what I mean by that is if you don't know what's going on in the in the industry, or if you don't know the impact of something uh that's external out of your control, what are you communicating your team? Are you being transparent with them? Or are you just kind of filling them with false hopes and hey, everything's gonna be fine? We're gonna do this 2025, uh, we're gonna take that that playbook and apply it to 2026. So, my question is, how transparent is your company? Can people come talk to you and raise questions, raise concerns, talk about kind of what's going on in their world, right? So, how transparent are you being with the information that you're receiving from maybe your leadership? And what are you telling your team below you? And how are you telling your team too? That's also important. It's not just what you say, it's how you say it. I talk about this on my other podcasts, uh lead with confidence. Do people really feel safe coming to you with a problem? And you can think about this, right? You can start reflecting about this. How often are people kind of knocking on your door, coming in, and kind of sharing their concerns about the market, sharing their concerns about their job, talking about their potential lack of career growth? Are people coming into your office and having these candid conversations with you? All right. So that's just one check. That's one way to gauge how transparent and comfortable uh your people are, all right? And another thing is um, is do you actually value communication? Do you value these type of conversations? How are you inviting people to come in your office? How are you inviting and engage in these conversations? Is it through a coffee meeting? Is it just through an open door policy, or is it actually requesting this type of communication? So another thing is also a lot of people are like, oh yeah, we're open door, come on in, all that stuff. But once they receive this negative feedback, they'll respond in a negative way that actually shuts the door and doesn't have that person that wants to engage in that conversation again. So how transparent are you and how welcome are you to have these conversations, right? So that's gonna reflect kind of directly in your culture on how your team responds to this, okay? If they don't feel safe that they can bring up these challenges or these concerns that they may have, then that's gonna ruin the culture and that's just gonna breed kind of um unmotivation and non-inspiration, right? Are you offering spaces for these types of conversations to even happen, right? And if you aren't, start thinking about how you can do that. What can you do differently to actually invite these conversations, have these open door uh roundtable discussions where you can actually kind of maybe ease out uh their concerns and you can learn from them kind of what's driving their fears or worries and address that, right? Um, for me, I think poor culture is really based off of silence. It's not, it's not having the conversations, right? It's the the inability to approach your manager and to have these type of conversations, right? And listen, as a manager, you're human, okay? As a leader, we're all human. We're all figuring this out. Even if you don't have the answers, it's okay to not be 100% knowledgeable with all the answers. We're always thinking that we have to know all, we have to provide that we don't, okay? Even if you don't know the answers, even just simply communicating that shows it's gonna build rapport between you and your team. It's gonna build that open dialogue that works back and forth. All right. So in times like this when it is uncertain, be more active when you're actually talking about building your culture, okay? What are you really doing besides a pizza party or something like that whenever you reach record numbers and all stuff? What are you really doing to be active about building your culture with your team, right? Your team is your lifeline, right? You we need to support the team, have them feel comfortable as we navigate, again, this flat market that's coming through. There's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of negative news. What are you doing to make sure your culture is not um just buying into the negativity of the industry, of the community, of the world, right? Keep your culture positive, right? That's transparent, that's communication, that's being positive uh with your team. But also, when it comes to culture as well, I also think it's one of those things, too, it's important. What are you doing for your team, right? A lot of people, I feel like since 2020 have really put their careers kind of on pause, right? They're putting their professional growth and professional development on the back burner because they're just thankful that they have a job, right? So, what are you doing to build your team up in their professional skill set development, right? That if you invest in your people and you invest in their team, that shows that you believe in them, that you want to get better. And chances are you're actually gonna probably achieve better results once you start doing investing in your team skill sets. All right. Let's dive into uh communication. Again, don't wait for your culture to fall off the rails just because you don't want to have these conversations, all right? These crucial conversations, I have a course just came out on SAG of wisdom that I that I had is communicating like a leader with confidence. The ability to have these difficult conversations with your team sets you apart as being a great leader. Okay, you have to have these conversations, even if they're uncomfortable. Build that culture, be active in building that