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BP - Good feedback...better performance, better TEAMS.

In the middle of the North Sea, east of Shetland on the North West Hutton Oil Platform, IBT interviewed BP Exploration's Leadership Development Manager, Ken Tree.

"I've been in the oil industry for 20 years and up to a few months ago I'd never been on an offshore platform. My original training was as a chartered accountant, your traditional bean counter. I never got much acknowledgement for my auditing. It's when I started training and coaching people, quite early on, that I first noticed good feedback. I enjoy it and I've been much more suited to it, so I was very pleased to become Leadership Development Manager. It's a new role that's been created in the Upstream Aberdeen operation. It's exciting because, although BP has always had a commitment to training and development, I'm now able to take it out to the people who work at the sharp end."

The value of teams
Offshore, they lead a strange life compared to what most people are used to. They're away from family and friends for long periods and they can get stuck out here frequently due to bad weather. In the past, training and development has required them to go back 'on the beach' to a traditional course room, and no matter how good the trainer might be, there's a limited understanding of what these people go through as part of their daily routines.

And remember, without the offshore teams, we don't get oil out of the ground and the company doesn't make money."

There are few of us who haven't popped into a BP service station at some time or another. BP owns some 29,000 of them worldwide. In fact, BP is the number one oil and gas producer in the US, largely thanks to its Alaskan holdings. The company ranks third in the world oil hierarchy next to Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell.

 
360 Feedback
Despite Ken's enthusiasm and BP's Leadership programme, some of the tools of Performance Management haven't been universally accepted.
It's difficult to get exact figures, but we estimate that
in the US and UK about 10% of major corporations
utilise 360 degree feedback and psychometric testing as part of the performance package. (Psychometrics are used more often in recruitment activity). Some 60% of US companies have expressed an intention to use 360 'sometime in the future'.

Psychometrics
So for many large companies the jury is still out. 360 degree feedback also goes under several names: multi source feedback, upwards appraisal, full circle appraisal and so on. What we mean here, when we use the term, is the action of getting evaluations from agreed upon questionnaires on specific, work related knowledge, skills, behaviours, or designated competencies. The sources of feedback would be from seniors, peers, subordinates - and certainly customers where possible.

Personality traits are not evaluated or commented on. Psychometrics measure personality traits which tell you how you are likely to behave. 360 tells you what your environment says you've actually done.

Whilst things like on-line questionnaires and
scoring have made the process somewhat easier,
it can still be a daunting task. To work best, the key competencies that you're assessing have to be
clearly defined and must dovetail with the organisation's vision and key initiatives and goals. There is a considerable amount of work involved to align these things and bring them to a readily communicable state, given the frequent changes
that organisations experience.

The biggest users of 360 within organisations seem to be upper middle management, closely followed by senior management. But theoretically, any manager at any level could manage their own performance or career better with a wider and more balanced view of their outputs.

A team builder
The 360 process seems to work best when kept confidential, done for development purposes and
not used in performance appraisal, particularly when it is directly linked to rewards. (There can be legal implications on mis-assessment). An obvious goal for 360 is to drive training and development.

The value of interpretation
I pointed out that it didn't matter to his Mum and me if he wasn't good at the recorder, that he does an enormous number of things very well, and that what does matter to us is that he always does the best he can do and that he enjoys his life, and learns generally. Of course, with the stress button off and a focus on his other skills and strengths, he's now doing well at the recorder. It's a small example but it's what I see continuously in the work place. How you get the feedback, how you interpret the feedback and how you're coached to make best use of it makes a massive difference.

Once again coaching comes into its own with psychometrics. I've seen a few psychometric tests
over the years. Some are very complicated with lots of numbers and letters and indicators trying to explain the personality types. The trouble with that, I've found, is that you tend to forget very quickly what all the terminology actually means. It's quite academically based. I mean there's Belben & Myers Briggs for example, which are great tools, but maybe just not as easy for the ordinary person to understand.

