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Navigating the energy transition will be a generational challenge, requiring top talent to solve extremely complex problems. Eric Beranger-Fenouillet, partner at Bain & Company Middle East, and Emily Emmett, partner at Bain & Company Houston, said in an opinion piece that meeting this challenge requires retaining and retraining today’s workforce, while integrating people New staff.
Leaders need to invest in creating inclusive organizations where everyone feels like a valuable contributor with a shared purpose.
Generations of talented people in the Middle East have pursued energy careers because it provides opportunities for learning, teamwork and impact that power our communities. This will be as true in the future as it was in the past. Looking back, the talent at play was concentrated in engineering and operations disciplines. But as the energy transition expands the range of business activities that energy companies engage in, the talent base is expanding and diversifying.
Talent strategy is becoming a survival priority in the energy sector. This is the result of multiple pressures that challenge the ability to find, hire and retain talent: a wave of retired professionals, the need for new roles to build new businesses, and a brain drain from the energy sector to technology, to name a few. To address these gaps, companies are rethinking how and where to expand their pipeline of potential new hires, while innovating and experimenting with new strategies to retain and retrain employees to keep existing businesses afloat.
Win new talent with new and diverse perspectives
Energy companies know they need to attract employees with new skills and abilities, often from a more diverse demographic than the existing workforce. Some of this talent will need to be won from the tech, financial and public sectors, and they will bring new perspectives to teams, pay and locations, including remote options. Like existing employees, they want to feel included in their company and want to know that they are going through a fair talent journey, no matter their role.
Bain’s research found that many senior leaders may be more optimistic about their company’s inclusivity than the new hires they hope to build their careers there. Among various factors, senior managers perceive their organizations to be more inclusive than more junior team members.
These blind spots make it harder for energy and natural resources companies to know how to make their organizations more inclusive to a more diverse talent pool. They may have trouble stopping the “leaky bucket” effect, in which well-intentioned recruiting efforts bring in racially or gender-diverse employees — who quickly leave because they don’t feel like they belong or are included . A recent Bain study on inclusion identified factors that make ENR employees feel included.
Support existing talent
While energy companies will carefully review and adjust their talent strategies to incorporate new skill sources and types, it would be a mistake to assume that “traditional” talent profiles and preferences will remain the same. Most of the current energy workforce is very active in supporting the energy transition and eager to apply their current capabilities and new skills to new tasks. They also aspire to remain relevant and valuable in an uncertain future.
The energy industry needs a skilled workforce to do many of the same things that have kept the industry afloat for decades, and will remain important for years to come. However, even established roles are changing. Leaders need to continually motivate and motivate their employees, ensure skills are not weakened, and show these employees that they are still important, valued and included, even as their company transforms.
Inclusion is imperative
There are no easy solutions to the complex talent challenges facing the energy industry. Success will require companies to engage deeply and reach their full potential with new and existing talent groups, and inspire them to innovate and solve problems together, not just in parallel. We believe that increasing the sense of inclusion among all employees, new and existing, will be a key enabler of the ever-evolving talent engine needed to drive the energy transition.
New hires want a place at the dinner table – invited to help solve the challenge of how to serve the community in a greener way. Existing employees also want to contribute to new priorities and want to know that their unique skills and experience will remain valuable in an uncertain future. Inclusion will not solve all complex talent challenges, but it will play a fundamental role in any strategy.
Doing this right as an organization is complex in any case, and even more so in an industry that is undergoing significant change. Strategies to support and improve inclusion are nuanced. But we found some common themes across industries that are particularly relevant to today’s energy landscape.
• Signal promise. People working in energy, whether new or existing, want to know that they are part of the solution; their organization is committed to a thoughtful transition; and that their perspective is valued. Leaders should listen deeply and then talk openly and frequently about a sincere commitment to transition and to fully include a diverse talent base.
• promote growth. Everyone wants to develop the skills to navigate to the other side. Everyone wants to see a rewarding career path characterized by deeper skills and expanding autonomy and authority. Invest in creating clear, transparent career paths for new talent and helping existing talent understand lateral opportunities. Develop a growth mindset in leaders to provide the next generation with decision-making power and leadership opportunities to help build skills and confidence.
• Easy to connect. Scrutinize the organizational silos that exist today, and prevent strengthening them or creating new ones. New and existing employees need to truly integrate and appreciate the role each plays in serving the organization’s long-term goals and near-term strategy. Identify and experiment with strategies to strengthen connections across potential silos, for example, through agile teams, cross-training, mentoring programs, and diversity affinity groups.
Navigating the energy transition will require years of careful merging of new and existing talent communities, working together to adopt new ways of working to support new products and services as well as traditional business models. These are the cornerstones of diverse population inclusion, which we believe is critical to attracting, retaining and benefiting from the full potential of the diverse talent pool needed for the energy transition. -TradeArabia News Service
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