The success of project plans and their execution depends on the quality of the project
team that implement them. When setting up a project team, consideration must be
given not only to the number of staff required and their critical roles and relationships,
but also to their skills and competences.
The definition competence profiles for positions, roles and responsibilities is further
developed into individual job description sheets.
The job description sheets are used by line management and the HR function to identify
suitable staff for the project. The sheet should record any job specific competences
required of the incumbent where these are not self apparent.
Competence is the required combination of knowledge, skills and attitude required to
carry-out the job efficiently. Shell has a cataloque of competences which are defined
largely by the EP Skills portfolio. In the case of “Opportunity and Project Management”
competences, these can be subdivided and grouped under the following categories:
- Technical
- Wells and Flow Assurance
- Facilities, incl. subsea
- Subsurface – reservoir characterisation
- Subsurface – reservoir engineering
- Operations
- Economic
- Economics
- Acquisitions & Divestments
- Planning – Strategic
- Planning – Financial
- Planning – Activity
- Transportation (tariffing)
- Cost management
- Risk
- Risk Management – IACR across TECOP
- Managing uncertainty
- HSE
- Continuous Improvement
- Continuous Improvement (VIP’s, KPI’s)
- Innovation
- Commercial
- Negotiations
- Contracting and Procurement
- Marketing and Sales
- Agreements: closing out, and admin
It is necessary to assess the competence levels of individuals and the specific roles which they
are undertaking. Normally, this responsibility is that of the line manager but, in certain
cases, specific competences maybe assessed by specialists. Often a structured interview is fit
for purpose for this assessment, supported by appropriate competence verification and
assurance processes within the project or across the operating unit involved.
Guidelines for assessing competence are available (for example ‘the EP Young Professionals’
Baseline Competence Profiles and various Monitored Professional Development Schemes),
and there are also Competence Profiling tools available to record, analyse and retrieve
competence data.
The competences specified should match with the responsibilities and authorities assigned to
a position. Inevitably, some staff will not fully match the ‘ideal’ candidate description.
Competence shortfalls can be made up not only by formal learning (i.e. training courses),
but also by electronic learning options and other self study materials and on-the-job learning
as well as by short-term assignments to meet specific development needs. These may be
supported by mentoring and coaching processes
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in the business. Where personnel are
recruited into a project with competence shortfalls, then either a change to the
responsibilities and authorities will be required in order to live manage shortfall, or the
incumbent may need to undergo initial training to make good the shortfall.
A skills health check should be made to confirm that there are no specific competence
shortfalls (either in quality or in level of competence) in the organisation for project
critical activities. For example, if a critical technical aspect on a project is to be
controlled by someone ‘to give them exposure’ or ‘to broaden them’ then either their
supervisor needs to be fully capable of undertaking/supervising this aspect of the work or
it may be necessary to contract in additional technical expertise – a cost associated with
training up own staff. If this is not done then it can lead to a ‘plane of weakness’ in the
organisation where the persons responsible for preparing, checking and approving work
do not have the necessary skills to fulfil this quality control function.