The Professional Career Path; A Structured and Transparent Guide for Career Progression and Strengthening Professional In-House Capabilities
Authors: Al Mandhari Sumaiya Mohamed , Al Ghammari Khalid Salim 
Published: October 2022

Through the project we built a solid professional foundation beyond the Graduate Development Program, implemented competence assurance vetted through internal & external accreditation, provided a structured and transparent development route for professional staff, provided employees with more flexibility in career growth and strengthened Petroleum Development Oman's (PDO) professional in-house capabilities. In addition, we will be able to report on overall competency levels across PDO's functions to better determine focus areas for capability development. This paper presents how a uniform Competency Framework was created across the company linked with development plans in 70:20:10 approach. In addition to the development of a structured, transparent, and auditable accreditation process and the creation of corporate competencies relevant to all roles such as HSE, leadership and continuous improvement competencies to ensure standardization across the entire organization. Furthermore, the paper will showcase the new integrated talent management process enabled by an IT solution (SAP-Success Factor) which integrates the following processes: Development & Assessment Competency Management, Coaching & Mentoring, Performance Management, High Potential Identification, Employee profile, and Succession Planning. Additionally, it will present the governance structure with an effective change management plan to ensure effective roll-out. The project resulted in a new competency framework for all functions linked to competency development plans; it also resulted in structured development and assessment processes. Automation paved the way for HR data analytics, and visualization and was key to ensuring compliance and sustainability. An effective change management process was incorporated from the beginning of the project. With the Technical Director as project sponsor, the project team obtained management steer through monthly steering committee meetings attended by Managing Director Committee (MDC) members. To ensure the project outcome would meet customer needs the team held more than 200 engagements with stakeholders over the last 2 years. We have built world-class documentation and audio-visual communication package to simplify the process of guiding employees, supervisors, and Corporate Functional Discipline Heads (CFDHs) in using the system. Within the first year of the project's launch, we had more than 60% of our employees start their self-assessments and development plans which indicates a positive adoption by the users. The SAP-Success Factors integrates all the talent management processes on one platform. Through the introduction of this world class IT system, an innovative competency development process was built that assures continuous development and gap closure, hardwired with different stakeholders' roles & responsibilities. Furthermore, an accreditation point system and external assessment was introduced for progression to senior roles to ensure consistency in professionalism across PDO.