Case Study: Major Oil Company
Situation
The geo-political environment in the energy business has shifted dramatically to one where International Oil Companies (IOCs) no longer gain competitive advantage from technology expertise alone. IOCs are competing for access to potential hydrocarbon sources, which are controlled by governments, and the National Oil Companies (NOCs) that are connected to them.
To succeed in this environment requires building trusted relationships at many levels, from the highest governmental rulers to the multinational teams that execute in the field. The ability to partner, and be seen as a trustworthy partner, is now a source of competitive advantage every bit as real as technological know-how.
Challenge
We were invited to partner a prestigious Leadership Faculty in redesigning a year-long leadership programme for the top 200 leaders of a major oil company.
Among the objectives:
- Generate fresh understanding of what it takes to build trust proactively
- Accelerate trust by building faster it than the usual time curve
- Leaders at the very top of the organization to role-model, creating the conditions for building trust capability in the rest of the organization
Solution
Our research established the key points where trust was damaged and we were able to share this so that leaders quickly developed an internal map both of where trust is lost, and, through a powerful memorable ‘equation’, of how trust is proactively built.
This knowledge however, while useful in its own right, was nothing more than a starting point for our work, which emphasizes the leadership journey from knowledge to practice.
We created an experience of converting knowledge models into sustainable practices that the sincere leader could incorporate into their way of interacting with the many levels of partnership in their lives.
In the latest programme these skills were trialled ‘live’ in China, testing the boundaries of leaders’ ability to build trust in strategic markets where many of the habitual cultural norms for relationship are challenged.
Results
The first year-long programme was completed in China in July 2011. Qualitative impacts reported by participants and faculty members include:
- The depth of insight generated into building partnership and trust along with the personal awareness of the disciplines required of leaders to achieve this were reported as significantly deeper than previous programmes.
- Many leaders incorporated the trust-building disciplines into their personal legacy commitments (the highest level of purpose for the company’s leaders).
