A visit and impromptu presentation from 2005 SPE President Giovanni Paccaloni served as a catalyst to inspire the SPE Delta Section in New Orleans to form its own Emerging Leaders Program (ELP). During his breakfast with the Delta Section leadership in August, Paccaloni proudly described the successful ELPs in Italy, Houston, and elsewhere. He explained how critical it is for SPE to encourage the involvement of members with fewer than 10 years of industry experience. “These people are the future of SPE,” he said.
The impending “big crew change” is quickly approaching, and the next generation of leaders needs to be trained and prepared to take the helm of the industry and the organization. The best way is to create a program that will give young members leadership experience and provide them with the technical and soft-skills training to prepare them for a successful career.
ELP applications, descriptions of roles and responsibilities, and answers to frequently asked questions were made available on the www.spe-delta.org website. To inform members and nonmembers of the benefits of taking an active role in an ELP, Bryant Mueller of the Houston Gulf Coast Section (GCS) gave a luncheon presentation about the GCS ELP’s history, its effect on the section, and lessons learned from the experience. Forty people attended, of which only half were SPE members. Several of the attendees joined SPE and applied for ELP board positions and committee roles. After the selection process, the Delta ELP was officially formed with 12 board members and several committee members.
Other meeting and presentation topics during recent Delta Section meetings included “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” the “Four Roles of Leadership,” “Professional Engineering Licensure,” and the “New E&P Work Force: Adaptive Skills for Career Self-Management.”
An ELP Board retreat is planned to collaborate on strategic objectives and goals and to define members’ roles, responsibilities, and tasks to move forward. Any section or member looking for assistance in starting up an ELP chapter is invited to contact the Delta Section’s ELP. Just as the GCS has helped us, we are there to share our experiences and lessons learned to make your chapter more successful.
