Effective Leadership Practices Used for the Oil & Gas Sector
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The oil and gas sector faces a unique set of challenges that are complex, if not more so than any other business sector today. Developing exceptional leaders of tomorrow is the key to meeting the demands and expectations in this complex industry. If companies in the sector do not develop leaders to create the right working environments, it would be difficult to retain and motivate staff.
In response to the increasingly globalized nature of competitiveness in the oil and gas markets, there is increasing pressure on organisations to develop organisational cultures and structures that drive organisational performance.
One of the ways is by including effective leadership practices. Pushing a learning culture not only positively affects the work culture of collaboration, but facilitates the performance in oil and gas companies, by developing suitable workplaces for experts to effectively share their knowledge with others.
Here are 3 leadership practices shared by Trever Stapleton, Health And Safety Manager at Oil and Gas UK.
- Be an effective communicator
- Inspire a shared vision
- Challenge the process
- Be an effective communicator
To be an effective manager in the oil and gas industry, you must be able to communicate at all levels and listen to the views of those you work with. “It’s crucial you have a good understanding of what motivates your team, and spending time at the ‘coal face’ will help you understand and relate to those you manage. It’s also good to remember that you don’t have a right to people’s respect, it must be earned,”.
- Inspire a shared vision
For managers, it is essential to inspire a shared vision. Great leaders are future-orientated and seek to energise others by passion, enthusiasm and emotion. They want to bring people on board with this sense of shared purpose. Especially for the oil and gas sector, safety should always be a priority. Hence, leaders need to be able to recognise risks and prioritise addressing any major accident hazard risk first. This strengthens the common vision, and staff members feel taken care of by the management.
- Challenge the process
“You can’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re ever faced with a situation that you don’t understand, ask for clarification. If you still don’t understand, ask again or ask someone else, and never be pushed into making a decision if there are elements of a situation you are not comfortable with,” Stapleton added. Seek challenging opportunities to change, grow, innovate, and improve at a personal and organisational level.
Developing Leadership Capability & Thinking Strategically is a 3-day training course held from 26-28 August 2019 (Kuala Lumpur). This short course is a delegate centric period of applied and experiential learning for the oil & gas industry. Designed to provide delegates with the core skills required of senior managers charged with the leadership of their business or business unit, it will directly contribute to your future role as leader within the sector as you will become equipped with a combination of skills that can be put to immediate use to support growth and change in a developing leadership capacity.