I once filled in a multi choice evaluator (most of these mechanisms are for the client to do). The feedback session from the psychologist was fantastic. I really enjoyed it but I didn't get any written report. And what I found was that within a week or so from having this fantastic feedback, life went on and I was doing so many other things that I'd forgotten all about it.
I couldn't really act upon it. So I think an important aspect to these types of tests - and the same with
360 - is that they need to be followed up on. And preferably coached.

A continuous process
There has to be a kind of immediacy to these things whereby you do get some instant feedback. But that feedback then has to be taken forward, so that you can reflect on it. The type of material that I want to use and rely on, is stuff where people can be coached in it and they can use it as a continuous process for
the future.

The best performance tools help enhance their personal lives, their business lives, their interaction with others, how they develop their careers and so on.

It should help them with 'work-life balance'.

Individual/team scenarios
The beauty of what I'm working with now is that
I've found you can use it both for individual and for team training.

The 360 tool that we are using gives feedback
from their peers, their superiors, their subordinates
if they have any. The psychometric evaluator gives extra 'individual' feedback. Marrying the two together gives what I believe is a fantastic range of personal information for an individual. It's very beneficial
for team scenarios and it helps them to develop
and grow.

Tailored mechanisms
You asked me about advice for HR professionals embarking on a performance management initiative. The very first bit would be to go out and observe and ask people, speak to the people, listen to them. I think from that, keep it fairly simple. Develop pragmatic tools that actually mean something to the people,
that can give them some great feedback they can really use. That's really crucial to ensure a
successful outcome.

There's no one tool that's the best tool, there are a number of tools out there. One system, using 'colours' is an example. After completing the questionnaire you find your personality type has a dominant 'colour'. Red would be someone who's very direct, gives orders, tells people what to do. A 'get things done' type of person. A Yellow would be very enthusiastic, inspiring, talks a lot, gets carried away, very friendly etc. A Green would be very caring, very concerned for others, worries how people are interacting. A Blue would be concerned about precision, getting things right, dealing with data. We do group exercises to illustrate these traits and it doesn't take people long
to realise that none of these are 'negative' aspects. None is better nor worse than the other and there's a place in the team for every individual.

Some tools are quite similar looking. Try them on people as a pilot. Work with people who are keen to try them as well. Look for the best tool that suits your set up. They have to be meaningful and appropriate and recognise the strategies of the organisation and the nature of the workplace, and of course the individual. It's back to what I was saying earlier
about having tailored mechanisms, just as you're doing with us.

Better leaders
I think they should be flexible, too. Offer them in
the workplace of course, but if they want to do it at home, or wherever, then the services should be available to them. Wherever they are comfortable
in considering their future development. You're helping them to be better leaders at any level, shop floor or managing director.

It's like IBT's 'alignment model' - getting the vision, strategy, plans and the teams’ efforts to link and support each other. I think in an organisation, if you don't have good personal development processes you'll not have good leadership, and you'll certainly
not have a good strategy.

The alignment model
The strategy, the leadership, people development
are all intimately interlinked. Part of the bigger picture - you can't have one without the other if you are going to be successful. And the role of the leader is to help facilitate the process of developing people within the organisation. People want to manage their lives. But they want the help, the time, the space, encouragement and the tools to develop themselves as they see fit for the future. And that's what I believe we're trying to do within our organisation.

Life on the platforms can be quite difficult from a personal and a family point of view. You're away for two weeks at a time and you can't just go for a walk
in your lunch break, you can't pop out to Marks & Spencer's, you can't go to a restaurant or a pub, or
a game of squash or the many other things you take for granted.

Recruit and retain
And it's true to say that there's a shortage of
people coming into the oil industry. Young people don't want to spend two weeks away from home. They can often make as much money, working in London or Edinburgh or wherever. So there's a big issue both to recruit people and to retain people.

And I believe the big strength and advantage we have to offer is to give people superb life tools that they can take and use anywhere in their futures, wherever and whatever that may be.”