Oil and Gas Change Management for Operational Transformation Training Course

Course overview

Operational transformation in oil and gas rarely fails because the technical design is weak. It fails when frontline operators, maintenance teams, control room personnel, contractors and functional leaders receive inconsistent messages, unclear role changes or inadequate readiness support. Whether introducing an integrated operations model, new permit-to-work workflow, digital field system, reliability programme, asset shutdown process or decarbonisation initiative, leaders must manage the human, procedural and safety consequences without compromising production or process safety.

This course equips participants to lead structured change across upstream, midstream, LNG, refining, petrochemical and distribution operations. Participants learn to assess change impacts by role and asset, build stakeholder maps, apply the Prosci ADKAR model, create sponsorship plans, manage resistance, design communications for shift-based workforces and embed changes into operating procedures, competency systems and performance measures. The programme also addresses management of change (MOC) interfaces, contractor mobilisation, union and workforce considerations, HSE assurance and the distinction between project delivery and adoption.

Teaching combines instructor-led briefings with oil and gas cases, including a digital maintenance deployment and a refinery operating-model change. Teams analyse stakeholders, identify adoption risks, conduct a readiness assessment and develop practical interventions for affected employee groups. Each participant leaves with an operational transformation change plan containing a change impact assessment, stakeholder matrix, communications cadence, resistance log, training approach, adoption measures and a 90-day implementation roadmap.

The course is designed for experienced professionals who influence or lead operational change and need a disciplined method that works in safety-critical, asset-intensive environments.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Conduct a role-by-role change impact assessment for an oil and gas operational transformation
• Map stakeholders using influence, impact, readiness and safety-criticality criteria
• Apply the Prosci ADKAR model to diagnose individual and team adoption barriers
• Develop an executive sponsorship plan with visible leadership actions and escalation routes
• Create a shift-aware communications plan for operators, maintenance personnel and contractors
• Build a resistance management log with root causes, owners, interventions and review dates
• Define adoption KPIs and dashboard measures that distinguish implementation progress from behavioural uptake
• Produce a 90-day change management plan aligned to project milestones, MOC controls and operational readiness gates

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Operational Excellence Managers — who must translate transformation programmes into sustained frontline adoption
• Asset Managers and Operations Managers — who are accountable for production, safety and workforce readiness during change
• Transformation and Change Managers — who need sector-specific methods for asset-intensive and safety-critical environments
• Project Managers and Programme Managers — who must integrate adoption activities with technical delivery schedules
• HSE and Process Safety Leaders — who need to ensure organisational change does not weaken control effectiveness or compliance
• Maintenance, Reliability and Engineering Managers — who lead changes to work management, systems and maintenance practices

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least three years of experience in oil and gas operations, projects, HSE, maintenance, engineering, digital transformation or functional leadership. They should understand their organisation’s basic operating model, project governance and management of change (MOC) process, even if they do not administer MOC records themselves. Familiarity with common field roles, shift patterns, contractor interfaces and permit-to-work controls is helpful. No formal change management certification is required, and participants do not need advanced statistics, coding or specialist software configuration skills. A laptop with spreadsheet and presentation software is recommended for workshop activities.

Training methodology

The programme uses short instructor-led modules followed by structured application to realistic oil and gas transformation scenarios. Participants work in groups on an asset case involving changed maintenance workflows, contractor interfaces and digital work execution. They use stakeholder maps, ADKAR diagnostics, change-impact templates, resistance logs and readiness scorecards rather than generic discussion alone. Facilitated peer review tests each team’s assumptions against production, HSE and process safety constraints. On the final day, participants convert their work into an individual 90-day application plan for a current or anticipated organisational change.

Course outline

Day 1: Operational transformation and the oil and gas change context

• Operational transformation drivers across upstream, midstream, LNG and downstream assets
• Distinguishing technical delivery, operational readiness and sustained adoption
• Process safety, production assurance and workforce implications of change
• Management of Change interfaces with project and transformation governance
• Change portfolio segmentation by asset, workforce and operational risk
• Role-based change impact assessment methodology
• Baseline readiness and change saturation assessment

Workshop: Participants complete a change impact assessment for a refinery digital work-management rollout, producing an affected-role and risk register.

Day 2: Stakeholders, sponsorship and frontline engagement

• Stakeholder mapping using influence, impact, readiness and safety-criticality
• Sponsor coalition design for asset, functional and project leadership
• Visible sponsorship actions and leadership standard work
• RACI and decision-rights mapping for transformation governance
• Frontline engagement methods for shift crews and remote operations
• Contractor and service-provider stakeholder management
• Union, workforce representative and local community considerations

Workshop: Teams build a stakeholder map and sponsor action plan for an offshore operating-model change, including escalation routes for critical concerns.

Day 3: Adoption planning, communication and capability building

• Prosci ADKAR diagnostics for individual and team adoption
• Change narrative development linked to operational value and safe work
• Audience-specific communication planning for field and office populations
• Shift-handover, toolbox talk and supervisor-led communication channels
• Training needs analysis for new procedures, systems and role changes
• Competency assurance and verification of understanding
• Change network and super-user mobilisation

Workshop: Participants create a communications cadence and training matrix for deployment of a new permit-to-work and isolation process.

Day 4: Resistance, risk and operational readiness

• Resistance identification through interviews, observations and pulse checks
• Root-cause analysis of behavioural and organisational resistance
• Resistance log design with intervention owners and due dates
• Psychological safety and speaking-up mechanisms during change
• Integrating people risks into project risk registers and MOC controls
• Operational readiness reviews and go-live decision criteria
• Contingency planning for productivity, competence and control gaps

Workshop: Teams analyse resistance scenarios from a maintenance centralisation programme and produce a prioritised intervention and readiness-risk log.

Day 5: Measurement, reinforcement and implementation planning

• Leading and lagging indicators for change adoption
• Adoption dashboard design using operational and people data
• Benefits realisation links between behavioural change and performance outcomes
• Reinforcement mechanisms through supervisor routines and performance management
• Post-implementation review and lessons-learned methods
• Ninety-day change implementation roadmap development
• Executive briefing and challenge of transformation change plans

Workshop: Each participant presents a 90-day operational transformation change plan and receives facilitator and peer review against adoption, safety and delivery criteria.

Tools & standards covered

Prosci ADKAR Model, ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management, ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, Microsoft Power BI

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions