Oil and Gas Leadership for Operational Teams Training Course

Course overview

Operational leaders in oil and gas make decisions where production continuity, process safety, workforce capability and contractor control meet. A shift supervisor may need to challenge an unsafe start-up decision, manage a loss-of-containment escalation, resolve conflict between maintenance and operations, or keep a turnaround team aligned under schedule pressure. Technical knowledge alone does not equip leaders to set expectations, conduct field conversations, make risk-based decisions and create reliable follow-through across shifts, assets and contractor teams.

This course develops the practical leadership behaviours required in upstream, midstream, downstream and LNG operations. Participants learn to translate operating priorities into clear shift objectives; lead pre-job briefs and handovers; use questioning and feedback to identify weak signals; apply situational leadership to competent and developing personnel; manage operational conflict; and make decisions using risk controls, escalation thresholds and stop-work authority. The programme connects daily leadership practice to process safety, permit-to-work discipline, barrier management, incident learning and contractor performance.

Through realistic operating scenarios, participants practise leading conversations following a near miss, responding to competing production and safety demands, and resetting team standards after a handover failure. They use structured tools including a leadership field-observation checklist, escalation decision log, shift communication template and action tracker. Each participant leaves with a 90-day Operational Leadership Action Plan tailored to a current asset, team or improvement priority, with measurable commitments, stakeholder actions and review points.

The course is suited to current and aspiring frontline leaders who supervise operators, technicians, maintenance personnel or contractors, as well as technical specialists moving into people leadership roles. It provides a common leadership language for teams that must deliver safe, stable and efficient operations every day.

Course objectives

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

• Conduct structured pre-job briefs using task, risk, control and contingency prompts
• Lead shift handovers with a standardised communication and escalation checklist
• Apply situational leadership to delegate, coach, direct and support operational personnel
• Use barrier-based questioning to identify weak signals and challenge unsafe assumptions
• Facilitate a learning-focused conversation after a near miss or operational deviation
• Make documented risk-based decisions using escalation thresholds and stop-work authority
• Manage contractor and cross-functional performance through clear accountabilities and feedback
• Produce a 90-day Operational Leadership Action Plan with measurable field commitments

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Production Supervisors — who must align operators around safe, stable daily production
• Operations Team Leaders — who coordinate shifts, handovers and frontline performance
• Maintenance Supervisors — who manage work interfaces, permits and contractor activity
• Control Room Supervisors — who need to lead escalation and decision-making during abnormal operations
• Field Operations Engineers — who are moving into supervisory responsibility for operating teams
• Turnaround and Shutdown Coordinators — who must maintain control across high-risk, multi-contractor work

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with oil and gas operations, such as shift work, production activities, maintenance interfaces, permit-to-work, toolbox talks or incident reporting. At least six months of experience working in an operating asset, terminal, refinery, LNG facility, drilling operation or supporting contractor environment is recommended, although prior formal leadership training is not required. Participants should be able to discuss real work situations without disclosing sensitive operational data. No engineering degree, supervisory title, process-safety qualification or specialist software expertise is required. Complete beginners to oil and gas should first gain introductory operational and HSE knowledge before attending.

Training methodology

The programme combines focused instructor-led input with oil and gas operating cases, facilitated peer reviews and practical leadership simulations. Participants work with shift handover records, pre-job briefing prompts, permit-to-work interfaces and near-miss narratives to diagnose leadership gaps rather than discuss theory in isolation. Small groups rehearse escalation, feedback and contractor-performance conversations, receiving structured feedback against defined behaviours. Daily application work builds toward an individual 90-day Operational Leadership Action Plan, tested with peers and refined for use with the participant's own line manager after the course.

Course outline

Day 1: The operational leader's role in safe production

• Leadership accountabilities across production, maintenance and contractor interfaces
• The relationship between personal safety, process safety and operational discipline
• Production pressure and the normalisation of operational drift
• Leadership visibility through field engagement and worksite observation
• Psychological safety, respectful challenge and stop-work authority
• Setting shift priorities using safety, production, people and equipment indicators
• Personal leadership baseline using a frontline behaviour self-assessment

Workshop: Participants analyse a production-versus-safety scenario and produce a leader's decision statement with priorities, controls and escalation actions.

Day 2: Communication, handovers and team alignment

• Structured shift briefings using task, risk, control and contingency prompts
• Critical handover content for plant status, overrides, impairments and simultaneous operations
• Closed-loop communication and read-back techniques in operational settings
• Questioning methods for testing understanding and surfacing weak signals
• Expectation setting for routine work, abnormal operations and emergency response
• Cross-shift action tracking and ownership confirmation
• Communication adjustments for multicultural and contractor workforces

Workshop: In a simulated handover, participants use a shift communication template to transfer an abnormal operating condition and produce an escalation record.

Day 3: Risk leadership and process-safety decision-making

• Barrier management concepts and critical control verification
• Bow-tie thinking for loss-of-containment and major-accident hazards
• Permit-to-work leadership at operations and maintenance interfaces
• Risk matrices, escalation thresholds and decision authority limits
• Leading interventions when procedures are unclear or conditions change
• Near-miss response using fact finding, learning questions and immediate controls
• Applying ISO 45001 consultation and participation principles to field leadership

Workshop: Teams review a near-miss case, map failed controls on a bow-tie worksheet and produce a leadership-led corrective action sequence.

Day 4: Coaching performance and managing operational interfaces

• Situational leadership for experienced operators and developing personnel
• Field coaching using observe, inquire, reinforce and agree actions
• Constructive feedback models for unsafe acts and procedural non-compliance
• Managing conflict between operations, maintenance, engineering and logistics
• Contractor leadership expectations under API RP 54 worksite practices
• Performance conversations linked to standards, evidence and consequences
• Delegation with defined authority, verification points and escalation triggers

Workshop: Participants conduct a role-play performance conversation with a contractor supervisor and produce a documented expectations-and-follow-up agreement.

Day 5: Leading improvement through routines and accountability

• Turning incident learning into practical shift-team routines
• Daily management boards for safety, production, equipment and action status
• Selecting leading indicators for leadership effectiveness and barrier health
• Using IOGP Report 510 principles for life-saving-rule leadership conversations
• Escalation decision logs and action close-out verification
• Leading through turnarounds, start-ups and other high-workload periods
• Building a 90-day Operational Leadership Action Plan with review milestones

Workshop: Participants present a 90-day Operational Leadership Action Plan for their workplace and receive peer challenge on measures, stakeholders and implementation risks.

Tools & standards covered

ISO 45001, API RP 54, IOGP Report 510, BowTieXP

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