culture. And if you're curious about how to do that, start start diving into that. Start reading about it, see what will work for you and your team. All right. The second C that I believe is going to be very uh important. And again, this is kind of something that I build my platform off of, is our communication ability. All this really ties together, these four C's, right? Is your communication skills or is your ability to communicate with your team and others around you, whether it's investors, whether it's your team, whether it's vendors, whoever it is, or maybe it's other operators, maybe it's other service companies, it doesn't matter. What's your communication skills and what are you really actually communicating, right? So at the, I mean, and the reality is this, right? A lot of people are really struggling with this right now. It's 2025, right? It's gonna be 2026. We are a very hyper-connected yet disconnected society. We have a lot of connections on LinkedIn. We got a lot of followers on Instagram or whatever it is, but how connected are we? And so when I'm saying that, when I say how connected are we, I relate being connected to having conversations, to having communications. A lot of times over the past uh four years, five years, our communication ability has and our skill sets has decreased. So what are you doing to ensure that your communication skills are leveled up, that you're staying sharpened, you're being clear with what you want and your expectations and what's going to happen, right? That ties back to the culture side of things, okay? So if people are taking fewer meetings, if it's more difficult to see people, if it's more difficult, you're not having these uh these uh relationship building conversations, relationship building opportunities to have, what does that mean? That means your message needs to be concise and clear. I've seen a lot of service companies uh that I work with, even that I don't work, I just see a lot of service companies when it comes to their communication, they'll list features. Hey, this is why you should use us. We do this, we do this, we do this, we do this. Think about that, right? That's about we, we, we. You need to think about we, we, we, it's very franch. No, you need to think about who you're speaking to, your target audience, right? So if you are a vendor, if you are a service company out there and you do have that opportunity to get in front of uh your target audience, your target customer, ensure that your communication is exactly uh clear, concise, direct. Make it about them, not about you, right? Because at the end of the day, no one likes being pitched to. So what is your communication telling you? What's what are you what stories are you telling others uh what about your company, about your idea, about your vision? All right, think about this as a manager, think about this as a leader. Your ability to communicate is much more important than your ability to understand the technical information, right? If you get a piece of technical information that can drastically change how y'all operate, think about this. If you can't communicate that direction, that goal, why we should be taking this path, right? This is the direction we should be going. If you're not communicating that, you're not gonna influence your team to take those steps, right? So even as a leader, your ability to communicate, it's not your technical knowledge. Technical knowledge doesn't move masses. Your ability to communicate, be clear, be concise, that's gonna move masses, right? And understanding your audience, communication is the two-way street, getting feedback from your team. Are you asking them for feedback? Are you developing that culture where they can ask you for feedback? All right. So internally, as a leader, as a manager, whoever you are, even if you are an engineer one or just start off in sales, if you don't have the ability or confidence to communicate up, to have those crucial conversations, or even ask, hey, listen, I don't really understand what we're doing or why we're doing this. Can you kind of explain that to me? If you're not, if you don't have the ability to ask those questions or to have those communication opportunities with your team, chances are you probably can be left behind. So internal communication is extremely important. If I say communication again, bear with me. All right. Now, when it comes to the service providers, I see a lot of service providers, and honestly, if you're out there listening and you are a service provider, think about this. Let me kind of run a check right now with how clear you're communicating. What do you, I'm gonna here's the question: what do you do? Right? What does your company do? Chances are, and I see this all the time in my trainings and when I work with people, and often I just hear it, chances are you might sound a lot like your competition. Well, we optimize productivity, we uh, you know, low-cost provider, best service, uh all this other, you know, industry buzzword, jargon, productivity, you probably sound like your competition, okay? And that's not that's not anything negative, but I'm just saying you're probably missing out on a lot of opportunity out there on the road just because you're not being clear about your value, you're not being clear about what you can provide, you're not being clear why you should choose A, T, and T over Verizon, right? You need to be crystal clear about what you actually provide and speak to the value, not just give these industry buzzword uh BS that everyone's kind of tired of, right? Your message isn't really what you do, it's kind of why you do it, what value provide to the group, what value provide to the