In an industry where both personnel and workplaces are moving across large areas of land, digital leadership training has now been recognized.
- The oil industry is an excellent example of an industry that has now really opened its eyes to training its managers digitally. They see the value in their managers being able to receive training programs that take into account different shifts, geography, roles and time available, as well as the opportunity to train where they will use what they have learned in their everyday work," says Mats Kristensen, CEO of FRONT Leadership.
Covid-19 has meant that more and more people have moved to digital platforms and become quite comfortable with it. Some have learned that not all things are easier or better to do online, but many have also had strong positive experiences and discovered new, more considerate and efficient ways to run their business.
FRONT Leadership has been involved in digital leadership training since its inception in 2015. Based on research, they have developed an effective method for providing learning when the leader needs it, at work and in the workplace. Leadership is a practical skill where mastery is achieved through practice and training.
Download: How to train to be a better leader, we give you 10 points for effective leadership development.
Platform made for our industry
Odfjell Drilling AS is one of the companies that has chosen to make its management training digital.
- Leadership training is essential in our industry. When you work with floating rigs and platforms, large parts of the business are in constant motion. Both people and workplaces move around. This places unique demands on leadership programs," says Holly Reneé Røkenes, VP HR Center of Excellence at Odfjell Drilling.
Traditional management training takes up a lot of the employee's free time, in addition to the extra travel costs. Leadership training has therefore been challenging to offer and facilitate for offshore managers. The company has long invested in eLearning, but it was not until now that they found a format that was suitable for management training where dialog and relationship building also need to be taken care of.
- We chose FRONT Leadership before the world shut down from COVID-19. The timing was incredibly good. It was important for us that our leaders could be taught in their own living room, and go back to work to test learning in practice. We were ahead of our time, but I must also say that we were extremely lucky to have chosen this solution. Bringing groups together under one roof has its place in management training and is still desirable, but there are many other benefits to using a digital classroom," concludes Røkenes.
Unique exchange of experience
Bilfinger Industrier was one of the first companies in the oil sector to start digital leadership training. They started in the fall of 2018, with a pilot that was tailored to their needs, namely to create a unified leadership across locations.
- "We have conducted several rounds of thorough evaluation after our training classes and found the solutions that have suited us best. This is also one of the benefits of digital leadership training and the Leadership Weekly method," says Rune Erland, HR Director at Bilfinger.
- Bilfinger is a large company and our managers rarely see each other. But since we introduced digital training arenas, each manager can go out and practice directly after completing the module. They also bring what they have learned and experienced back to the next meeting. In this way, we get a unique exchange of experience across locations and roles, but also across age and seniority in the company," Erland continues.
Read: Digital leadership development helped the offshore industry
Saves both time and the environment
- "We work in a sector where many people are very operational and work hands-on. Our people don't necessarily sit in front of a computer in their day-to-day work, so it's clear that we were aware that switching to fully digital management training could be a barrier. But experience has shown that the barrier has been limited, and when it has been tested, it has led to greater confidence in the use of digital tools in general," says Erland.
Our employees are geographically dispersed, and reducing travel saves both the environment and time away from work and family. Switching to digital leadership training has simply been a win-win. It's perfect for our industry," concludes Rune Erlandsen of Bilfinger.