Wireline Issue 42 - Summer 2018

Leadership academy event at BP’s North Sea headquarters

The programme was also designed to equip first-level leaders with the skills to spot potential psychological issues affecting members of their team. Rewrite the rules The desire to introduce a new, forward-looking health and wellbeing culture was also the impetus behind the work at Centrica Storage, which produces and processes gas from the Rough field in the southern North Sea for Centrica. The business has been running a series of activities, ranging from health fairs and workshops to sports-themed campaigns, but Francis says these created peaks of activity rather than achieving sustainable change. Keen to embrace a new approach, it teamed up with specialist service provider Tua Optimum to develop a new programme for its 300-plus workforce across five offshore and onshore locations.

• Internal demands – assessing their life priorities and where they need to direct time and energy

At the same time – and amid a period of continuing industry uncertainty – it spotted an opportunity to mould some of the group materials into a proactive and progressive campaign for a wider audience. The team successfully made the case for including health and wellbeing in an ongoing, multi-topic training programme for around 200 first-level leaders, such as supervisors and team leads. From late 2017 onwards, Alan and his colleagues led a series of 90-minute sessions for groups of up to 20 people at a time. “It wasn’t necessarily for people who felt they needed support – they might already feel strong, but this might help them be even stronger. It was all about taking a positive approach,” he explains. Each session was founded on practicalities, featuring three exercises that asked delegates to focus on how they manage: • External resources – in particular, maintaining a support network of people around them

• Internal resources – avoiding fatigue, and the consequences of it, by evaluating their work-life balance and managing their energy

“It wasn’t about telling people what to do, but encouraging them to look at where they were,” adds Alan. Practical advice and guidance was available to help delegates address individual issues that emerged from the sessions. And it wasn’t just focused on the work environment. “If you are struggling with something outside of work, the chances are you’re not going to perform at work. It’s moved care for our people up the business agenda,” says Alan.

It wasn’t necessarily for people who felt they needed support – they might already feel strong, but this might help them be even stronger

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| W I R E L I N E | SUMMER 2018