team. Stop listing your features, start talking about results, start talking about what you're doing for your customer, okay? You have to think about this communication, your ability to communicate influence teams is 85% of your career success. So think about that. You could be a 10 out of 10 engineer, a 10 out of 10 manager. It doesn't matter. If your ability to communicate is only three out of 10, what's how, what do you think your window is? What do you think your limit is? That's really gonna stop you. All right. So work on your communication skills. And the simple way to do this that I like doing, and this is one of those things, the soft skill. People are like, oh, well, I'm not an extrovert, or oh, I'm not really a good communicator. I disagree. All right, communication, just like golf, uh baking, it doesn't uh jujitsu, it doesn't matter. It's a skill set. And like any skill set, it can be learned, practiced, and mastered. So work on your communication skills. As someone that teaches communication skills, I still work on my communication ability, right? I'll do podcasts, I'll do seminars. I notice myself do a lot of fillow words. So it's an active skill set that you need to invest your time, energy, and effort in to get better, to drive results. Whether that's closing a sale or influence your team to take this direction or trying to source capital, you need to tell your story. That all falls in communication. I like changing my algorithm on Instagram or TikTok, right? I will go into leadership or communication skills, and that will be my algorithm. It won't be all this other junk that kind of feeds my mind. Junk food, all right? Build your algorithm to work for you. Okay. Now let's dive into one of my favorite things who I think is gonna probably be the biggest hot topic, right? And again, this is this is an industry buzzword. Collaboration, right? Collaboration, I love this, I love what's gonna be happening in uh in the collaboration side of things uh moving forward. I don't even know what that means, but hear me out. Gone are the days of low-cost providers in the oil and gas space, right? I think there was a there was a statistic that was thrown out at one crew club roundtable that 40% of operators still make low-cost decisions. And from those 40% of operators, 70% of those are paying out of pocket for those poor decisions. So that's like going cheap on a pair of shoes and having to replace it within two weeks because the laces fell off, right? Or fell apart, right? So collab true collaboration isn't when shit hits the fan and the vendor and the operator uh get together and kind of rehash what happened or anything like that. Low cost of drivers, low cost is not really an option anymore. Number one, service companies, there's no, you can't get it, we can't get any more lower, right? And the second thing is that it falls off of quality, it falls off of safety, falls off reliability. You're not gonna get, you pretty much get what you pay for. Long story short, you get what you pay for, right? So let's pull back from the low-cost decision making, the low-cost approach, and really get to the collaboration approach. We did a fantastic fruit club roundtable with Gavin Fluke up uh with Jedi Operating up in Dallas, and he laid out a phenomenal example about true collaboration. And what did that look like? There's a couple key things here. Number one, it was talking to the service provider before the project kicks off. All right. That's having the conversation. But it's not just, hey, listen, Gavin had a great point. It wasn't just like what he wanted to do, right? A lot of a lot of um operators, order takers, they say, hey, this is what we want to do, right? This is what we won't need to do. This is the well we want, this is this that we need, right? Collaboration really is starting off with the why. Gavin gave a great explanation of, hey, we're about to be doing this, and this is why I want to start working up more close. This is why I want to be hand in hand working with your old group a little bit more, right? So collaboration really is having these conversations at the start of the project, right? It's the start of the uh the operations uh before it even kicks off. It's bringing everyone to table that has a that has a key influence in how that operation runs, right? So it's having conversations at the start of the project. But not only that, it's bringing people in and having these continued conversations throughout the project. And it's not a finger pointing, blaming game when something goes wrong, because at the end of the day, we all know that shit goes wrong in the oil field, right? It's the oil field. You don't sell something on a perfect, perfect opportunity. It's usually when things go bad uh and the and the reaction of companies, that's usually kind of what creates that bond or that creates that reputation of that company being a good company or a bad company, right? So collaboration, it's having these conversations throughout the entire project, right? But not only that, I've noticed this also at the Crew Club Roundtable. A lot of times operators sit around the table and they dive into kind of like what they want to do or why they want to do something, what their goal is, um, et cetera, et cetera, right? Very rarely do I hear do I hear an operator say, hey, let's hear from our service company, right? Let's hear from our service company if they have any ideas or what they've seen out there in the field. Because at the end of the day, service companies work for multiple operators. They work at multiple different basins. They live, eat, breathe, and dive the services that provide. Chances are they might have a different idea. They