Spirit Energy - Developing leadership resilience

Helping a new oil and gas business develop leadership resilience

Summary

A strong and open leadership team and a brand new challenger identity characterize oil and gas operator Spirit Energy. But an employee survey run one year into trading revealed staff were looking for personal development to complement their technical and health & safety training. Spirit wanted to move fast to respond to its employees needs. Hemsley Fraser, and our technology partner 5App, matched that need for speed with agility.

Challenge

In 2017 Centrica spun its exploration and production (E&P) business out, merging it with Bayerngas Norge AS to form independent oil and gas operator Spirit Energy. While the enterprise-sized startup created a fresh brand identity, the talent, resourcing, and L&D team were tasked with creating a brand new Talent & Learning Development Function. But before long Spirit’s staff, used to accessing a significant learning library and the established processes and infrastructure of their former employers, were looking for something less formal and process-driven.

Solution

Spirit Energy set out initially simply to source standalone soft skills development content. Time and budget were of the essence. Hemsley Fraser was recommended by colleagues and so Spirit submitted an online inquiry. From this point on the process was responsive, agile, and focused on getting Spirit the right result. The conversation moved swiftly from standalone content to trialing the Hub. With a working demo live in moments, Spirit could see the potential to launch what would become the Spirit Hub for Improvement, Education, Learning and Development or SHIELD for short.

Results

Cost and time to respond aside, the critical evaluation criteria for the solution were relevant content and values-fit. Spirit worked with employee influencers, called Free Spirits - who run the company’s internal networks (e.g., Working Parents, LGBTQ+, Incident Free Workplace to name but a few) - to test the Hub, select, and prioritize learning playlists and also start to create and curate content of their own. To ensure they were comfortable with the capability of the Hub with Spirit’s internal systems, Hemsley Fraser arranged for 5App, their technical partner, to meet with Spirit Energy's IT. Focused Hemsley Fraser account managers supported Spirit, with clear trial and roll-out project plans and they continue to support the organization with ongoing queries post-launch. From start to finish the rollout was managed professionally, with ease and to deadline.

"At Spirit, we wanted to provide an online learning hub that was easy to use, customizable, and full of relevant, up-to-date, and exciting content. We received immediate access to the demo hub and were partnered through the process of choosing content and setting up the IT infrastructure. Hemsley Fraser has a large catalog of content that covers many learning styles and topics which was important to us. Implementing an online learning hub can be a daunting and arduous process but we found this process quick and easy. We were able to provide a learning platform that our staff are using daily in a short space of time. The team continues to offer support and help when needed."

Sarah Smith, Talent and L&D Lead, Spirit Energy

Highlights:

Launching a new system during COVID was challenging. But after a problem-free selection and rollout process, the SHIELD launch has been a success. Spirit staff can now access learning and development opportunities, tailored to their requirements, whenever and wherever they need it. Plus early results show that staff engagement has exceeded expectations – so the future is looking good!