Assisting the HR function roll-out a new approach to personal development planning
The Client
Tullow Oil is a leading oil and gas exploration and production company whose focus is on finding and monetising oil in Africa and the Atlantic Margins. With headquarters in London, Tullow Oil overseas a portfolio of over 120 licences spanning 22 countries. The business was started in a small town in Ireland and prides itself on its more entrepreneurial approach.
The Brief
Tullow grew rapidly throughout the 2000’s, attracting more and more talented people from the established oil & gas majors. Engaging and retaining these more ‘corporate’ employees presented a new challenge, and as part of the response to this the internal HR team devised a flexible PDP (Personal Development Planning) process. The project was up against it when Catseye were parachuted in to help employees and their line managers learn how to have conversations that led to meaningful (and commercially aligned) personal development.
The Solution
Based on the investigations of the HR team it was apparent many senior employees had joined Tullow to be valued for their technical specialisms and not through any desire to lead and manage others. On the other hand many of the junior staff (predominantly Gen-Y) wanted to be heavily mentored and fast-tracked to leadership positions.
With all this in mind Catseye devised a series of People Development Skills masterclasses to equip line managers and function heads with tools and techniques to develop an emotionally intelligent, coaching style of leadership. Alongside delivering these sessions in the UK, Catseye advised Tullow HR leaders in Africa on how to set-up and deliver equivalent programmes in their local offices.
The Results
Whilst Tullow made the PDP process optional, they experienced a significant uptake in the teams of leaders who had attended the Catseye sessions, leading to:
Increase in engagement scores in annual engagement survey
Increased retention of key staff
Improved pipeline of talent with better alignment to corporate culture
Better communication between team leaders and members