might have a better approach for people out there that are about to utilize our services, right? So it really comes kind of an ego check when it when it comes to these conversations saying, hey, listen, I know what we want to do. I know what I think I want to do. What's your advice? What are you, what's what's kind of some of your ideas? What have you seen out there with other operators that maybe that are that's that you've seen uh breed success, right? So collaboration that really is having these conversations throughout the entire project. But not only that, it's alignment, right? It's alignment of goals, it's alignment of what are we doing? Why are we out here? It's bringing everyone everyone on board. And we had another one with uh Justin Pritchard Jones, who was the production manager over at Trinity Operating, and he's not talking about just uh external uh collaboration with vendors and service providers, but he also talked about that internally, right? The collaboration between the field uh ops and the and the office, right? How are they communicating? Does the field actually understand why they need to shut this off at a certain temperature, right? So they don't go over contract. Does the field team really understand why they need to execute XYZ in order to stay within these metrics of the AFE or whatever, whatever um reason that we're we're basing performance off of, right? So again, it's external and internal collaboration. Just because you have the title, just because you have the role, doesn't mean you can't hear outside um conversation or outside ideas from other parties, okay? It really is leaning in on your subject matter experts, which are which is your service uh providers for these ideas. All right, let's see what else I have in. All right. Yeah, and this is one of those things too. I mean, you can think about you know different departments at operators. You think about different departments at service companies, right? A drilling uh group might just want to drill the fastest well. But what happens if that well bore is crummy? If it's fall, if it's not the most uh integral integrity, integrity uh well bore, right? They need to hand it off to completions. Completion needs to hand it off production. If they're not aligned with a common goal of what is the point of us punching a hole in the ground, then chances are drilling is gonna deliver a project that completion is gonna have to mess with, that production's gonna have to mess with, right? So getting collaboration across multiple different disciplines is only gonna make your company more sustainable as we move forward. All right. Collaboration cannot just be a buzzword. There really has to be some metrics behind it. There has to be some structure behind it. All right. And again, you know, a lot of times this is one of those things too. You come up to culture, you come up to communication. You can't service companies can't come to the table hesitant to ask questions or hesitant to push back a little bit. You need to have this dialogue in order to move the needle forward. All right. If not, it's just gonna be order takers and order receivers, all right? So yeah, order, yeah, go with that. So these conversations need to start off, and they have to be the culture has to be there where it is transparent, where it is inviting these conversations with the service provider to get better ideas, to understand where we're going, all right? Internally, externally, ensure that your teams are collaborating with who that you're using. So the fourth C conversations, right? What kind of conversations are we having these days? All right. And again, we're always communicating. So I teach all these uh leadership, you know, communication courses and all that stuff. At the end of the day, everyone thinks that it's it's what we say, it's so important, right? It's the email that I sent, the text I sent, uh, this presentation I'm giving, I'm following the script and all that stuff. That couldn't be further from the truth. It's how we're saying what we're saying, right? That's how we're influenced. It's it's how people are buying uh our story, kind of what we want to go, our direction, right? So are we practicing our conversations with our team? All right. And a simple way to do that is instead of emails back and forth, pick up the phone, go down the hall, pop in, say hello, start having these conversations so you get to understand a little bit more what's driving them, right? Another thing is proactive versus reactive conversations, right? A lot of times people are having, well, I guess I can write that down, but I won't. But a lot of times people are having reactive conversations, right? Service companies don't want to have proactive conversations because, hey, we already got the work, let's not rock the boat, let's kind of stay safe in this. But we need to be proactive and have better conversations to move the needle forward. We have better conversations, leads to better collaboration through great communication, better culture, right? We all win. It's a win-win situation, even having these difficult conversations, right? Another thing is um when you will I think one of the biggest things is the ability to have a crucial conversation, right? Nobody likes nobody likes confrontation, right? Nobody likes having these difficult, awkward, crucial conversations. However, there's so much power in these conversations because at the end of the day, you're pulling back your emotion about, oh, this, you're you're you're pulling back the emotion. You're also pulling back the story you've told yourself on why this person did this, why this person was late, why this service company did do this, or why this