At the 2026 API Pipeline Conference & Expo, EnerSys President & CEO Russel Treat presented a session exploring the growing complexity of pipeline operations and the role organizational alignment plays in supporting safety, compliance, and operational excellence. One of the key themes that emerged from the discussion was that many operational challenges do not originate within individual departments, but at the intersections between them. This article expands on that idea, examining how operators can better manage cross-functional dependencies and reduce risk through stronger organizational alignment.
Pipeline operators have invested heavily in building expertise within their organizations. Control rooms are more sophisticated than ever. Engineering teams have access to advanced tools and analytics. Integrity management programs continue to mature. SCADA and automation systems are increasingly capable and interconnected.
Despite these advances, many operational challenges do not originate within individual departments. Instead, they emerge in the spaces between them.
A delayed notification. An unclear responsibility. A change that impacts another group without anyone realizing it. Critical information that arrives too late, or never reaches the right people. As pipeline operations become increasingly complex, some of the most significant safety, compliance, and operational risks arise not from a lack of expertise, but from gaps in coordination between departments. Addressing those gaps requires a deliberate focus on organizational alignment across people, processes, and functions.
Pipeline Operations Are More Connected Than Ever — And Require Greater Organizational Alignment
Today’s pipeline operations depend on a complex network of people, processes, and systems working together across the organization. Control rooms rely on engineering teams. Engineering depends on SCADA and automation specialists. Field operations coordinate with integrity management. Compliance activities often require participation from nearly every department. While organizations are typically structured around functional groups, the work itself rarely stays within those boundaries.
A project initiated by engineering may require input from SCADA, operations, field personnel, integrity management, and training teams before it can be safely implemented. Likewise, a compliance activity may depend on documentation, decisions, and evidence generated by multiple groups over time. The work crosses organizational boundaries, even when the organizational structure does not.
As a result, operational success depends not only on how effectively individual departments perform, but also on how well they coordinate with one another. In many ways, organizational alignment has become a prerequisite for safe and effective pipeline operations.
Where Operational Risk Actually Emerges
When operational incidents or compliance challenges occur, organizations often look first at the department closest to the issue. In many cases, however, the root cause is not a failure within a department. It is a breakdown at the interface between departments. Consider a seemingly simple change to a SCADA display.
The engineering team may view the change as a technical improvement. The SCADA team may see it as a configuration update. That same change could affect controller situational awareness, alarm visibility, operating procedures, training requirements, and even workload during abnormal operating conditions. If those downstream impacts are not identified and communicated, a change intended to improve operations can unintentionally create new risks elsewhere in the organization.
Similar challenges occur when field modifications, integrity initiatives, controller procedures, and engineering changes are managed independently rather than as part of a coordinated operational system.
The same pattern appears throughout pipeline operations.
A field modification may alter alarm behavior or operating limits without all affected stakeholders understanding the implications. A change management process may focus on technical implementation while overlooking training or procedural updates. A compliance requirement may depend on evidence generated by multiple departments, yet no single group owns the entire process.
These situations are rarely the result of poor performance or lack of expertise. More often, they occur because responsibilities, dependencies, and communication expectations have not been clearly defined. The gap between departments becomes the risk.
Strong Departments Alone Are Not Enough
Most operators already have well-established programs designed to manage specific operational disciplines:
- Control Room Management Plans
- Integrity Management Programs
- Change Management Procedures
- Damage Prevention Programs
- Safety and Environmental Programs
Each of these serves an important purpose. The challenge is that they are often developed and managed independently.
While each program may function effectively on its own, few are designed to manage the interactions between the others. As organizations grow, this can create a situation where individual departments perform well, yet the organization still struggles with coordination, communication, and accountability across functions. The challenge is no longer simply achieving excellence within departments.
The challenge is creating alignment between them.
Managing the Spaces Between Departments
Most pipeline operators already have systems for managing work within departments.
Engineering has processes. Operations has processes. Integrity management has processes. Control rooms have procedures and plans.
The more important questions are:
- Who is managing the spaces between those groups?
- Who is responsible for identifying downstream impacts before a change occurs?
- Who ensures affected stakeholders are involved at the appropriate time?
- How are shared responsibilities documented and communicated?
- How does leadership know whether critical handoffs are occurring consistently?
This is where an Operations Management System (OMS) creates value. At its core, an OMS is a framework for creating and sustaining organizational alignment across pipeline operations. Rather than serving as another department or replacing existing programs, an OMS helps organizations manage the relationships, responsibilities, and decision-making processes that exist across functions. It establishes clear expectations for collaboration, creates accountability for shared responsibilities, and provides visibility into operational dependencies before they become problems. Most importantly, it helps organizations manage operations as an integrated system rather than a collection of independent departments.
Safety Lives in the Handoffs
One of the most important benefits of an Operations Management System is the cultural shift it enables. Many operational gaps emerge when responsibilities are viewed through departmental boundaries. Questions such as “Is that our responsibility?” or “Has someone else already taken care of that?” often indicate that ownership is fragmented.
Organizations that successfully manage cross-functional relationships approach these situations differently.
Instead of focusing solely on departmental responsibilities, they ask:
- Who else needs to know?
- Who else may be affected?
- Who else should be involved before we move forward?
These questions encourage collaboration early in the process, helping identify dependencies and risks before they create operational consequences. In many ways, safety depends on the quality of these handoffs.
The stronger the communication, coordination, and accountability between departments, the lower the likelihood that critical activities will be overlooked. An OMS helps create a culture where shared accountability becomes part of everyday operations.
When Better Operations Lead to Better Compliance
Many organizations naturally approach compliance as a primary operational objective.
While regulatory compliance remains essential, focusing exclusively on compliance can unintentionally create reactive behaviors. Teams become focused on audits, findings, and checklists rather than improving the systems that drive performance.
Organizations that achieve strong organizational alignment often experience a different outcome. When communication is consistent, responsibilities are clear, decisions are well-governed, and processes are aligned, compliance becomes easier to achieve and maintain.
Building a More Connected Organization
As pipeline operations continue to evolve, organizational complexity will continue to increase. The question for operators is not whether interdependencies exist.
The question is whether those interdependencies are being actively managed.
The greatest risks in modern pipeline operations often do not exist within departments, but between them. As operations become more interconnected, organizations must become equally intentional about managing the relationships, dependencies, and shared responsibilities that connect their people and processes.
An Operations Management System provides a framework for identifying, managing, and strengthening those critical connections while promoting organizational alignment across the enterprise. By strengthening the connections between teams, operators can reduce operational risk, improve decision-making, and build a more resilient organization. One where safety, compliance, and operational excellence are achieved through coordination, alignment, and a shared understanding of how the entire system works together. For many operators, the first step is simply understanding where organizational gaps exist today and identifying opportunities to strengthen alignment across teams.
Continue the Conversation
Every organization faces unique challenges when it comes to coordinating activities across departments, managing operational dependencies, and creating organizational alignment. While the principles may be universal, the specific gaps, risks, and opportunities often look different from one operator to the next.
If this discussion resonates with challenges your organization is experiencing, we encourage you to continue the conversation. Whether you’re looking to improve cross-functional collaboration, strengthen governance, or better understand how organizational alignment can support operational performance, our team is always happy to share experiences and lessons learned from across the industry.