Amid Australia’s bushfires and COVID-19 lockdowns, Woodside Energy navigated societal and economic changes while addressing climate change concerns. To meet energy demands and reduce emissions, Woodside expanded globally, revolutionising its leadership framework. Partnering with the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), they co-created ‘Navigator’, a leadership development programme. This initiative uplifted leadership capabilities, transforming operating models and facilitating a merger with BHP’s Petroleum business. The programme has reached over 2,600 employees across five countries, introducing innovations like an AI- enabled coaching platform.
The year 2020 will be remembered as one of the most challenging in Australian history. The intense COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in unparalleled changes to both society and the economy. Simultaneously, the Australian energy sector was experiencing disruption. In response, energy sector leaders and the government accelerated their efforts to find new energy solutions while balancing the imperative to fulfil current energy demands.
This dual impact was keenly felt by the team at Woodside Energy (Woodside), a global energy company founded in Australia. Woodside’s aim is to thrive through the global energy transition while providing energy to heat and cool homes, keep lights on and support industry.
The Challenge
In 2020, Woodside recognised that a distinct type of leadership was required to remain competitive and be recognised as a leading global oil and gas company and new energy provider.
The CEO and Executive Leadership Team formulated a critical challenge: How can we lead through a business, industry, and global energy transformation simultaneously? Woodside’s answer: redefine a whole-business approach to leadership and uplift foundational leadership capabilities to deliver on the multi-dimensional transformation.
Woodside, known for its superior engineering and technical skills, recognised the need to become truly international, grow its new energy business, and retain its uniqueness as an organisation. To address this, Woodside initiated half-day hackathons to harness employee ideas on necessary changes and required leadership, ultimately creating a vision for 2026 and 2030:
- By 2026, Woodside will have a proud and high-performing organisation, an inclusive and diverse workforce, and an outstanding leadership talent pipeline.
- By 2030, Woodside will have an adaptive culture and organisation with agile and innovative employees.
A leadership framework was created, incorporating leadership expectations across all roles, and a leadership development programme was launched for every employee.
The Collaboration
AGSM was appointed to co-create and deliver the leadership development programme. Scott Marshall, Global Head of Organisational Capability and Talent said, “We appointed AGSM because we saw them as an empirically grounded organisation and one prepared to own the programme alongside us. They displayed the passion and tenacity we were looking for to co-create the programme and to take us into the future”.
Both Woodside and AGSM committed to role-modelling the leadership expectations to build a sustainable team culture. From kick-off, the Woodside and AGSM team came together as one Navigator team. Adjunct Associate Professor and Navigator Design Lead Eva Freedman says, “My Woodside team colleagues feel like my everyday team members. Working with Woodside has been highly empowering, and the collaboration is now between an organisation and a trusted learning partner.”
Woodside and AGSM conducted co-creation workshops involving 150 employees to understand current capabilities, finding that managers needed to uplift fundamental leadership capability. This led to the development of six Learning Themes, which would be woven through every element of the leadership development programme, ensuring consistency and cohesiveness. The leadership development programme became a key part of Woodside’s leadership framework and was named Navigator.
The collaboration has grown and delivered innovation. From the onset, Woodside wanted AGSM to bring all it had as a university. This has included a digital twin research study focused on leadership career acceleration. As the collaboration has grown, there has been experimentation. A good example is the AI-enabled coaching platform powered by predictive analytics. The trust built between AGSM and Woodside has delivered business outcomes.
The Initiative
Navigator aims to provide a consistent leadership language and understanding of what constitutes great leadership across Woodside. The programme, sponsored by Executive Leadership Team members and driven by the CEO, was designed for all Woodside employees to embark on a leadership journey.
Navigator was rigorously designed with all roles categorised into Phases (1 to 5), and leadership framework objectives distilled into Phase outcomes. The curricula, focusing on inclusive leadership, global mindset, sustainability, and ways of working, were designed based on these outcomes. The content, tools and experiential activities were then developed. Each Phase had a different learning journey aligned to Phase outcomes. Each phase follows a structure of three stages: Immerse, Apply, and Extend.
Immerse sees every employee attend an immersion programme (primarily residential, ranging from 1 to 4 days) to discover who they are as a leader. A programme of this scale and vision is unique in Australia.
Apply encompasses continuing development and a deep dive into leadership fundamentals supporting individual development plans.
Extend integrates capability and succession planning processes to provide stretch development, role-relevant exposure experiences and external connection events.
The Impact
Navigator has uplifted leadership capability globally, with more than 2,600 employees attending a Navigator immersion and over 2,500 Apply Learning experiences completed. User experience ratings for Navigator Immersions averaged 4.5 out of 5.
Qualitative interviews with leaders showed increased confidence, authenticity, and a growth mindset, which led to better learning, collaboration and improved stakeholder and team relationships. Leaders spoke about better engagement with team members, listening, questioning, empowerment, devolved decision-making, and constructive challenge positively impacting their work and personal relationships.
People survey data showed there was an improvement in leadership practices including inclusive leadership, psychological safety, and empathy. 80% of leaders with large teams saw improved staff satisfaction, 73% saw an increase in the number of staff who would recommend them as a manager, and 70% saw staff feeling safe to speak up. Navigator’s impact was evident in better performance and productivity, with the business valuing the programme and requesting follow-up workshops.
We have also seen the value of a more networked organisation with participants reporting they are now more connected to people in their location. The triads that were kicked off at the immersion and coaching groups are continuing to informally meet and learn from each other.
Regional Head of Human Resources Ruth Lyall recognises the excitement and enthusiasm of every employee focusing on their personal development, “Feedback from our internal tools and surveys shows many participants feel they now have the knowledge, skills, and capabilities to instill in their roles, achieving great visible results. Together with AGSM, we have forged a long-lasting, collaborative, cohesive, integrated, and trusting relationship. Our organisations are committed to developing ethical and responsible leaders by empowering Woodside employees to lead us through change and transform how we do business.”
Further pathways to learning
Through successful completion of Navigator elements, employees receive points towards an AGSM Certificate in Executive Management and Development (CEMD), providing a unique bridge between Navigator and postgraduate degree programmes, including an MBA.
The Digital Twin Research Study is enhancing Navigator by integrating collected data with organisational data to build a predictive, evidence-based analytical model of leadership development – the Digital Woodsider.
Lessons learned
Sustaining momentum and engagement has been a key challenge for the Navigator team over two and a half years. Initial feedback showed employees felt they needed permission to develop themselves, and they needed to understand how Navigator applied to them and what value it might take in their day-to-day role and future. The resolution was to develop continuous, clear, and engaging communication, especially in a large, geographically dispersed organisation undergoing constant change.
Data analytics was critical to elevating Navigator, including providing leader boards, understanding impact through People Survey data, and supporting Navigator’s evolution via the Digital Woodsider study.
Navigator was not just a programme but a key element in a unique whole of organisation leadership development approach. Navigator continues to evolve and is ready to support Woodside’s vision and transition to the future.
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