operator did this, right? Oh, they made this of low cost. This service company's trying to cheat us. This person's not showing up late because they're lazy, right? Crucial conversations, difficult conversations, if you know how to have them, it's actually an opportunity for a growth tool, a growth platform, right? You're laying out your expectations, you're communicating why this isn't acceptable or what areas of improvement you want to see them at, and you align on a common goal, right? Your ability to have a crucial conversation can make or break your team. That way you're having the communication with your team and you're not having people, you know, think it's okay to be late, think it's okay to do this, think it's okay to do this. You're being transparent with your expectations, right? So dive in on your ability to have crucial conversations. All right, so the question to ask yourself is number one, what conversation are you avoiding right now? What conversation are you avoiding with your team, with your manager, with your spouse, with your friends that you probably should have? What's eating up kind of what's taking up real estate in your mind where if you had this conversation, you structured the conversation. And again, crucial conversations, difficult conversations, not something you can just kind of wing, right? You don't wing a crucial conversation. You plan it, you put the common goal down and you and you have a conversation surrounding that goal, get their feedback and move forward that way. All right. So that's, I think uh at the end of the day, that's kind of wrapping up the four C's that I believe that's gonna really push companies, industries, and individuals forward as we navigate, again, another flat market. It's not gonna be it's not gonna be about low price. Sure, cost is always gonna be important, but at the end of the day, low cost is not gonna breed better results. It's not gonna breed more collaborative uh industry. It's not gonna breed better, uh, yeah, better results, okay? True companies that want to move forward will have a culture of optimism. They will have a culture where people can come talk to each other, push back, have ideas, listen to people that are uh very senior all the way down to entry-level positions, right? The communication skills about people actually uh describing kind of what challenges that might come up with this project or this direction, or even the ability to kind of stress their concerns, or just kind of just uh whether you're a service company pitching uh your service or you just want to stand out and not sound like all uh all your competition, that's your ability to communicate. That's your ability to ask questions, that's your ability to listen. One big part of communication, yes, is listening. All right. I know is listening. I was gonna make a my wife uh needs to tell me that more uh joke, but I'm not. All right. The third one, collaboration. All right. This is so important because a lot of times we think collaboration is just an buzzword. Oh, we collaborate with this, we collaborate with that. Oftentimes the collaborative conversations aren't really happening until after something happens or after the wheels start falling off or something like that. You the club true collaboration brings bet the best results, and that starts at the beginning. That's asking subject matter experts their ideas. That's getting different perspectives and kind of taking that all, making that gumbo and really moving forward. All right, and the last one is conversations. It all wraps together. Well, communications conversations. No, it's not. Communication is your ability to actually have the conversations. Conversations you actually have the conversation. So, what are you doing to test yourself when it comes to having these conversations, to challenge your leadership, to question uh your people below you, to really maybe have these crucial conversations that can improve their line of work or kind of their uh discipline, what they're focused on. So I wish everyone an exciting uh and optimistic 2026. And um if you're looking for more access to operators uh around Crew Club Roundtables, uh be sure to head over to www.connectioncrew, C-R-U-E, kind of spelt like uhenergycrew.com. Register there and you'll be updated on all the events that are happening. But again, we got this as an industry. You cannot play 2026 like it's 2015. Cutting costs, pitching, talking about features, and really not really engaging people around the table. Right now it's all about engagement. We pulled away, uh, we've been very hyper-connected yet disconnected. Now it's time to get back to table, start having conversations, and be okay with meeting new people to have these conversations. A lot of times, um, you know, operators, I'm I'm talking to operators out there. A lot of times operators are thinking they're okay in their bubble, they're okay in their jobs, they're okay in careers. I'll build my network when I need one. We've seen a lot of workforce reduction out there. We've seen a lot of people get let go. We see the industry changing through AI automation. So don't always say building your network is like planting a garden. Don't wait to plant your garden when you're famished, when you're starving, you need the nutrients. Plant your garden where you have time, energy, and effort. Go out there, meet new people, have better conversations, start working on your communication skills, right? And build your team up, right? With optimism, transparency, have those opportunities to connect with your group. So I want to thank everyone out there for tuning into Energy Crew Podcast, and um we'll see you on the next one. Thank you so much.