Oil & Chemicals sector

This interesting employee owned company was seeking to reconnect with the early days of the ownership passing to the employees. They had produced a set of Values and Behaviours Statements and wanted to engage people in conversation about them.

The design team wanted the session to provide for a sense of unity and common purpose and a common understanding of what the Values and Behaviours Statements mean and their relevance to working life. They were keen to celebrate their unique way of working and value their diversity. We designed and facilitated this session integrating Myers Briggs into the design.

"To bring the recently written Values & Behaviours Statements to practical reality by engaging the whole workforce in a process which interacts with the statements and reviews their everyday relevance."

LGI Introduction
Having had to cancel a booking for our LGI session the Global Learning and Development Team (GOLD) led by Cynthia Haddock invited us to provide them with a one-day overview of large group dynamics and meeting design issues. Following this they sent a team of 5 people to the weeklong Practicum we ran with The Axelrod Group and Robert Jacobs.

Group Leadership Meetings
When the leadership decided to expand participation in these to some 120 CEOs and Senior Executives from around the world we were asked to provide coaching support. Working with the Strategy and Planning Group and the GOLD team we supported the design of 3 of these events. We also provided real time redesign advice at the meetings.

Shell Business Week - Strategy development
Shell Business Week has been described as a defining moment in the history of Shell's Transformation. The event involved over 600 leaders over a full week. Within the week 2 days were set aside for each Business to have their own session focused on their strategic issues. We supported the design and delivery of the E&P Business Meeting. The first day saw participants exploring a 'Souk' - literally a display of tents with exhibits of all the strategic projects that were being progressed. The teams then developed a set of proposals for meetings to hold the next day. These meeting were held in a form of 'open space' with the law of 2 feet and an innovative decision making process involving the senior leaders. People from other business joined the sessions.

STEPping up to Leadership - Strategy Development
Shell Technology (EP) brought together 150 leaders to work out the direction and strategy of Shell Technology EP, and the contributions everyone needed to make, the responsibilities each have - as individuals, members of teams, Business Units, and Leaders across STEP. The design team wanted to create an environment that fosters belief in people who are valued for what they do and to create a set of outcomes which would ensure the success of the EP technology business and safeguarding Shell's competitive position in its markets. VISTA supported the design of the meeting with Cheryl Young then coached the leaders in facilitating the work. The heart of the session was a polarity management discussion, which resulted in an agreement to express strategy in two parts - Care for the Business and Care for the People.

Building Leadership Capability in Step
This was an extended set of processes lasting over 6 months. The key stages in the process, which was design by VISTA in partnership with Cheryl Young and a Shell internal OD Consultant, were;

• Individual appraisal and then commitment to close personal gaps
• An interview with each member of the STEP-LT, using a semi-structured diagnostic tool
• A workshop with the STEP-LT (1-2 February 2001), using the interview data as a base for discussions and as a guide to the design of the event
• A workshop in early April with the STEP-LT and their direct leadership teams (28-30 people in total) using a similar process to the February meeting.
• A workshop to engage the STEP extended leadership community (130 people) in June, followed by Directorate level meetings

"VISION: An aligned, visible leadership system willing and able to engage staff to deliver a winning culture and world-class performance."

SEPtar Extended Leadership Team Development
VISTA supported several of these with facilitation of the design team, development of plans and coaching support to facilitation. They were held every 6 months and each moved forward the strategy work form the past meeting. Each included a strategic review and then forward strategic planning. One of them was a virtual meeting held using a mid-Atlantic time zone (Netherlands pm and US early morning). This had video connection and interactive sessions using web technology.

Workout
One of the outcomes of the SEPtar strategy session was a decision to embark on a series of workouts (see methodologies for more on workout). VISTA worked with an internal team and Julian Simcox to develop a new workout process for Shell and design the supporting manuals. We supported facilitation of several workouts. See our 'From Bureaucracy Busting to Creative Compliance' paper for more about this process, (pdf file).

Shell Information Systems was being set up to exist as a commercial organisation within the Shell system. It was a big cultural shift and they decided to run a series of engagement sessions involving all of their 1000+ staff. This project was a partnership with Geverink, de Wilde, Bosquet en Partners. We worked with them to design and facilitate the sessions as well as organise logistics for 8 events in both the UK and Holland. The first three sessions explored the issues and envisioned success. Three key themes emerged;

• Customers
• Globalisation
• Ways of working

Two events were held based on each of these themes. These used the basic principles of the first event but went deeper into the specific issues and ideas surrounding the theme. The final event reviewed the emergent messages from all the events and pulled things together.

"Making the shift from a captive to an open market mentality for survival in a commercial world."