Industry type:
Global oil and gas company
Team size engaged with: 40 employees
How BP Castrol employees find their voice with the Science of Happiness at Work™
Overview
BP Castrol South Africa hosted its annual conference with the overarching theme, “Voices”.
The goal was to establish what was stopping people from expressing themselves and not using their voice.
Solution implemented
- The approach we used was to apply a confidential online Science of Happiness at Work™ diagnostic tool to establish what prevented the team from feeling safe to express themselves within their teams. After putting together concrete data, we designed and delivered a bespoke intervention, which was customised to each team’s challenges.
- Besides working with the team, we engaged with leadership coaching over a six-month period.
- Examples:
- Team A was struggling with an unfair culture, not being listened to, and feeling unmotivated. This resulted in them not achieving their team goals.
- Team B felt that their work added no value or contribution to the company. They felt unheard when they spoke up, so they stopped speaking. They said that the other departments did not appreciate them, and they only received negative feedback. Internally, favouritism and lack of communication were evident.
Results
Team A
- Built ‘one team one voice’ concept.
- Set agreed team norms of behaviour.
- Established internal trust through candid conversations.
- Replaced artificial harmony with transparent communication.
Team B
- Reignited the team’s purpose and value for the company and the clients they serve.
- Built team unity.
- Transformed communication from email to face-to-face.
- Acknowledged, appreciated, and leveraged the diversity in the team.
Conclusion
The combination of interventions and coaching have proven to be the most cost-effective and sustainable. Through concrete data, the team inventions could be tailored according to each team’s needs. The interventions supported the teams to become aware of the situation, raise issues of concern, and collectively find ways to work openly and in a trusting way with one another. Practical tools were provided to support the teams to use common language, which they can relate back to in future meetings.
