Written by: Fatma Younis
Engineer Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, held an expanded meeting to follow up on the activation of the succession planning system and the development of mechanisms for discovering and preparing competencies within the petroleum sector, as part of the Ministry's direction toward building a sustainable talent management system and qualifying future leaders.
Wide Participation from Sector Leaders
The meeting was attended by the heads of authorities and holding companies in the petroleum sector, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for Communications, and the Vice Presidents of the authorities and holding companies for administrative affairs and human resources.
Practical and Objective Criteria for Selecting Leaders
The meeting emphasized the importance of basing the selection of candidates for leadership positions on a set of practical and objective determinants and criteria, ensuring the identification of the elements most capable of assuming responsibility, leading operations, and achieving targeted results.
These determinants include the nature of the work, assignments, and responsibilities previously assigned to candidates, and their ability to execute them and achieve the associated targets, in addition to evaluating the practical expertise they have gained throughout their career paths and the extent of their contribution to developing their technical, administrative, and leadership capabilities.
The criteria also include measuring the readiness of candidates to take on greater responsibilities and their ability to deal with new challenges and tasks that require higher levels of experience and leadership.
Expanding the Talent Search Base
In the framework of developing selection mechanisms, the Ministry aims to expand the scope of searching for competencies, not limiting nominations to a specific functional or geographical scope, while taking into account the diverse nature of work, specializations, and various locations within the sector.
This approach allows for identifying accumulated expertise in various companies and regions, and benefiting from talents that have acquired diverse experiences through working in multiple activities and sites, which enhances the breadth of vision and the ability to deal with work requirements in various fields.
Measurable Evaluation Mechanism to Ensure Transparency
The Ministry is working to establish a clear mechanism that includes practical and specific procedures and items to evaluate candidates and differentiate between them, based on measurable and evaluable criteria that consider the requirements of each job and the nature of its responsibilities.
The evaluation process includes the level of performance and achievement, technical and administrative capabilities, and the degree of readiness to assume the leadership position, which enhances objectivity and transparency in selection and helps in reaching the best qualified elements.
The Ministry emphasized that nomination, whether through leaders or via other pathways for discovering talent, does not represent a guarantee for occupying any job position, as all nominated competencies are subject to evaluation mechanisms that measure their suitability for job requirements, the availability of required competencies, and the level of performance, achievement, and ability to assume responsibility.
Leadership and Ideas Bank and Knowledge Transfer Initiative
The Ministry's strategy is not limited to succession planning and selecting alternatives for leadership positions, but extends to building an integrated and sustainable system for talent management and human capacity development, through a number of interconnected initiatives and mechanisms.
The system includes: a Leadership Bank to support succession planning and prepare qualified alternatives for leadership positions; an Ideas and Innovation Bank to provide employees with the opportunity to present their distinguished ideas and proposals for study and utilization; and a Knowledge Transfer Initiative to benefit from the accumulated expertise of the sector's leaders and distinguished cadres and employ it in training and qualifying new generations.
These initiatives integrate with the performance evaluation, qualification, and continuous training system, ensuring the transition from merely discovering and monitoring competencies to refining their capabilities and preparing them to take on greater responsibilities, and achieving optimal utilization of human energies and expertise in various work locations.
Investing in the Human Element
The Ministry aims through this system to establish a corporate culture that provides every worker with a real opportunity for development and excellence, and affirms that competence, merit, performance, and achievement are the fundamental criteria for advancement and assuming responsibility.
These steps reflect the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum towards investing in the human element as one of the most important components of sector development, by building a wide base of qualified competencies and preparing future leaders according to a sustainable system based on objective evaluation, skill development, and knowledge transfer.
