Meet Maria Silveira, the Senior Vice President of Nitrogen Operations at Nutrien, whose career journey epitomizes resilience, strategic acumen, and unwavering commitment to excellence.
With a wealth of experience spanning multiple decades across manufacturing, supply chain management, and integrated business planning, Maria has consistently risen to the forefront of the industry through her structured yet adaptable approach. As a seasoned leader, she has navigated through the complexities of business transformation with finesse, driving rapid and enduring results at every turn.
Maria Silveira leadership strength lies not only in her ability to foster strong, cohesive teams but also in her pursuit of shareholder value enhancement. Her communication skills serve as a catalyst for alignment and synergy within the organizations she leads.
Engineering Mindset
Maria Silveira master’s degree in chemical engineering has been instrumental in her diverse career roles. It taught her logical thinking and data analytics for decision-making, enabling her to think fast and make decisions using the 80/20 rule – where 80 percent of effects come from 20 percent of causes. She’s comfortable with being uncomfortable, adaptable, and curious about people and leadership.
Throughout her career, Maria Silveira learned the importance of admitting when she doesn’t know something and surrounding herself with knowledgeable individuals. Given her frequent role changes, averaging every two years, she relies heavily on others to accelerate her learning, a practice crucial for growth.
About Nutrien
Nutrien is a leading provider of crop inputs and services, helping to safely and sustainably feed a growing world. We operate a world-class network of production, distribution, and ag retail facilities that position us to efficiently serve the needs of growers. We focus on creating long-term value by prioritizing investments that strengthen the advantages of our integrated business and by maintaining access to the resources and the relationships with stakeholders needed to achieve our goals.
As the third-largest nitrogen producer globally, Nutrien has over seven million tonnes of gross ammonia capacity and the capability to produce more than 11 million tonnes of total nitrogen products across the US, Canada, and Trinidad.
Bridging Divides
In Maria Silveira experience, challenges are ever-present in leadership roles. One recurring challenge she has encountered in several past positions is the need to enhance integration and collaboration across departments within the team she inherited. Despite its strength and knowledge, there was room for improvement in working together seamlessly.
Maria Silveira firmly believes that a leader is there to serve their team, not the other way around. Therefore, one of her initial priorities upon entering a new role is to assess any integration challenges. This entails understanding the dynamics among stakeholders, identifying existing interactions, roadblocks, and personalities, and clarifying everyone’s roles and responsibilities.
Once Maria Silveira has a comprehensive understanding of the situation, she devises a plan to support the team in achieving its goals more effectively. This involves communicating about the team’s work and how it can better integrate with the broader organization, addressing any gaps or areas for improvement along the way.
Through clear communication and strategic planning, Maria aims to foster a culture of collaboration and integration that enhances overall team success. She recognizes that by bridging gaps and facilitating cooperation, the team can better deliver on its objectives and contribute to the organization’s overall success.
Authentic Leadership
Maria Silveira believes that authentic leadership revolves around genuineness and transparency. To her, an authentic leader is willing to be vulnerable while also standing firm for their beliefs. Consistency is key in how they handle situations, and they set clear expectations for their teams.
Maria goes on to say that authentic leadership means valuing listening, coaching, and being open to receiving and accepting feedback. She believes that authentic leaders genuinely care about the development of their teams and invest time in getting to know them, enabling them to define the appropriate path forward and support their career goals effectively. By embodying these qualities, an authentic leader fosters trust, loyalty, and growth within their team.
Building Strong Foundations
When Maria steps into a new role with an existing team, she dedicates the first 30 to 90 days to thoroughly assessing the business’s current state, leadership capabilities, challenges, and opportunities. She compares these findings with the strategic objectives of the organization while also understanding the team’s sphere of influence and collaboration dynamics. Maria emphasizes the importance of taking the time to gather this information properly before implementing any significant changes.
During this initial period, Maria also invests time in introducing herself to team members, sharing her values, leadership style, and expectations. She believes that a strong team requires a strong leader who values diversity and inclusion, creating a psychologically safe space for creativity, healthy debate, and mutual respect.
Once Maria has a solid understanding of these aspects, she develops a plan for the leadership team. She considers whether individuals would benefit from moving into different roles or opportunities for growth, evaluates the fit of the current leadership style with the team, and assesses the need to bring in new talent to diversify.
Maria focuses on creating conditions for healthy debate and ensures that the team feels psychologically safe enough to share their thoughts and ideas. She then develops a plan and communicates it across the team, emphasizing why the changes are necessary and how they align with the expected deliverables.
Driving Success Through Incremental Progress
Maria believes that maintaining motivation and delivering results involves breaking down complex challenges into smaller focus areas. By unpacking a challenge into logical pieces, opportunities and solutions for the short and long term can be identified. She emphasizes the importance of demonstrating progress with “quick wins” when solving complex challenges. These small successes along the way help boost morale and confidence in the team, encouraging them to persevere until the larger challenge is resolved.
Especially in the context of multiyear projects, Maria stresses the significance of celebrating small wins along the way, maintaining constant and consistent communication, and persevering despite setbacks. This approach not only keeps the team motivated but also ensures progress towards the ultimate goal.
Strategic Communication
In Maria’s experience, communication is never perfect, and details are often missed or messages aren’t as clear as intended. To mitigate these challenges, she collaborates with as many stakeholders as possible to develop messages and incorporates their feedback to ensure clarity for the intended audience.
Maria emphasizes the importance of ensuring that people understand why a change or transformation is happening and what’s in it for them. Mapping all key stakeholders is crucial to identify those who will be affected and to understand their potential responses to the change.
Understanding whether stakeholders will be supportive, neutral, or resistant helps tailor communications accordingly. Maria stresses the importance of considering delivery methods, whether sharing news in person, with specific individuals or teams, via email, or during a presentation. She believes that effective communication is a vital step in successful change management and underscores the importance of thorough planning and consideration for all aspects of the communication process.
Empowering Excellence
Maria firmly believes in the importance of each employee continually striving to improve processes and ways of working. This not only enhances individual experiences but also unlocks efficiencies within the organization, thereby creating value for shareholders. At Nutrien’s Nitrogen Operations, all teams develop annual Continuous Improvement plans, which they are held accountable for. Over the years, significant savings and tens of millions of dollars in revenue have been achieved through frontline workers and site management identifying daily improvement opportunities.
Continuous improvement efforts are celebrated across the network through quarterly awards for sites that achieve notable improvements in safety and productivity. Success stories are communicated and shared across the organization to disseminate lessons learned and inspire other teams to seek improvement opportunities.
Furthermore, Maria ensures that all her direct reports and their managers set at least one leadership development goal annually. This investment in people ensures that Nutrien is not only enhancing its assets but also nurturing its talent, thus fostering a culture of growth and development within the organization.
Charting a Sustainable Future
Maria envisions numerous growth pathways for Nutrien, guided by its purpose of Feeding the Future. The mission is to aid farmers in producing food for nearly 10 billion people by 2050 while driving long-term growth for agricultural commodities and fertilizers.
For the Nitrogen Operations team, Maria’s vision centers on maintaining agriculture as the core market and becoming a global leader in supplying low-cost sustainable nitrogen products through safe, reliable, and efficient operations. The goal is to exceed customer expectations at every turn.
Nutrien stands out as an industry leader, uniquely positioned in low-carbon ammonia production. Leveraging process and product innovations, the company proactively addresses environmental, social, and governance risks. Maria plans to continue making innovative technological advances to maintain competitiveness and global leadership in the agriculture industry.
