Reinvention does not happen without the buy-in of those charged with executing it. The entire organization needs to rally behind change, align to a reformulated purpose and embrace new ways of working.

The c-suite, for its part, must create the environment in which a new Culture and new levels of productivity can flourish. Beyond establishing a purpose that aligns with employees’ values, company leaders must enable collaboration between teams and functions. This is exactly what leaders in our survey are doing.

Many more leaders than laggards in our survey believe they are effectively nourishing collaboration across functions and operations (65 percent vs. 9 percent). Half of them ranked collaboration as the cultural element they would be focusing on most over the next year.

Leaders are also more committed to creating engaging and rewarding employee experiences—and have confidence in their actions. Leaders claim they are effectively improving employee experiences (62 percent vs. 11 percent). To a lesser degree, they are focused on developing the right skills for their reinventions. Nearly a quarter of leaders are planning to emphasize actions in this area. This is critical, since the skills for reinvention will be needed to drive performance across every 5C element.

What’s particularly noteworthy is the lack of focus on innovation. In general, survey respondents did not prioritize innovation and entrepreneurship despite having ambitions to develop new products and services inside and outside of oil and gas. In fact, only four percent of leaders identified innovation and entrepreneurship as a top action item.

• Make purpose a magnet for talent. Employees, both current and future, want to work for companies whose values align with their own. Diversity, equity and inclusivity programs will be key. So will interesting work, enabled by new technologies. A visible commitment to sustainability and ESG performance will help attract talent that might otherwise stay away from the industry.
• Reimagine work and your workforce. Reinvention will require new roles and new ways of working. Identify new career pathways to manage both new and existing talent. Inventory the capabilities and skills you have today, identify those you will need tomorrow and develop a plan to close the gaps by building, buying or borrowing the necessary skillsets.
• Design your organization for teamwork. Enterprise-wide transformation requires collaborating across an organization’s traditional boundaries—and beyond. Empower your people to share ideas and operate seamlessly with enabling technologies and a structure that encourages effective collaboration.
• Create an environment of experimentation. In any reinvention, a fail fast/fail forward mindset is necessary for continual innovation of products and services that will drive long-term growth. Encourage and incent new ideas and ways of working. Invest in building an innovation capability that sets you apart in the industry.