The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board has launched a new project management mentoring programme for the N. Sea oil and gas industry as it struggles for survival.
The programme brings together 34 people from a cross section of 15 different companies including operators, tier one contractors and the wider supply chain where senior industry practitioners, with a track record of successful project management, are lending their invaluable knowledge and experience to the development of the current cohort of project managers.
As a cross-sector initiative it can offer a wider perspective on mentoring than many internal schemes, taking into account areas such as client and customer engagement, external specialist knowledge and greater collaboration between different organisations working within the same Industry.
During a six-month guided relationship, mentors and mentees will agree together the target areas for development and then work towards set objectives and plans tailored to the needs of the individual mentee. The scope of mentoring will include Project Management Tools, Behaviours and Leadership Development, in the context of operations within the oil and gas sector.
An ECITB spokesman said: “If we are to maximise economic recovery in the North Sa in the face of the current challenges then putting aside commercial interests in initiatives such as this is important.
“The ECITB is proud to support this and the other Project Management development programmes which the OPMSG is pushing forward. The learning and experience from oil and gas is highly transferable to other sectors, such as nuclear decommissioning where the ECITB is rolling out similar programmes.
“The effective delivery of projects at world-leading standards is vital to the future well-being of the oil and gas sector. The Offshore Project Management Steering Group (OPMSG) has a vision to continually impart good practice in project execution within oil and gas related organisations through knowledge sharing within the sector and knowledge transfer to and from other sectors within the engineering construction industry.”
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