After almost 3 months of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, it seems that the well has been successfully capped. This is great news for BP, for the people of the Gulf, and for the administration working tirelessly to deal with this unprecedented crisis. I can’t help thinking about this disaster from a Learning and Development perspective, specifically about what BP could have done, and more importantly, needs to do in the coming days, weeks, months and even years ahead to correct for this obvious gap in their L&D approach. In the midst of a crisis, it is often challenging to find the time and clarity of mind to determine the soundest solutions. Sometimes, once the dust begins to settle, (or in this instance, once the oil stops spilling) – we can come up for air and re-think how we handle crises so as to not repeat these mistakes in the future.
An organization’s Learning and Development programs are only as good as the organizational competencies that are defined. Best practice Learning programs are aligned to an organization’s most critical competencies (or the knowledge, skills, and capabilities necessary for individual and organizational success). As a result of this crisis, the public became very aware that BP had not spent enough time, resources, and training dollars to prepare their people for the appropriate response. Upon further investigation, we learned that none of the other oil companies had a better response plan than BP’s which continues to make us nervous. BP (and the rest of the oil companies) need to spend time defining the right competencies. From there, those competencies must be aligned to all aspects of the employee lifecycle, so that employees know from the very beginning what they need to do. Starting with onboarding – wouldn’t it have been great for BP’s people to be trained since their very first day on how to solve for a crisis like this?
From a longer term perspective, employees need to be continuously trained on what’s most important for their roles and for the business so they can keep their skills fresh and be ready to step in, in ANY situation. Including an unprecedented oil spill. This way, giving the organization in crisis an opportunity to showcase their strong workforce and problem solving capabilities as opposed to what did happen, which was a damaged brand associated with incompetence.
Talk about a damaged brand, Tony Hayward – CEO of BP became infamous throughout this crisis as being out of touch with the people of the Gulf and unable to maintain a steady hand during this troubling time. There have been reports that he will step down as BP’s CEO in September. The Learning and Development practitioner in me is wondering, who will be his successor? Does BP have a plan in place for their next leader? Best practice companies align their performance management, learning and development and succession planning to the strategic goals of the organization. It is critical to upgrade these processes so that they are streamlined and effective. We are hopeful that BP has been more proactive around planning for their top leadership than they have for the planning of crises. Only time will tell.
As a New Yorker, I’ve felt so far from what’s really happening on the ground related to the oil spill. Next week, while I won’t be in the Gulf, I’ll be much closer than usual. I’m headed down south to catch the Taleo Talent Intelligence tours with stops in Houston July 27th and Atlanta July 29th. In both towns you’ll be treated to breakfast, networking and thought-compelling information sharing from Taleo’s experts.If you’re in the area, join us!
I liked the idea of considering the most critical organizational skills and competencies right from the onboarding experience. I once was told by a former naval submarine officer that the most important job on the boat was actually steering the boat underwater, and that was also the very first thing that new members of the crew are taught how to do.
I have a great respect for BP and the leadership and competency model the company has in place. What I am continuously amazed by, as a learning professional, is that we have a naive assumption that every scenario can be both foreseen and planned for. Try looking at non-media authorities to understand the magnitude of variance with this well compared to all the top 5 oil companies' experience and see what comes up. I believe that in each of our organizations, there are a multitude of scenarios that will test our preparation and competency strength and show fractures. We as a country experienced this with 911.