SPE Inaugurates Leadership Academy for E&P Professionals

SPE will hold the inaugural session of its 3-day leadership development program for professionals in the exploration and production (E&P) industry—SPE Leadership Academy: Inspiring Your Path to Success—from 30 September to 2 October at The Address Hotel–Dubai Marina. The SPE Leadership Academy’s second session, held during 2–4 December, will take place at SPE’s Houston offices and training center.

For many professionals in the early stage of their career, developing skills that will help them transition from an individual contributor role to a management or leadership role can be a difficult task. The technical skills that get employees jobs in E&P are often not enough to help them advance in their career. And not all E&P work settings offer such professionals the mentoring, training, and nontechnical skill development they seek. So how do busy technical professionals acquire those much-needed leadership skills?

Developed specifically for the E&P industry, the SPE Leadership Academy teaches skills in the following areas, thus helping early-career professionals contribute more quickly to organizational goals:

  • Sharpening communication skills and learning to adapt approaches when needed
  • Learning to act as a leader in a multidisciplinary environment
  • Learning how to present ideas to engage key stakeholders
  • Developing oneself and learning how to leverage networks
  • Evolving strategies to face challenges in developing one’s career

To teach the course, SPE is partnering with UK-based, global business psychology firm Kiddy and Partners, which has more than 40 years of experience in professional development programs. The SPE Leadership Academy will be taught by Kiddy partner Mike Owtram, who gained 15 years of commercial experience in the chemical industry before entering consultancy in 2000, and Charles Jones, a Kiddy consultant who has more than 20 years of experience as an international leadership development educator.
To register, or for more information on the course, visit www.spe.org/training/courses/SLA.php.