Natalia Rudevich joined Wethearford Ukraine in 2010 leaving the international consulting company of the big four for the position of financial director.
Active involvement in all processes of the company, commitment to innovation and leadership position led her to the position of the director of the company.
Under Natalia’s leadership, Ukraine’s service operator in a down economy managed not only to stay among oil and gas market participants, but in just a few years to become one of the most attractive employers. You can read on the company’s prospects and management approaches in her interview.

- Natalya, please tell us what are the features in the management of an international company in Ukraine, whose brand is known all over the world?
Working for a big company has its pros and cons. Yes, there is a huge base of experience and support. There are transparent and clear rules. At the same time, there is a lot of competition for resources within a large international company and you need to prove and justify why investment and development in Ukraine is important. These factors inspire a sense of great responsibility and desire for your company to be the best in the Ukrainian market, and also for Ukraine to be a strong market within the company. Comparing the development of the Ukraine market with that of other countries is a great source of goals, direction, and motivation for us.

- Do you have to somehow adapt the western corporate culture already embedded in the company to the Ukrainian mentality or rather on the contrary - to transform Ukrainian work habits to western requirements?
The Ukrainian mentality works very well with the existing rules and approaches in the company. We, the Ukrainians, are hardworking and result-oriented. If there is a specific goal, we will drive toward it.
For most people, the stability of the company is a sign of success. Our company provides transparency as a sign of stability.
For me, as for the manager, the main goal is to hear the employees. To achieve the set goals, we are helped by the fact that we are looking for solutions together.
The company has an open door policy. All employees have equal opportunities to put their best foot forward. This approach implies the availability and willingness of managers to all levels to dialogue.

- Natalya, in managing your team you use such popular in the IT environment approaches like Scram or Agile - what is their advantage and how do employees relate to this style of interaction?
The IT sector has experience in managing talented people, which is very important for us. Such methods of flexible management make it easier to achieve the goals set for the employees. I believe that the times of «I’m the boss, you’re a fool» are in the past.
Modern management, focused on achieving the result of the team and people who are valued, can bring several times better results than people who are required only to follow the instructions.
Recent improvements in production processes, which we implemented in Ukraine, were initiated by people within our local organization. Returning to the international character of our company, it should be mentioned that some of the improvements we’ve made in Ukraine have also been applied elsewhere. This inspires pride.

- If we talk about the motivation of employees - what do you mean by this and how this process is built in the company?
Here is one of my favorite examples. A few years ago a laborer was employed by us. He did not have any specific specialization in the oil and gas sector and he didn`t speak English. Today, he is a leading mechanic and last year he trained workers in a new workshop in Europe – in English.
From this, we can draw only one conclusion: There is nothing impossible for the talented people who work in our company.
Motivation will be most effective in a team of like-minded people, where there is room to grow, and when interactions are built on the principle of transparency. All this in one way or another inspires and enthralls people. In my opinion, inspiration should be the main specialization of a modern employee.
I am proud that I have the opportunity to work with such people. We experienced so much together - many of them became soul mates to me. Their interest in work gives motivation not only to them, but also to me.

- What production plans does the company set for itself in the coming year?
First of all, we are striving to become the best company in the sphere of QHSSE (Quality Health Safety Security and Environment) in our industry.
We plan to hire the most motivated graduates of the universities.
We know that Ukraine needs to use new technologies in the oil and gas sector. We want to introduce several of them to our market. Working with our regional engineering team, we consider the most effective technologies for deployment in Ukraine. We will tell you more about this during the Newfolk V International Oil and Gas Conference, «Coiled tubing. Intensification. New drilling,» where it will be possible to discuss the technical intricacy of their implementation.
And I really hope that we will be able to return to Ukraine those specialists who left during the downturn – their experience is needed here.