A Journey of People Development, Processes and Tools

Objective/Scope Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) places a priority on People Development. The reorganisation in 2016, a changing demographic, and increased emphasis on "Emiratisation" of the workforce has only reinforced that priority. The reorganisation fused together disparate companies, each with its own competency standards. The goal of ensuring that UAE national staff are used and developed throughout the organisation, coupled with our demographics, has added to the requirement for standard set of measures and processes for capability development across the ADNOC Group. This initiative has been implemented in phases, beginning with the creation/unification of core technical, behavioral/leadership and business competencies for all subsurface disciplines across the Group. We are now creating a learning organization to address our remaining challenges. A joint effort is required between our human capital and technical discipline leaders. Methods, Procedures, Process The ADNOC Competency Frameworks were created through a joint effort between subject matter experts (SME) and the People Development Team. The deployment of these frameworks was done in two main steps:Creation and verification. This was a joint effort between our Human Capital organisation and domain experts from the operating companies. This deployment also saw the creation of discipline authorities for the subsurface organisation. These "Heads of Discipline" are domain experts with a focus on skills and staff development. A "self-assessment" + "manager verification" process was used to populate the competency framework database.Data analysis. A statistical subset of the data were independently verified by SME interviews. Anomalies, and disciplines with insufficient coverage were scrubbed from the data. A number of analytical tools were used for data analysis, including "Heat Maps" for visual impact.Results, Observations and ConclusionsThe results revealed strength in the "engine room" of the organization, however, some "gaps" were identified. One gap was identified in the transitional grades between the "junior" and "operational" staff. This was consistent for all disciplines, and it is being addressed through specialized training and on-the job work assignments. Another gap was identified in some specialties, in which ADNOC depends on one or two individuals for key skillsets.As we took immediate action to address some gaps, we recognised that a longer term solution was required. This has taken the form of the ADNOC Learning Institute (ALI). The ALI is a comprehensive solution which includes strategic workforce planning, future capabilities, competency and learning frameworks. These will underpin future efforts in technical succession planning and mobility.Novel AdditionsThe ADNOC Learning Institute was crafted to meet the competing challenges of skills development, demographics and Emiratisation. The ALI demonstrates how a unified vision is required to meet future challenges.